Can I repot this in autumn

[Calnicky]

I'm planning to repot a juniper or two this fall per Harry Harrington's recommendation too. But I would NOT repot a specimen from nursery soil (and root-bound) to bonsai soil. In that case, I'd wait until spring.

Also, I base my following Harry H's ideas on the fact that in the Pacific Northwest and we have a very similar climate to Southern England where Harry lives and works.

Good luck with the juniper anyway. And, yes, please post pictures!

 

[Carapace]

Sure
The soil around the nursery-soil is not as gritty as it seems, thats just the perlite floating to the top

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I'm planning to repot a juniper or two this fall per Harry Harrington's recommendation too. But I would NOT repot a specimen from nursery soil (and root-bound) to bonsai soil. In that case, I'd wait until spring.

Also, I base my following Harry H's ideas on the fact that in the Pacific Northwest and we have a very similar climate to Southern England where Harry lives and works.

Good luck with the juniper anyway. And, yes, please post pictures!

Hmm… It’s a mystery to me why this would be best technique for a juniper. Gotta ask Harry I guess.

Pondered the horticultural science justification for this, root reduction in fall at a time when the junipers in our area get ready to push a lot of foliar mass and tend to be heavily styled.

Somehow don’t see this as the best technique. Yet as always, not my tree nor decision

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[dansai]

With young material I am happy to repot in Autumn. I did some 10 - 15 year old junipers last autumn from nursery soil into a more "Bonsai Soil" with very heavy root reduction and they were fine and put on plenty of growth in spring. HOWEVER, I live in Australia in a very mild climate that borders sub tropical. As far as I can tell it would be equivalent to something around zone 10 in the US. We don't get any frosts, let alone any freezes. Most of my plants continue growth through our winter.

In regards to your trees, (really they are young rooted cuttings) I think you could do something in Autumn, and there wouldn't be a need to remove many roots. However, the better time, IMO would be spring so that you can really sort out the roots and get it set up for better growth into the future.

 

[Carapace]

Yup, thanks for the information, guess I'll be repotting in spring.

 

[Carapace]

Ok, so about the juniper, I did not repot it. Most of it has turned a beige / light brown but those branches don't seem to be dead, some have green tips and some have green stems (?? the part that the tips grow from), but it doesn't look good, I've never owned a pfitz juniper and I don't know if they turn brown in the winter like some thuja do.
I also checked it's roots, it's roots have grown like crazy into the new soil and especially in the drainage layer, they don't smell funny and they are also a nice reddish color.

 

[ShimpakuBonsai]

That's not the normal winter bronze color junipers can get in winter and I think your tree is dead.

 

[Carapace]

That's not the normal winter bronze color junipers can get in winter and I think your tree is dead.

It has a branch near it's base that is completely green, I guess I'll see if it grows in the spring.
And also the "dried up" branches are still flexible and not dried up