Help !!!! I've Been Bonsaied

Foot-N-Mouth

O.K. heres how it happened, Picture it , my living room ,just a few days ago, a young man is asked by his wife as she heads to the mall for some after the season shopping if he wants anything, move ahead a few hours as the wife excitedly returns happy leaving the hubby broke. After showing me all the wonderful "bargins" she found she gleefully passes me a box saying that she remember me saying once that I liked them(the only known time that she actually heard something I said) inside ,you guessed it "the Christmas Bonsai" a little 3yr old juniper in a black plastic square pot. OMG

Enter you guys , my only hope. Is there anything I can do to give this poor little tree a fighting chance , My wonderful wife has thrown me whole heartedly into this hobby telling me to get the proper tools and books that I will need so I want to make this tree as good as I can. Ironically 6 yrs ago I gave Anne Marie a Japanese blood maple when we bought our house and it's in the yard doing fine ( I'll need to find out how and when to do cuttings).
While doing some searching in the posts I find alot of references to the fact that you aren't supposed to grow bonsai indoors , as I said in my intro I live in Newfoundland and I dont think that shoving this tree out into the elements would be helpful, what canI doo indoors for it until the elements subside?
Any sage words that you can pass on will be greatly appreciated.

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pdbbonsai

Actually your wife has already said it. (Being the sage they are) Getting a great book and the proper tools.....Know the tree that you have...likes dislikes...and the proper care! (Junipers like it outdoors...up to zone 5 with proper protection....the deeper the freeze the more protection it will need.....Being you re farther north.....a good cold garage or unheated room will suffice.



Paul

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Bart Thomas(deceased)

Where are you in Newfieland?

Some parts don't get all that cold in winter.

(Been there twice - not counting Gander.) Nice country.

Ought to be some nice larches out in the country.

Foot-N-Mouth

Thanks Paul I'm in the process of picking up some books but since there are so many I'm trying to narrow the field down to a couple of good basic primers, ie: what and how as well as info on this tree. I have been looking at the intermediate tool set by J ROTH , is this worth the investment ,have you used it.

Bart, I am on the east coast in St.John's (capital City FYI ) and while it does get very cold at this time there is only about 5-10 cm of snow and there hasen't been any hard frost yet. At this time last year we were literally living in tunnels with snow so high that my snow blower couldn't throw it high enough.As to the larches they are mostly in central NL and I may have a chance of getting some seedlings during my salmon trip this summer.

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Bart Thomas(deceased)

I've been to St. Johns (40 yrs ago). Lovely city. Also crossed the country on the Newfie Bullet, and sailed around the North Coast twice.

As for the tools, That's a tough one. If you're going to make the kind of investment that even the intermediate set costs, there are several options, besides buying that set. You may not want to spend more than the tree cost on tools, at first.

The cheapest way to go is to get a decent grade of Chinese heavy duty scissors to use as shears. These and a pair of garden pruners will get you started. Use electrician's wire cutters (but be careful) for the wire. a horseman's hoof cleaning tool will do for a root hook.

If you really get hooked, you will want better tools. If you're patient, you can get good buys on eBay, but the next better set would be a better buy, if you're sure you are getting serious.

TreeBay, who hosts this site, is a good dealer. A good Canadian (and US) source of garden tools is http://www.leevalley.com (They are a trans-border operation, which could save international shipping).

Regards,

Bart

Foot-N-Mouth

Thanks Bart , I hope that you have a good memory of the Newfie Bullet, in the infinite wisdom of the powers that be all rail service in the provience has been stopped and even the railbeds have been pulled up. However this has left us with some excellent trails into the interior. As to the tools, I have been given permission by the Minister of Finance (the wife ) to get full into this hobby with a good set , I did check with leevalley tools however they wrote back saying that they no longer carry bonsai tools and did recommend stonelantern.com and they seem to have excellent prices.Thanks for the insight , I hope to hear from you again and maybe get a chance to pick your brain .

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