Juniper Noob, pre bonsai setup

Baku1875

Shohin
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The View from the top. I think that i will be pulling the two lower secondary branches toward the other side of the pot, and making the front side of the plant THAT end because of the trunk's visibility. You can tell that this used to be a creeper, growing flat on the ground with foliage on its 'back', and I repotted at a 45 degree angle to get it upright.

Trunk was very easy to bend, in fact it stayed in place when i applied the first bungee cord and removed it (probably due to all of the moisture it has soaked up in the past 6 days). Going to continue to gradually increase the tension so I get a more compressed S shape by next year. Got some heavy wire in the mail yesterday, but I wont be wiring it until November to avoid having the wire bite into the faster growing trunk right now during summer.
 

Baku1875

Shohin
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alright I was about to wire the two biggest low branches but instead opted for the little bungees.

Trying to get the more developed lower branches pointing downward sooner rather than later, they were pointing up. For now, this will be the front. Trunk at the base is 1 inch thick.

No wires until winter, unless I change my mind of course.
 

Baku1875

Shohin
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UPDATE!
I couldnt stand the look of my deep fryer mesh pot so I partially slip potted it into a 12 inch bowl clay pot from home depot, raked some of the root ball a bit, and chopsticked some sifted Viagro coarse perlite around the edges and at the base, adjusted the potting angle a bit as well. It still has a nursery mix core ball, my emphasis has been to keep this tree alive and not overdo the styling since it is my first attempt at a juniper. Top dressed with the coarsest sand that I could sift out of a few bags that I had laying around, rinsed thoroughly before adding it to keep the powder content to a minimum in the mix. It helps keep the perlite from floating when i water, later on I'll try some lava rock as top dressing, but for now I'm keeping it cheapo.

Removed some branches, damaged the bark in a few places due to using guy wires and aluminum wire without protection, decided to fold some duct tape and double wrap the contact points and opted for bungee cords again.

I know, it's a cliche S shape, but it's my first styled juniper lol, I'll get more sophisticated as time goes on! I wired some branches last summer, but they thickened so fast that I got bite before the branches could set which is a blessing and a curse. I'm going to try using a pair of heavy aluminum wires in clear vinyl tubing to give the upper half of the trunk (that straight section is boring!!!)a twist towards the end of summer, I dont want to kill it.

I cut a branch that was in the bottom center of the front and grinded the knob down with a dremel, and used an exacto knife to introduce some shari. Been watching some Jonas Dupuich vids to get informed on shari work and figured I should do it as the tree is growing quickly so I can create the impression of more movement and eliminate the boring cylindrical look of young juniper.

I'm debating removing that big root in the middle but I dont want to accidentally kill branches.
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Baku1875

Shohin
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I was expecting leggier growth and more juvenile after chopping branches off, but it has been very dense and all adult up top. there's some juvenile growth on the lower 2 branches in the form of new buds but no juvies at the top, just emerging runners.
 
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