Newbie's First Juniper

SlayingCondors · Oct 17, 2016

I've been interested in bonsai for a few months and really wanted a juniper.

They're not at all common in nurseries around here, but I was able to find this tree at the weekend.

It was labelled as Juniperus Chinensis 'Blue Compact', but looking at the needles when I got it home I suspect it might be Juniperus Squamata. Can anyone confirm this?

It's around a metre tall from the top of the pot and is obviously in pretty bad nursery soil.

So far I've just taken the stake out and removed some of the dead material from around the base.

Eventually I'll be cutting it down to at least half its height for styling, but I want to focus on getting it really healthy before I do anything to it. I particularly want to make sure I keep the lower branches healthy so they can be used in a design.

I'm a complete novice, so any advice as to what I should do over the next year would be welcome. When shall I put it in some good, free draining soil?

thomas22 · Oct 17, 2016

Look like you have something to work with. The first thing I would do is figure out your tree design. Look at a lot of pictures of trees and bonsais and try to find ones you like with similar trunks. Second, I would chop it above where your design will be next spring. Remove the branches you will not use in the final design so every branch you will use gets lots of sun. By the end of the summer you may be able to do a first styling. The tree looks really healthy which tells me the soil will be fine until the next spring.
You did good by buying a large tree. Its a lot more fun to chop and develop branching than sit around for years and wait for a trunk to grow. Good Luck.

SlayingCondors · Oct 18, 2016

thomas22 said:
I would chop it above where your design will be next spring. Remove the branches you will not use in the final design so every branch you will use gets lots of sun.

I've read that you shouldn't remove more than 20% of a juniper's foliage. I imagine my final design will only need about 50% or less of what I have. Wouldn't one big chop be bad for the tree's health?

aml1014 · Oct 18, 2016

SlayingCondors said:
I've read that you shouldn't remove more than 20% of a juniper's foliage. I imagine my final design will only need about 50% or less of what I have. Wouldn't one big chop be bad for the tree's health?

It depends on the time of year and after care. I stripped a juniper of easily 80percent of the foliage from and its doing fine. It'll have juvenilengrowth for a while though but that's okay lol

Aaron

thomas22 · Oct 18, 2016

Your 20% number is way too conservative. As long as you have a good amount of healthy foliage left on the tree you should be fine. Chop a little higher than you think to be safe.

defra · Oct 18, 2016

Cool you going to have fun with this one

i removed over 50% of some junipers in spring as after care mist the foliage as much as possible and itl be fine

Smoke · Oct 18, 2016

Whats a metre?

thomas22 · Oct 18, 2016

Smoke said:
Whats a metre?

I think he meant meter. 3.28 feet = 1 meter

0soyoung · Oct 18, 2016

thomas22 said:
I think he meant meter. 3.28 feet = 1 meter

But, en englais et francais, it is metre.
Sacre bleu!
Be glad he's not Welsh.

Smoke · Oct 18, 2016

What is that Whitworth?

SlayingCondors · Jan 17, 2017

As we approach the end of winter, I'm considering repotting this along with my two other pre-bonsai (japanese maple and chinese juniper) into big pots with good, well-draining soil.

My plan is to keep them for at least another year before I do any chopping. I want to make sure they thicken up and get really healthy. No root pruning, just more room to grow and better soil.

I know the deciduous trees will be fine with this, but how will my juniperus squamata handle being bare rooted?

Will it take a while to recover but be good for it in the long run? Or would I be better off keeping it in the dense compost it came in from the nursery until I give it its first chop?

defra · Jan 17, 2017

the pictures in the first post looks like the tree is in good health

if it where mine i would have itchy pruning fingers lol

try to prune some to open it up a bit to get the air and Light into it

i think its ok to bareroot it root prune it and prune it all together but thats me

SlayingCondors · Jun 21, 2021

It's been 4 years since I posted anything about this tree.

It's had a weird journey.

It's mostly been living in my parents' garden since 2018 and I haven't really been making big movements towards making it into a bonsai.

But I still think there's been some interesting (not entirely positive) progression.

I want to share a few pictures here and see what people think - just generally!

One thing I've learned is that juniperus squamata is annoying with its desire to grow outwards and die off near the trunk.

I'm only just figuring out how I might in the future make the tree more compact.

Anyway...
January 2018