New to Junipers

[Drekula]

I'm a bonsai newbie, killed my first two trees by pruning during a heatwave. After taking a break for a year, I decided to kick things off again with a nursery stock juniper. The nurseryman told me this was a "blue point" juniper and was about 15 years old. I chose to Jin the main trunk to create a deadwood apex. I'm hopeful that it survives a harsh pruning and soft repotting. I still need to do some more work on the deadwood to make it look more natural. I am mostly just proud of my design choices and want to share, but am open to design/care/fertilization advice.

 

[Potawatomi13]

IMO pray it survives.

 

[BonjourBonsai]

Looks good! I would let it rest and recover before doing anything more. If you've got itchy fingers, buy some marked-down, after-holiday trees from Home Depot, Lowe's or other places. I'm heading to HD today to check the sales.

 

[Drekula]

Just an update on this Juniper: It has new growth and appears to be doing well! I won't do any more pruning for at least a year or two.

 

[Drekula]

Here is sorta my goal with this bonsai project. I don’t love the lack of significant movement in the trunk, but I don’t know what can be done at this point. Any suggestions?

 

[ZombieNick]

This one is tough. Right now you have a lot going against you. All your growth is off of three leggy, similar sized branches, originating from the same point on the trunk. I would look to grow this out as much as I could, possibly even putting it back in the ground to grow all new branches. I think, over time, you will be unsatisfied with the design in your mockup, and it is best to correct the issues now than 10 years from now.

I am confident this will survive, our climate here in Socal allows us to work Junipers a little harder than you typically read about, and you did the cutback at an appropriate time.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

View attachment 467478
I'm a bonsai newbie, killed my first two trees by pruning during a heatwave. After taking a break for a year, I decided to kick things off again with a nursery stock juniper. The nurseryman told me this was a "blue point" juniper and was about 15 years old. I chose to Jin the main trunk to create a deadwood apex. I'm hopeful that it survives a harsh pruning and soft repotting. I still need to do some more work on the deadwood to make it look more natural. I am mostly just proud of my design choices and want to share, but am open to design/care/fertilization advice.

Beef it up for a couple years to regain what was removed from it. After that, extend a top branch to create the top/peak of the apex (pointed or arched). Might be helpful to follow somewhat of a cone-shaped silhouette. Imagine the tips of the branches create the silhouette.

It might be wise to also not hide two of the three branches behind the tree. Because the tree is extremely short at its size and thickness, something needs to extend beyond the deadwood/trunk. The far right branch could extend upward, and the branch in the middle could extend around to the right and towards the front. The bottom far left branch could simply be fanned out slightly more from rear to front (giving more body and 3D effect).

 

[Bonsai Forest]

examples: