Nursery nana advice

[ManSkirtBrew]

I picked this guy up back in March. It's my first juniper.

I was advised not to repot or prune it until next year, which matches up with most of the advice I've read about junipers, so it's been living in the nursery pot since. It seems really happy and healthy, and showed solid growth through spring and early summer.

Now I'm seeing a bunch of browning, but it seems confined to the lower branches that are shaded by the growth on top.

So what would you do? Is this normal and I should just let it be until late winter/early spring? Do I start pruning during summer dormancy and leave it in the nursery pot? Do I do a partial repot now, pruning half-ish of the roots down? Would I then repot again in the late winter/early spring?



Here's what it looked like when I bought it, for comparison to now:

 

[bonsaichile]

Dont prune, but clean up the foliage a bit, taking out downwars growth, straight upward growth, and some of the growth in the crotch of the branches. The idea is to open up the foliage to let sunlight and air in, allowing it to backbud and to preserve the interior growth

 

[bonsaichile]

And, btw, you can prune now if you want. I always prune my junipers in the Summer without a problem. Just dont remove too much foliage

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Keeping in mind all the great advice I've gotten so far (don't make a poodle!), I gave 'er a trim and clean up without removing any major branches. I want to think on the tree and come up with a direction first. It seems to be a natural semi-cascade, but I'm open to any opinions or inspiration.

Before and after:



It doesn't look like much, but I removed a ton of foliage. The tree has a lot of back budding and new growth, and other than the yellowing bits that I think are from lack of sunlight penetration, it seems very healthy.

So, a few more questions for you helpful folks. When I bought it, it was buried past the first major branch. The roots have become a solid mass of mangrove like growth, which is impossible to comb out. Is it okay to cut all those roots back to the trunk and dig down to find the actual root flare if there is one? My plan was to do that now to help decide what the trunk line looks like and repot it next season.



And finally, the branch structure now that we can see it. There are a lot of crossing and parallel branches. How would you decide what to keep and what to ditch? I'm still working on the skill of visualizing the final tree.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Independence day bump. Happy 4th, everyone!

 

[Japonicus]

...It's my first juniper.

View attachment 198831

This picture with the wire stand behind your juniper...
...what kind of plant is in the small bonsai pot on the right over this juniper? Looks like a procumbens to me.

This is a great time to clean up the foliage and prune unwanted crowding foliage out. Remove all debris,
sharp spray the foliage when done with hose nozzle/stream. When foliage has dried a good spraying with
insecticidal soap would be timely. Cut paste seal the larger cuts first.

 

[Japonicus]

And finally, the branch structure now that we can see it. There are a lot of crossing and parallel branches. How would you decide what to keep and what to ditch? I'm still working on the skill of visualizing the final tree.

View attachment 198933View attachment 198934View attachment 198935View attachment 198936

It will come to you. Buy more. More practice more 1st handed experience.
Now, remove no more GOOD foliage. They are solar panels for strength. Build it back up.

Starting at the top, you want to work with gravity...
Pinch and crumble out the dried brown and twigs before any insecticide, and clean up the debris
down the trunk to and including the soil surface.
Once cleaned up, when doing this with bonsai soil, you'd want to cover the soil surface to limit debris
that falls down and is difficult to remove and clean up.

Sure, maybe later in the Summer surface root work might be advisable, but the tree was in need of light in its interior
thus the browning + the removed foliage...might want to give a little recoop time before working the mangrove down some.
Do the more major root work next year if you're happy with this years progress.
Any roots growing out of the trunk could be snipped off at trunk and soil surface now I suppose.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

This picture with the wire stand behind your juniper...
...what kind of plant is in the small bonsai pot on the right over this juniper? Looks like a procumbens to me.

That's a shimpaku, and is my third juniper. My second one is this little guy I posted about the other day.

 

[Japonicus]

That's a shimpaku, and is my third juniper. My second one is this little guy I posted about the other day.

Ah, I see. Number(1st) in order of when you got it, not that this is your 1st one, and only...internet...
Reminds me a little bit of one of my 1st 3g nursery procumbens. I didn't like the trunk on it for several years, then worked with
what the tree gave me, and ya know, it finally succumbed to something unknown to me rather quickly, and I miss that tree the most now.
No idea how long I had it, but the pics are 7 yrs apart

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

After reading through this recent thread, I decided to take @sorce's advice and fuckroot my juniper. I gave it a bit of a trim while I was at it, since I'd have to reduce the root mass as well. I want to prune it harder and wire it, but I'll wait for next season for that. Let's make sure I didn't murder it first.

