My first juniper

[SniffingKrylon]

I’m posting this as an optimist. Lol This will hopefully be a progression thread for the juniper that made me join bonsai nut. A tree I thought was going to die after I first worked on it. I don’t have pictures of when I bought it years ago but I put it in the ground so it could thicken up and grow. Now I thought, at that time, I would learn as much as I could so when I pulled it out of the ground I would be ready for it! I thought wrong, I didn’t read or learn as much as I thought I would but I still pulled the tree out, my ignorance didn’t stop me. I pulled it out and lost a lot of roots in the process then ignored my instincts and got rid of a bunch of foliage and to add insult to injury I trusted someone who “knows what they are doing” and they basically left 10-15% of the foliage. Now, I know how terrible this was and don’t bring my trees around such experts. I also know that I know nothing, so, I’m learning. It’s been about 2 months and the tree is still alive, some parts are still dying off though. I don’t think it’s in the clear yet but I’m more hopeful now than I was a month ago. I don’t plan on touching this tree for a year or two, wish me luck. Here are some pics of the tree.

When I first pulled it, I had to run to get a pot so it stayed in the with spagnum to keep the roots moist for a couple hours.

This is how I left it..

This is after my friend, the expert, left it

This is the tree now.. you can see some spots are growing but others are browning.. I hope it survives. My friend said, “don’t worry, you killed your first tree, most people do.” Lol

 

[M. Frary]

It doesn't look too bad.
You have green new growth and the brown tips look like a bad pinch job. The old grip and tear method.
I would leave it alone and just water and fertilize this year. It's had enough.

 

[Ali Raza]

I had pruned my juniper @M. Frary but it didn't ended up with brown tips, I wonder How ?

 

[M. Frary]

I had pruned my juniper @M. Frary but it didn't ended up with brown tips, I wonder How ?

Did you use some kind of cutting device like scissors or another cutter?

 

[Ali Raza]

Did you use some kind of cutting device like scissors or another cutter?

Embroidery Yarn Cutter. It was readily available and pretty sharp.

 

[MiguelMC]

sorry to Hijack this topic, but I didn't think it would have been worth opening a new one:
I have a few junies myself that I have been keeping in nursery pots while I was working on the trunk line and I was have some doubts regarding them.
Here Is what I "Know" juniper require foliage in order to produce energy and stay alive, there unlike other trees, you can never remove the foliage of a branch, unless you want a new deadwood feature.
I also "know" that junipers require a decent root mass in order to keep up this foliage and as such when you repot them you need to reduce the foliage in order to accommodate balance the tree.

next spring I was planing on moving one of the junies into a training pot, as such I was hoping to reduce the root mass by half, the issue is I've done some cleaning by remove some unwanted branches and in the winter I was thinking about wiring the remaining branches to form a better branch structure (and no pruning, just wire work), now If I'm to repot next spring should I then reduce the foliage massor since this has been done now with the cleaning It wont be a real need to further reduce it?

I was hoping not to do any foliage reduction next year and try to get some back budding before reducing the branch length and start developing the pads from these new back buds (so i would only be pruning it again in 2 years)
Am I taking it too slow and should I be more aggressive with it, or is may plan a safer and in long run a better approach to these trees?

 

[leatherback]

when you repot them you need to reduce the foliage in order to accommodate balance the tree

Myth

now If I'm to repot next spring should I then reduce the foliage massor since this has been done now with the cleaning It wont be a real need to further reduce it?

Nope

I didn't think it would have been worth opening a new one:

Open one, post some pictures so we have some idea what you are working on, and you can update as you go along.

 

[SniffingKrylon]

The tree seems to be recovering ok, here’s a few pics of it now.

 

[leatherback]

Jay!
Congrats!