Juniper from nursery stock

IsaM

Sapling
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Bought the below Chinese Juniper. Will put into a large pot or into the ground to thicken up considerably but in terms of it's future:

1) As you can see it's sort of a multi-trunk - realistically is that the only way to take this tree i.e. keep it as a multi trunk? I presume chopping off a few of the trunks will be too much of a shock and too much foliage lost?
2) Maybe a basic question but is achieving taper in the trunks done the same way as a Maple tree i.e. chopping and growing a new leader? Have got a couple of Juniper's but have bought them from bonsai nursery's in relatively "complete" state

Thanks for the help!


Chinese Juniper 1.jpegChinese Juniper 2.jpeg
 

Brian Van Fleet

Pretty Fly for a Bonsai Guy
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You need to dig down into the soil and expose the junction of those trunks. From what is showing, it isn’t practical to give design advice. You can always reduce it to one trunk, but you need to know what you’re working with first.

To increase trunk size, however, junipers require a massive volume of foliage before they really start to bulk up. So if you want a bigger trunk, plan to let it grow wild for a few years. If you want movement in the trunk, wire it first, and then grow it out.
 

Shibui

Imperial Masterpiece
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Any trunk can be chopped partially or entirely so your tree can be multi trunk, twin or single.
Leave extra trunks for a while. Removing any now will limit your later choices and leaving them will add thickness to the base and root mass.
I definitely develop taper in Junipers by grow and chop. The difference is we can utilize some of the chopped trunk as jin in junipers so no need to wait years for it to heal or j=hide cuts behind the new trunk.

You can already see that J. chinensis produces stiff, straight growth. Not the most inspirational for bonsai I have found so I wire and bend younger growth before thickening to get some wild bends and curves. These trunks may still bend a bit or make sure you cut back to thinner side shoots and wire those before they thicken too much.

My experience is also that J. chinensis thickens very slowly for a few years but then starts to add bulk. Allow 4-6 years in the ground to make appreciable difference to trunk diameter.
 

IsaM

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Have dug down on this and think there are relatively few options for a multi trunk. I'm also looking for starter material so am going to air layer the different trunks in Spring next year.

Question - I have two of these, both of which have 5 or 6 trunks. I presume I shouldn't be air layering all the trunks at once, or is that doable?
 
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