I repotted my juniper and i have some questions

Bonsaipadawan

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Hi all, I have a few questions about this particular bonsai. As a side note this was the first bonsai I bought amd kept alive so I included a progression photo. The tree that started the passion for the hobby.

So the questions are what is your advice on styling from what you see?

I did the repot I think about February 22nd and I was wondering when can I start cleaning up the try and styling it without risking the health of the tree?

Also any tips or opinions on how or what to do from here in regards to styling would be nice.

My repot choice probably let you know I am thinking about going for a cascade. I am thinking of trying to great some pads and bring the long tail more to the center line of the pot.
 

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Japonicus

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Too many answers to questions left out of this post, but I'll start.
Time frame of ...
this was the first bonsai I bought amd kept alive
For a year? 6 years? How long has this been your 1st juniper?
How many do you now have? I'm trying to get a sense of your experience level rather than guessing.

It appears to have been HBR'd. Did you pot it up last time it was potted in the glazed blue oval pot?
Where did you get it?
1647654596666.png
It's important to know when it was last potted before potting if you've not had it very long.
In other words if it's draining ok and you don't know when it was, then let it grow and observe it.
Judging by the pic above here that you posted, it would've been easier and safer for the roots to allow
them to dry considerably more than this before potting, and better in the Springtime with an active growth
onset. For me that's a week or 2 before the last typical frost date for my area (Mothers day or May 10th) even though
I've seen the buds pushing hard prior, I wait. This year, 43 of the lower 48 states are expecting warmer and drier
than normal April, May and June, so I could probably start 3 weeks before Mothers Day.
I'm just not comfortable with March pottings anymore after nearly loosing a good procumbens to it.

What is the media composition now?

I would have gone for a shorter and a little wider pot. Probably a semi cascade pot.
The taller pots can be much more difficult to balance moisture in the root zone, and blow over easier.
Did you use wire to secure the roots to the pot? It should be easy enough to do now if you have not.

Also, it is good that you are now asking, before doing...
when can I start cleaning up
Minimally this year after the Summer solstice has passed IF the juniper is vigorously growing.
The foliage is its strength here after potting up to aid in recovery and new root production.
Heavier thinning, styling/wiring next year.
This year I'm talking about just combing through it lightly and cleaning up under growth dangling down.
A snip here and a little snip there, nothing more than to locate more bones without really exposing them.
Minimal.
I would work on other procumbens, thinning and wiring
them, which have not been repotted. Hopefully have not lost your interest, I'll stop with the 20 questions now. Sorry
 
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Bonsaipadawan

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Too many answers to questions left out of this post, but I'll start.
Time frame of ...

For a year? 6 years? How long has this been your 1st juniper?
How many do you now have? I'm trying to get a sense of your experience level rather than guessing.

It appears to have been HBR'd. Did you pot it up last time it was potted in the glazed blue oval pot?
Where did you get it?
View attachment 425277
It's important to know when it was last potted before potting if you've not had it very long.
In other words if it's draining ok and you don't know when it was, then let it grow and observe it.
Judging by the pic above here that you posted, it would've been easier and safer for the roots to allow
them to dry considerably more than this before potting, and better in the Springtime with an active growth
onset. For me that's a week or 2 before the last typical frost date for my area (Mothers day or May 10th) even though
I've seen the buds pushing hard prior, I wait. This year, 43 of the lower 48 states are expecting warmer and drier
than normal April, May and June, so I could probably start 3 weeks before Mothers Day.
I'm just not comfortable with March pottings anymore after nearly loosing a good procumbens to it.

What is the media composition now?

I would have gone for a shorter and a little wider pot. Probably a semi cascade pot.
The taller pots can be much more difficult to balance moisture in the root zone, and blow over easier.
Did you use wire to secure the roots to the pot? It should be easy enough to do now if you have not.

Also, it is good that you are now asking, before doing...

