Is this a good candidate to work with?

Fidur

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I've been reading on what should be a good candidate to become a bonsai.
It seems that no matter how much you struggle, if you choose a thin trunk, you "almost never will be succesful".
So I went to the nursery and looked for mature trees or schrubs on species I know can be developed to become decent bonsai.
I found these juniperus horizontalis (there are at least 60 of them to choose), that I guess are over 10 years old:

IMG_20210607_154307.jpg

IMG_20210607_154101.jpg

IMG_20210607_154014.jpg

I have a little bit of experience with this junipers, as I bought 2 of them some months ago, and worked succesfully with them. But they were younger, and bendable. These have really thick trunks, and maybe unless I apply one of those bending techniques you see on youtube (making cuts, wrapping in raffia or neumatic tires,.....) I will not be able to shape it as a credible tree.
On the other side, they have the gauge in the nebari I´m looking for.
So at a tag price of 26€ ..... should it be a good idea to try, or will I be ‎doomed ?
(I know it depends on what I think is cheap and fungible against the chance of being sucessful, but please give me your personal stance)
Thanks in advance
 

penumbra

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Does not look like J horizontalis which is a native to Canada and northern USA, zone 3 - 9 and has a very prostrate growth habit.
 

Fidur

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The tag says that.....and they have really prostrate growth.
Anyway, the important fact to me is that I couldn´t bend it even a little with my bare hands....
 

TomB

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For that price, the one in the second picture is worth a go. You’ll have to work with the existing trunk shape, but that one looks to have some movement. It also has little tufts of greenery on/close in to the trunk. Look after those, they will be your eventual branches. This would be a 10 year project.
 

Fidur

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I could bend and shape two younger horizontalis:
If you look at this video in 0:31 sg you´ll see them
 

RKatzin

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Most of the time with older stock like that you are constrained to work with what the tree presents. There's 60 to look through so hopefully you can find something that you can work with.
 
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