Need Shaping Advice

JaiDoubleU

Seedling
Messages
5
Reaction score
1
I received this little juniper for Christmas and would like some advice on shaping it. Any thoughts would be appreciated
BAEEB27F-CB0F-434E-87BC-73923689F288.jpeg
 

Wires_Guy_wires

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
6,408
Reaction score
10,630
Location
Netherlands
My first thought is: daaang is this indoors since christmas and still alive?! Duuuude!
That's some skill, or luck. Either way, nice.

As for shaping, one of the key factors in bonsai is the display of age (either faked or real). Things that show age on junipers are trunk thickness, trunk/branch taper and deadwood.
The plant you have is basically a year old cutting, and looks the part. Since it's actively growing new shoots right now, now is not the time to do any wiring.

To get a more aged look it has to age. You could do that in this pot, but that process will take around 15-50 years.
If you were to plant it out in the garden or a huge pot, closer to 5-10 years.
If you go to a gardening or hardware store and pick up a 10 dollar procumbens juniper, you can do this trick in a day - but you'll have to find a new home for your current plant, or just get another pot and set them next to each other.

Growing plants can be fun and rewarding. But growing plants larger in pots that are restricting their growth can be a painstakingly slow process. You're absolutely free to give it a go! I can recommend it!
But if you want to wire and style trees, I'd go bigger and cut those back to a small tree. It'll cost you 10 bucks for a plant, another 20 for a pot and some money for some wire, but it'll give you three things fast: practice, experience/insights and results.

I bought two procumbens two days ago. They're about a foot and a half wide and about 1 foot in height. I'm reducing them to about 6 inches wide and 10 inches tall.
 

Shibui

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
15,210
Location
Yackandandah, Australia
USDA Zone
9?
Yes, all the above.
It is entirely up to the grower what their trees look like. Aged and interesting is definitely my aim but some people just want a small tree in a pot (we call these mallsai because that's what is sold cheap in malls at christmas). If that's your aim you just need to keep trimming the new shoots that grow longer than looks good. Trimming growing shoots won't usually hurt your tree provided you always leave plenty of green needles on the tree.

@Wires_Guy_wires has alluded to junipers indoors. Generally they do not grow well indoors and fade away either slowly or quicker so advice is to give junipers fresh air and sunshine.
 

Arnold

Omono
Messages
1,760
Reaction score
2,665
Location
Canary Islands, Spain
USDA Zone
11B
Let it snow le it snow.. I mean let it grow let it grow... 🤣 and put it outside please
 
Top Bottom