Help to identify this bonsai?

[Theppy91]

Hello guys, I’m pretty much new to the bonsai world and have been taking care of one little pre cotton Easter for some months but last week I got the opportunity to get this good looking pine bonsai (I think?) at a fair price so I went down with It. The guys from the store told me it has 5 years old but I highly doubt that.
would you guys chime in and tell me what species is this guy and if you could guess his age?
thanks so much in advance for your help.

 

[shimbrypaku]

Looks like a juniper, with scale foliage. Hard to tell the type of juniper from the photo

 

[Apex37]

Looks like a pretty nice Itoigawa from my untrained eye. 5 years is probably not far off, may be older tbh.

 

[rockm]

It's a juniper and a pretty good one. BUT it's in crappy soil and looks extremely root bound. This tree, to me, looks like it was "uppotted" into a larger pot from a smaller one and backfilled with crummy bonsai soil (waaaay too much organic in that surrounding mix)..

If you bought it, I'd keep a very close eye on watering because it will be very difficult given the two-part mix--compacted inner soil and loose, wet outer soil around it...I would get it out of that dirt at the next repotting into an inorganic mix of pumice and fired clay (Haydite or something similar). I would also expect a mess of a compacted rootball at repotting.

 

[rockm]

Fun fact Cotoneaster isn't "cotton easter..." Took me a long while to discover that...

 

[PA_Penjing]

Fairly certain that is the extremely common juniperus chinensis 'parsonii' or parson's juniper. Readily available at any box store that sells landscape. The trunks thicken rapidly and the foliage isn't horrible but it always seems to have some juvenile foliage on it. How old it is depends a lot on how much it grew each year and how big the cutting was when it was struck. These aren't grown from seed ever. If he said 5 years I'd believe him/her. No reason to tell someone it's younger than it is when age is a bonsai selling point

 

[Theppy91]

Thank you so much for your help guys, very grateful!
I’m pretty new to this so any advice you can give me will MEAN the world.
My plan was to start with some little pre-bonsais but saw this one and couldn’t resist.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Junipers are not indoor plants, just a heads up! If it turns brown, it has been dead for a while.
So don't wait until it does turn brown ;-)

 

[TN_Jim]

Fairly certain that is the extremely common juniperus chinensis 'parsonii' or parson's juniper. Readily available at any box store that sells landscape. The trunks thicken rapidly and the foliage isn't horrible but it always seems to have some juvenile foliage on it. How old it is depends a lot on how much it grew each year and how big the cutting was when it was struck. These aren't grown from seed ever. If he said 5 years I'd believe him/her. No reason to tell someone it's younger than it is when age is a bonsai selling point

If it’s a parsons, someone has kept elongate foliage in check.