New to bonsai need help

[Phake]

I recently purchased a hinoki Cypress online and I'm not sure where to start with it... I'm thinking I wanna keep it a nice upright. Suggestions and comment are greatly appreciated.
The last picture is a buffalo juniper I picked up from the store just to practice some wiring.

 

[Cable]

What are you phaking? Lol. Welcome to the forums. It is usually a good idea to put your location and zone in your profile so folks can tailor advice to your growing conditions.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site! Hinoki can be a heart-breaker, depending on where you live. I agree with @Cable let us know where you live!

 

[Phake]

I will edit my profile shortly but I leave in the Midwest United States Zone 5b.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Hinoki is challenging material. It does not bud back well (or at all) on old wood. The only way to keep interior foliage is to make sure that bright light can penetrate into the foliage mass. This is directly contrary to the natural growth habit of the tree - which tends to want to push growth to the exterior where it expands to form a thick mass. You need to stay up on the foliage management because otherwise the tree will turn into a leggy mess.

I cannot keep these alive in Southern California, but I think it is due to our low humidity and poor water. I would love to hear from anyone who has been successful with these trees over a long period of time (decade or so) just to learn their secrets.

 

[Phake]

Luckily I have plenty of humidity near Chicago. I guess my main concern is about how much I reduce the top and which branches I keep for wiring to allow the light in. However the really test is going to be the winter...

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Would you know which cultivar you have? Not that it really matters, some, like 'Hage's' and 'Nana' grow very slowly, which means you prune as little as possible, because it takes forever to get foliage to fill a gap.

Most cultivars grow at moderate rates, fast enough to work with without special plans.

A few 'wild types' can grow more than a foot per year, and actually can be hard to keep up with, 'Willamet' for example.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

You have skinny trunks, not a fatal flaw, time can cure that. Personal taste, I would get rid of the two skinny side trunks coming up from the ground. I don't see them to be part of the final design. You can keep them for now to help thicken the trunk.

The main trunk has a cluster of branches all at one point. I would thin this to 2 or 3, leaving choices for the future. Keep the ones with foliage closest to the trunk.

Nice start

 

[Phake]

Thanks for your pointers Leo! I plan on removing the lower of the 2 side branches now and leaving one for a year or two just to thicken the trunk like you said. I am contacting the seller about the variety.

 

[Silentrunning]

The best thing you can do if you are new to bonsai is give your shears to a friend and tell him to hide them for a month. There is a TON of knowledge on this site and you won’t regret waiting to hack into your trees. Read all you can and don’t forget YouTube.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

A few 'wild types' can grow more than a foot per year, and actually can be hard to keep up with, 'Willamet' for example.

A number of years ago, I was at a nursery about an hour north of San Francisco. The nursery owner had several massive hinokis in his landscape, that were easily 30' tall. He used them for cuttings

 

[Phake]

The vendor got back to me but he says it's just a "regular Chamaecyparis obtusa".... So best guesses on variety?