New Juniper nursery stock - where to begin?

[bsdlain]

I was able to get this Junper Parsonii this afternoon. It has an incredibly thick trunk, and a nice natural shape -- though a little big. I have it sitting in the sun, the nursery had it in partial sun and the leaves were a little yellow. It's the middle of summer, so I don't want to repot, but I honestly don't know anything about this type of Juniper. I'm tempted to just let it grow into the spring, but I want to be sure. My questions are:

1. Should I slip pot it? The root ball feels tight, I tried to tug a bit at the tree, and dig my finger into the soil and it just felt really hard.
2. Should I put it in a basket, like a mesh pot?
3. Should I start the wire process, or wait until next year?
4. Should I trim?

If someone needs better pictures let me know. I'm zone 7.

Thank you!

 

[Forsoothe!]

I think I understand why this post has 42 views and no comments. The pictures don't actually convey information that can be used. First, click on your Icon in the upper right corner and enter your location. People familiar with your city climate/conditions will be able to give you more specific instructions. Sit down with your tree and clean it up. Remove dead twigs, but not dead heavy branches; remove small live twigs on the trunk and within 1 inch of the trunk on major branches, they will not be useful in the final design; use a toothbrush and sweep the soil away from the base of the tree to reveal what the trunk nebari looks like. The nebari is where the roots begin to flare out from the trunk at the soil level. Then take some photos to show here. Ideally, take pictures on overcast days with the sun at your back and a have sheet or cardboard or other plain background behind the tree so we can focus on the details. Raise the tree to be eyeball height level with the camera's lens, so you are looking straight into the tree, not up , not down. We need to see the branches. Pictures from all four sides should do to begin with. Then you'll get lots of replies.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

@Forsoothe! I see what most beginners do when people advise them to remove weak live twigs.. They tend to end up with pompoms: bare branches with a bunch of foliage on the ends.
Then people tell them to start grafting because there's no interior foliage left.
That process seems kind of backwards to me.

I believe that's not the most viable approach. When conditions are right and care is on point, weak-ish branches can be strong within a year and those can become valuable for the final design.

When I started to flip the entire process around, by cleaning up dead stuff and then wiring the trunk and main branches before removing weaker stuff, I found that I have way more options to work with.
Once those backbones are set, it's way easier to select what you'd want to keep and what to remove. Some weaker stuff gets full sun all of a sudden and has a chance to become strong, and since those twigs are usually younger, they backbud easier and have their foliage closer to the trunk.

It's not a set-in-stone kind of approach and there are drawbacks to it too, but I believe it's worth consideration. Not all of us have the eye of a professional and most of us have no clue where a design should go (or should've gone) until halfway through the process. I think leaving those options open gives people a kind of safety net to fall back to. Which is basically a second or even a third chance; just remove the wire and start over.

Wiring junipers in summer isn't advisable though. And I fully agree with the rest of your comment.

 

[Shibui]

I agree with Wires. Some smaller shoots can be really useful long term. Clean up a bit but don't overdo initially.
Back to the original questions. There is not one 'right' answer.
I am assuming you are in Northern hemisphere with this advice. I'm sure you know where you are but we don't. Adding a location to your profile will allow people to give advice matched to your location.

Junipers of this size are often quite root bound. Slip potting will not solve that problem but might just give you some breathing space to keep it alive until appropriate repotting time. Slip potting does have potential disadvantages - if the roots do not grow out into the new soil in time the inner root ball can dry out even though the new soil is damp. Slip potting does not solve the problem just delays it. You should monitor slip potted plants closely until a proper repotting can rectify the original problem.
Baskets can be good but will not solve the problem of root bound original soil. Same applies as slip potting above.
You can wire and prune if you think you know what you want from the tree. Be careful with bending at this time of year as bark can separate and kill branches if they are handled roughly in summer while the tree is active. Many juniper growers prefer to bend when the tree is not growing so fast to reduce the risk of dead branches.
Pruning now is fine. Removing some of the excess foliage will make it easier to keep enough water in that compact root ball over summer. If you can make a nice shape out of it that's a bonus.

 

[bsdlain]

Thanks everyone. I've updated by profile. I'll clean it up and take some better pictures this afternoon

 

[Forsoothe!]

I see what most beginners do when people advise them to remove weak live twigs.. They tend to end up with pompoms: bare branches with a bunch of foliage on the ends.

Looking at photo #1, you can't make a decision about anything with all the stuff in the way. What I said was, "Remove dead twigs, but not dead heavy branches; remove small live twigs on the trunk and within 1 inch of the trunk on major branches...". That kind of foliage violates the definition of what is major wood and is usually dead or dying and blocks the view of the major wood upon which you make decisions. It doesn't serve to have dead twigs and dead foliage anywhere, it blocks light and gets in the way of growing foliage or buds. If you didn't get the fine point of , "within 1 inch", then the OP may have missed that, too, so it's good that we parse this more deeply. We agree on the rest of your comments.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

I think if you want to slip pot it....
You should just burn it!

Slip potting has absolutely no place in Bonsai.

Nursery pots get so full of roots you can see the indents, even read the PFTE and recycle symbol on some!

As soon as you remove it from that shape, water just runs off of it.

I'd slip...myself a roofie before swimming before slip potting anything.

Sorce

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Looking at photo #1, you can't make a decision about anything with all the stuff in the way. What I said was, "Remove dead twigs, but not dead heavy branches; remove small live twigs on the trunk and within 1 inch of the trunk on major branches...". That kind of foliage violates the definition of what is major wood and is usually dead or dying and blocks the view of the major wood upon which you make decisions. It doesn't serve to have dead twigs and dead foliage anywhere, it blocks light and gets in the way of growing foliage or buds. If you didn't get the fine point of , "within 1 inch", then the OP may have missed that, too, so it's good that we parse this more deeply. We agree on the rest of your comments.

I didn't miss it, if those major branches turn out to be pencil thick and the trees maximum final height is limited to a couple inches, then what's left is a pompom tree.
I could've clarified it better I suppose.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Hey, looks like some solid material to work with. I wouldn’t worry about the roots yet. I am not a Juniper expert, but I would think a half bare root (HBR) into an Anderson flat, next Spring will give you an optimal chance at development and survival. In the mean time, look for the tree within the tree. Since Junipers are dependent on their foliage for energy more so then other species, you could identify sections destined for removal, but only remove the growth between your future tree and what will be left for now as sacrifice growth. This lets light into your future design while retaining some sacrifice growth to accelerate the work on the roots.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I didn't miss it, if those major branches turn out to be pencil thick and the trees maximum final height is limited to a couple inches, then what's left is a pompom tree.

If the branches are pencil thick, then it belongs a couple inches tall. Growing stock is what nurseries do better than bonsaiists. Want a bigger tree? Buy bigger stock.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Hey @bsdlain any update?