First picture is where we started. Last picture is in 1:1:1 lava:turface:bark.

 

[sorce]

Nice.....

But you fellers was late!

I'd get repots done before Sunday for this one....8/5

Water water water.

Sorce

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

I know I'm a little late. I've been trying to repot since Thursday and the days keep slipping away. I put the pot in a large humidity tray in the shade on my workbench. Fingers crossed!

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

The one week update. Seems no worse for wear. It is still out of direct sun, living in a humidity tray, and getting daily mistings.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Two weeks and holding strong. Time to get back out in the sun and drink some Neptune's Harvest.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

A month later, I think we're out of the woods, so to speak. Going to leave it alone for a while and think about how to style it.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Hey all! A year and a half later, I'm happy to report this guy is still doing well.

He's also still in that pot. I've got some wire and I've watched a thousand videos on wiring, I'm just still not really there on how to get from here to something that looks reasonably like a bonsai.

My instinct is to do a cascade or semi cascade. I was hoping I could talk through some of my thoughts and get input from the more experienced folks. Especially with this dumb pandemic, I can't really get hands-on help.

Here's how he looks:



The branch going off to the right seems a natural for the cascading bit, but it's made up of two large trunks which are fairly short, then two much thinner leaders:



I thought about trying to straighten out the far right one and use that for the cascade, but since it just kind of stops and the smaller branch comes off the side of it, I'm not sure if that's the right way to go.

Here's a pic from the opposite side, where you can see how the other large part of that branch makes a hard bend. I'm wondering if that should be turned into jin or left as a back branch:



Don't even get me started on foliage pads

Anyway, any advice is so very welcome.

OH! One more thing--the trunk was buried all the way up to the first branches from the nursery dirt, so there are a ton of hairy roots growing out of it. Is there a reasonable way to clean this up? I've been working at it with small scissors without a whole lot of progress.

 

[Japonicus]

so there are a ton of hairy roots growing out of it. Is there a reasonable way to clean this up? I've been working at it with small scissors without a whole lot of progress.

1st stop and recover.

March 29, 2020

May 14, 2020

When the tips are plump, which should have already occurred (I have one nana that has not) and if you pinch a tip
it leaves a watery residue it is primed and ready to work the roots. Runners are a good sign too.
In the stage of growth your foliage is in right now, would not be prudent to anything but promoting recovery this year.
Half of the project looks precariously healthy, the part you
suggested for a cascade looks troubled. So, yeh sorce had issues with osmocote burning the roots on one side of
his nursery can in the Sun, but I would be leery to even lift it from the can it's in too see. Maybe late Summer have a peek
but if it's health is upgrading then no reason to look, let the roots go undisturbed unless you're putting it in the ground no pot.

What is the green wire about the roots?

As for the roots a bonsai rake and root hook do very well to clean from the central underside of the rootball and a pair of sheers
scissors and a branch cutter to get at the largest of roots to make sit properly flat in the pot when secured.
Good chance you'll pot down smaller next succession and will be removing more nursery soil as you progressively pot the tree.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Half of the project looks precariously healthy, the part you suggested for a cascade looks troubled.

When you say troubled, can you give me a little information on what makes you say so? That way I can tell bad from good.

What is the green wire about the roots?

That's aluminum wire that was holding the tree into the pot when I first put it in.

As for the roots a bonsai rake and root hook do very well to clean from the central underside of the rootball and a pair of sheers scissors and a branch cutter to get at the largest of roots to make sit properly flat in the pot when secured.

I was going to do this when I repotted it down to a smaller pot, probably toward the end of summer. If the tree isn't healthy as you suggest, I do want to make sure it's back to good health first. I'm in no hurry, certainly.

Thank you for the insight!

 

[Japonicus]

When you say troubled, can you give me a little information on what makes you say so? That way I can tell bad from good.

Sure. See the 2nd branch on the right here, the one not cascading?

It's not just shade and light mixture affecting the photo, the colour is off and by no means happy our plump.


The entire left half of this picture demonstrates and answers the question.

Looking to the right half I see that upper branch has some promise in it.
Enough that if left to recover this year, it may reward you next year.
The bottom right branch in this picture from the left half shows no promise in that small snapshot.
It may be shaded interior growth from what you had started with and opened up. Give the Sun and food a chance
to awaken it. I would feed weekly with fish emulsion and super thrive till Summer.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Give the Sun and food a chance to awaken it. I would feed weekly with fish emulsion and super thrive till Summer.

That I can do. Full sun for this guy?