Rough Stock Nana

flyer

This will be my first attempt at a bonsai. Would like to keep it in the pot for a year and let it grow. Any tips or directions you might go would be great. Thanks!

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flyer

It looked so sad with no replies, thanks though. I just read about the growing boxes and will try that.

zeb

Patience, Flyer.
Replies will come in a couple of days, not hours.

I see an obvious informal upright in this tree, but it might be a good idea to put it in a training box like you said to thicken the trunk a bit.
Ofcourse you could also make this into a small literati. Then it wouldn't be necessary to thicken the trunk.

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flyer

Thanks Zeb, patience is a virtue.

As a general question when placing the plant in the growing box would it best to leave the roots alone and let it grow?

Flyer

seeker

Nice find flyer,
patience, patience, patience.
all knowledge is in these pages, for those who can
wait for the post-----may the force be with you.

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LOVE AND PEACE,RICK.

bonsaial1

This juniper needs to be cut back hard. It looks healthy enough for a good wacking. I would take each globe of foliage back down to half. This will induce budding back near the branch junctions and along the trunk. You don't really have the right branch system in place to make a suitable tree. junipers respond well to hard pruning and soon enough you will have a load of buds to nurture and choose for branches in a couple of years. A growing box is a good idea, but you could chop now and have branches by fall just by leaving it in the can. In the spring you could repot into the box and work on enlarging the trunk. Lots of water and feed heavily. Use orgnic fertilizer so not to burn, and push it to it.

Hope this helps, AK

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Earl

The experts say windswepts are difficult to make look realistic but you could tilt the tree to the right and bring all three right branches into a windswept pattern. The one on the left might even be able to pulled around and pointed right to make a great statement. Risky but maybe worth the try. Check a bunch of books or do a web search on windswept bonsai and you will get a bunch of ideas.

Another one: possible a cascade using only the lower branch.

Third: Al's suggestion but I'm not sure you will ever have enough branches for an informal.

You might (and I empasize might because you never know) get a virtual or crude virtuals (my version) if you re-photgraphed the tree against a white background. You can't do much with all the foilage in the back.

TreeBay

Looks like you'r located right on the golfcourse there. Plenty of room for some bonsai benches, I should think.

Here is just a sketch made with the photo. I just used a couple of the existing branches and the trunk. The blue pot is just for reference.

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flyer

I just wanted to say thanks for the help and ideas. I have temporally placed the juniper in a round plastic container (2 inches deep/14 round) until I find a suitable growing box. I have added a second pic that is a little clearer! I am a little concerned that it is not doing very well, I sprayed it last week because of spider mites and then the repot. Will keep sending updates as things change.

Treebay, no fairways here, just the way things look in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon).

Flyer