Minimally this year after the Summer solstice has passed IF the juniper is vigorously growing.
The foliage is its strength here after potting up to aid in recovery and new root production.
Heavier thinning, styling/wiring next year. I would work on other procumbens, thinning and wiring
them, which have not been repotted. Hopefully have not lost your interest, I'll stop with the 20 questions now. Sorry
Thank you for an awesome response!
So I think I bought this two years ago from bonsai of Brooklyn in the oval pot. What does HBR'd mean?
I have a few other junipers. I have 3 kishu or some kind of shimpaku junipers, I have one other, which variety I cannot recall. I also repotted one other juniper.
Both of my repotted junipers are in a akadama, pumice and lava stone mix that I bought from Eastern leaf.
I also do not think I want to repot anything in winter either being that we had a few days that dropped to rather low sub freezing temperatures. I brought one of them inside my unheated garage when that happened the other I unfortunately left buried in a 5 gallon cloth grow bag up against my home.
I honestly made a mistake with pot selection at this point but feel there is no going back at this juncture in time. I put my other juniper in a smaller semi cascade and this one in the taller one. I asked a friend and my wife what they thought and went with their advice.
As far as the pruning I wanted to do minor cleaning up since I've heard that dense foliage might result in inner branches dying.
I guess I'll have to let the repotted plants recover and do further styling and wiring in early autumn.
Again thank you so much for your detailed thoughtful and helpful responses so far!
 

MSU JBoots

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I’m quite new to the hobby but can at least answer the HBR question. It stands for half bare root. It means whoever repotted it last bare rooted the right half of the tree in the picture. The left half is still very dark organic soil while the other side is a more inorganic mix.

As for any trimming I think I agree. I wouldn’t touch it until you see how the tree grows this spring. If it does well you could probably do some light pruning in the fall. At least that’s my gut instinct.
 

Shibui

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HBR is indeed half bare root. Incidentally that's a term that appears to only be used in USA. I've never heard Aussie growers using the term because we don't find the need to do it.
My interpretation of the root picture is different. That was not HBR that caused dark soil on one side and open gritty mix on the other. This tree is typical of mass produced mallsai. A small tree is unpotted, the roots teased just a little the entire root ball is plonked in a pot (in this case on one side because of the plant at 1/3 rule) and the spaces left around the roots filled with new soil.
Commercial growers do this transplant because they can do it any time of year to keep production going (you did not think all those thousands of mallsai were potted in the week just before buds open???) and the resulting trees sold within weeks of potting to keep cash flow healthy.
Always difficult to be absolutely certain but I strongly believe that new soil on one side is just an accident of how this particular tree was produced.

As to the question there's no fixed time from potting to working. As usual the answer is 'it depends'.
Depends on how many roots you removed to get it into the new pot. I'd guess very few? Just combed out some soil, folded most of the roots into the taller pot and filled with soil?
Depends on how healthy the tree was before repot.
Depends on how good your care is after the repot.
Depends on local conditions, climate, water, etc.
Don't worry about weeks, months or years. When the tree shows it is growing well it is safe to do further work. That may be in a month or may be next year. Always let the tree guide your actions.

As for cascade style it looks easy but far harder to achieve good results.
I would like to see the start of the trunk inclined further on the grounds that cascade trees are from mountains and cliffs, probably from trees tipping over as well as weight of snow and physical damage forcing growth downward. Upright trunk then bending over at 180deg is hard to reconcile with normal tree growth IMHO.
Cascade can take many forms: Single trunk, multi trunk; Vertical drop, diagonal drop; straight trunk, many curves; intact head or no head, dead wood or no or combinations of any or all of those factors.
Viewing angle can be side on, front on or diagonal.

In my opinion full cascade trees should have very small head or no head on the grounds that conditions that forced a long cascade would not allow other parts to grow up or in the opposite direction. Following that theory I'd be reducing or eliminating one or both branches opposite the cascade leader for a start. I'd be quite happy to convert either or both to dead wood jins.
I personally prefer the wild and tortured look of cascade with lots of bends and changes of angle because that tells a story of harsh conditions, struggle and survival. For the same reason branches are smaller and well spaced. Full canopy trees grow in benign, sheltered conditions rather than harsh alpine mountain cliffs.

Lots to consider but always recognize that there are many different opinions and approaches. You have the final decisions here and I wish you well on the journey.
 
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