2 itoigawa and 2 kishu. Advice?
- Thread starter Npr90irl
- Start date
Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
How to proceed depends what you want from the trees and what resources you have at your disposal.
First we need some info about your experience to save teaching you to suck eggs if you already know something about growing plants.
I'd be getting these into larger pots as tiny pots are really hard to manage successfully. larger pits will also allow the trees to grow faster so you won't have to wait for 20 years to get a decent trunk. Even aiming for smaller bonsai I'd be up potting to get some initial growth.
My usual initial task with Chinese juniper is to wire and bend the trunks and branches to give the basis of a really wild looking tree but some people don't find that styling attractive so we come back to what do you want?
First we need some info about your experience to save teaching you to suck eggs if you already know something about growing plants.
I'd be getting these into larger pots as tiny pots are really hard to manage successfully. larger pits will also allow the trees to grow faster so you won't have to wait for 20 years to get a decent trunk. Even aiming for smaller bonsai I'd be up potting to get some initial growth.
My usual initial task with Chinese juniper is to wire and bend the trunks and branches to give the basis of a really wild looking tree but some people don't find that styling attractive so we come back to what do you want?
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Welcome to Crazy!
Sorce
Sorce
Npr90irl
Sapling
I definitely want to go in the direction of the wild spiked up hairdo Chinese juniper. As for the pots I have four #4 grow pots. Most of my trees are in #7/6/5.5. This is ridiculous but I thought the #4 would be larger.
Pet your pup, he/she looks sad.… where do I begin? =Horticulture +design. I don’t especially care if I follow the rules. Thanks
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ChristianDGreat
Shohin
The dog is telling you to put it on the ground and let it grow for 5-10 years 
Paradox
Imperial Masterpiece
Looks like those are 4 inch pots. I agree with putting them in some bigger pots for growth but since you are in Massachusetts at just about the end of summer, I would wait until next spring to repot them. I'd go for something like a 6 inch bulb pan and keep up potting every couple of years until the trunks are as big as you want
Npr90irl
Sapling
Okay. And just let them grow wild, nothing else?
Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
You will need to exercise some control over free growing trees otherwise all the live growth ends up at the ends of long branches. Then it takes a few years to prune back to smaller bonsai size.
You can see a couple of shimpaku that I've been growing on for some years in this thread - https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/time-to-start-styling-shimpaku.57145/
You can see a couple of shimpaku that I've been growing on for some years in this thread - https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/time-to-start-styling-shimpaku.57145/
Crazy Diamond
Omono
Those are from bonsaify?
Paradox
Imperial Masterpiece
No you are going to have to rewire them every year or two just as the wire starts biting in.
As they grow, they will need new wire on the new growth and movement/shape put into them.
You'll also have to prune once in a while but Id wait to really do that until they get a bit more growth on them unless its a branch or something you know wont be in the final design. Its a balancing act. If you prune too much or too soon, youll slow down the growth you want in the trunks to get them bigger. You have to learn when pruning is good for the development of the tree and when it isnt.
@Shibui gives a good example of developing junipers.
I understand this can all seem overwhelming and not knowing what to do.
The good thing is you have time to learn!
Keep reading about how we grow and develop bonsai.
There are lots of juniper threads here
Ask questions. Youll get there eventually, we all do
Shibui
Imperial Masterpiece
One of the great things about developing J. chinensis for bonsai is they grow slow so we have plenty of time to learn on the job and it takes years for things to get way out of control.
One of the worst things about developing J. chinensis as bonsai is that they grow slow and it takes years to get good trees from scratch.
One of the worst things about developing J. chinensis as bonsai is that they grow slow and it takes years to get good trees from scratch.
Srt8madness
Omono
Going Zen Master on us Shibui
BrightsideB
Omono
I have some large and small I am starting to develop. You may find it rewarding to keep one small and put it into a bonsai pot and start developing while the others gain size for the coming years. Just make sure to do the techniques at the right time of year. And you can gain some experience. Small kishus and itoigawa are cool to me but I also like small bonsai just as much as the large.
Npr90irl
Sapling
Thanks guys. I appreciate the advice. One last question though. When I up pot these and then again every couple years, what would you use for soil?
