Juniper Mallsai Questions

ok,

I am very new to this. I believe that I have 2 juniper trees. I have attached some pictures. First are these containers too small?? I did remove the glued stone and as you can see in the photos, soaked them for 2 hours. Should I trim them?? And if so, what part. One more thing, I live in Ohio, should these be kept outside in the winter?? Common sense says no, but just wanted to ask. Thanks for your help!!

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Dr.Bonsai

Hi Jeff,

These appear to be healthy young junipers that should be able to withstand your Ohio winter. Many of these plants are greenhouse grown and could benefit from a little winter protection at least until they are well established. Tucking them under an eave or in the protection of another landscape planting to keep them out of the direct wind would be a help. What is a typical minimum winter temperature in your area?

You also will want to water occasionally to be sure that the plant stays hydrated. *Check the soil surface with a fingertip before adding more water. *Watering by soaking, as you are doing here is fine, but you'll want to avoid overwatering.
*
I would hold off on trimming these until spring. *At that time you can pinch back the growing tips and thin about 30% of the foliage. *They are a little dense. *Pinching is done on the ends of new growth with the fingertips. *It stops the extension of a branch or twig and causes the growth to branch out and/or backbud. *Thinning is done with scissors and you would remove entire twigs and small branches so as to open up the crown of the tree and make it appear more treelike and less shrubby.

If the plants had drastically overgrown their containers, my advice might have been different, and I would have suggested thinning them right away, but it appears that the pots are large enough to support the foliage you have now.

Happy Growing!

Dr. Bonsai

"Are these containers too small?? "

That's something you will have to decide. It mainly depends on how big of bonsai you want. It won't grow very fast in this small pot. The basic idea with bonsai training is to get the tree to the size you want and get the primary branch structure in place then put it in a small pot. The small pot will restrict growth and make possible to refine the individual foliage pads.

Tony

JohnSullivan

Its great that you have joined this discussion group, it is a great resource. However, being relatively new to the art of bonsai myself, I have found few things better for a beginner than starting with a good book on bonsai. Hopefully from the book many of your questions will be answered and also you will learn about the history of bonsai, the shaping, the types of trees, the things that are the basis for successfully knowing and growing bonsai. One book I like for growing is John Naka's Bonsai Techniques I, however there are many books out there that will give you a good start as far as what you need for tools and the basics of shaping your tree. Check out www.treebay.com for books, tools, etc.

Bonsainut

Great Commercial John and good advice too!!!

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Keep growing,---'Nut



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