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Hey guys, I was told by the nursery that this is Sea Green Juniper but it didn’t have a tag so I was just looking for a second opinion. It’s in a 15 gal pot and is heavy as hell. Good movement in the trunk but I’m thinking the largest branches are a bit straight and lacking in secondary branches so I’m not sure which way to take it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.B231776E-D134-4C15-AB47-3362EE3F8BCC.jpegE5B4B66B-F785-4822-AFA6-50E74389B85F.jpeg8A73B207-91E2-4ABF-B6E2-CE7C4FBFA709.jpeg539E7CBB-FBD2-4E08-9317-044067E7FA43.jpeg84F89B39-B2B5-4615-839E-06755F777509.jpegCA772C75-143B-4914-B422-544B54830232.jpeg4BB7A14B-5561-423D-A590-20DF9E0B22A5.jpegA20AA20D-5B1D-4625-BC93-15CF379255E5.jpeg3E6EE8E6-F8CF-4B4D-8634-D2539EACEB92.jpeg
 

0soyoung

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As it is, I see one of the trunks might be suitable for an upright bonsai, but it appears that the foliage may be too far away. I also kind of like the possibility of a triple-trunk/clump design, but stems are kind of boring to me, as it is.

At any rate, you don't seem to have anything in mind, so my approach would be to bend branches to find out just how much I can bend these and see if I can make a nice compact canopy within 6 inches of the soil line, say. It very well may be that channeling one or more of them is necessary to do this.

Now, through most of the winter is a pretty good time to do it. Then, maybe try making a few grafts to place some foliage in places that you might want it as spring beckons. It would all be good practice and maybe in the process you acquire a vision for this tree as your bonsai.

Have fun with it.
 

TN_Jim

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That lower straight branch beside & parallel to your hand..........the one that looks like you have a wooden index finger....I don’t like the way it’s looking at me man:mad::cool:

perhaps jin or...
 
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As it is, I see one of the trunks might be suitable for an upright bonsai, but it appears that the foliage may be too far away. I also kind of like the possibility of a triple-trunk/clump design, but stems are kind of boring to me, as it is.

At any rate, you don't seem to have anything in mind, so my approach would be to bend branches to find out just how much I can bend these and see if I can make a nice compact canopy within 6 inches of the soil line, say. It very well may be that channeling one or more of them is necessary to do this.

Now, through most of the winter is a pretty good time to do it. Then, maybe try making a few grafts to place some foliage in places that you might want it as spring beckons. It would all be good practice and maybe in the process you acquire a vision for this tree as your bonsai.

Have fun with it.
We’re you thinking of using this guy as the single upright?
 

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That lower straight branch beside & parallel to your hand..........the one that looks like you have a wooden index finger....I don’t like the way it’s looking at me man:mad::cool:

perhaps jin or...
I was thinking the same thing! Haha. I’m new to bonsai so hesitant to start hacking on this guy. Is now an okay time to do major pruning. Seems to have a good root system and looks like it’s been in this pot for years so I’m sure it’s quite strong.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I thought I saw a number of little sprigs of newish growth on the trunks. Don't remove them.
I would immediately remove the straight trunks, Keep only the trunks that have movement, bends and twists. Keep at most 3, you could go all the way to keeping just one.
Then wire additional bends in the keeper. Let it recover. Oh, never just cut off something, make them into ''jin'', strip off the bark and leave yourself at least half a foot or more of deadwood. You can always cut the deadwood off when it comes to seriously styling a tree. But it is difficult to add deadwood. So with junipers don't ''chop off'' trunks, turn them into deadwood features instead. Once dead, - the deadwood branches are handy for tying guide wires and anchoring wire to when bending other branches.

Then let it grow out a couple years. All the little tufts of green will become branches. let them grow out, use wire to create twists and turns.

I have a juniper that was a boring cutting, no interest. It is in the ''red headed step child'' section of the collection. Meaning it gets ignored and neglected, and when I do pay attention to it, it is only to heap on some abuse. I remove any straight, or boring branch every 2 years, sometimes wire in twist and turns on what is left. Then ignore it for 2 years. take wire off, again remove anything straight and boring. So far this process has been going on for 12 years. Now the trunk has gone from half a pencil diameter to thicker than my thumb. I think sometime soon I'll actually have to think about repotting it and maybe styling it. It was put in an all inorganic, pumice, lava rock and crushed granite mix, and has not been repotted in 10 years.

Point of my example, material that is boring, that you don't know what to do with it, just get rid of the boring stuff, and then let it grow out. Get yourself something interesting to work on while the boring one is growing out. Eventually, it will become interesting.
 

Brian Van Fleet

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I would cut it at the red lines, convert everything in yellow to Jin, and see what you have from there.
Do not prune away interior foliage.
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choppychoppy

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Advanced prep - hollowing and splitting, full wrapping, heavy wiring and guy wiring. Get with the massive bending. Create loops and twists and compact the whole tree then frame the wild trunks with the nice foliage the was at the ends that is now in place.
 
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What do you all think of a semi cascade style. I figure this would probably be the easiest way to keep and incorporate the nice mature foliage that the tree already has. Still doesn’t take into account the foliage of the apex branch because it’s so high up. Not sure where to position that portion yet
 

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