Old juniper in Northern BC?

[Salcomine]

Hi,

Last fall my cousin gifted me this juniper because it was giving her hives when she worked on it.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this thing. This is the only tree I have that I didn't start myself and I feel out of my depth. It's was given to her by her father law about a decade ago and it was passed on to him in the 70s. It's also spent almost It's entire life in a much warmer climate about 500km south of me. When I checked it out earlier this week it appears to have made it through the winter so now I gotta figure out what to do with it. It didn't appear to be root bound when I pulled it from the pot to put it in the ground for the winter. The growth appears to be predominantly juvenile and from what I was told it wasn't fed that hard for the last couple years.

Any recommendations for this guy going forward? I want to focus on getting it growing vigorously through my short growing season.

Thanks
Salcomine

 

[Salcomine]

This is it today by the way, hopefully be able to pull it out of the ground next week.

 

[Salcomine]

Well it's alive, there's a couple big branches that didn't make it and one that's real weak.


I've Cleaned all the dead little branches and the one big dead one.



There's a big band of no roots in the middle looks like it was previously a mix of garden soil, wood shavings and granite gravel. Is that a thing? There's a tiny bit of pumice so I'm thinking of shaking some more of the soil out and replacing it with a mix of pumice, lava and floor dry.

Any thoughts?
Thanks Salcomine

 

[Japonicus]

pumice + lava rock + either akadama, Turface, or Monto Clay.

What you have soil wise, is not compacted. The only other reason to repot would be
to alleviate damp soggy soil if heat of full Sun is not enough, or because you did not like the pot
AND the soil was compacted (not percolating).

 

[Salcomine]

OK cool, I'm on the right track then. It wasn't in a pot over the winter as it gets -30°C here so there's a decent chance of it cracking. It wasn't wired into the pot either so just putting it back in for the season. I don't think there was a real good amount of moisture getting to the middle as there's no roots there and the top was covered in moss. I can't imagine it not being a bit soggy in places cause of the garden soil. I'll just top up the soil and see how it does.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Japonicus]

I can't imagine it not being a bit soggy in places cause of the garden soil.

Regardless of what root work you do to begin transitioning to bonsai soil
the brown dead foliage in the canopy needs to be removed, but no wholesale
pruning yet. One sure way to slow a juniper or pine down, is to work on its roots
in consecutive years, yet you're going to be repotting this every year.
I would make a wooden pot for it sometime maybe a tad smaller than the one it's in,
while you're on the hunt for a pot that will withstand Winter.
One fired to cone 10 or 11 and non glazed should handle Winter ok.
Then you could heal the pot and all into the ground each year, and mulch it good.
This will allow the tree to gain more vigour, not disturbing the roots each year.

You seem to be in zone 5a perhaps? Indeed a short growing season.

Maybe not this year, but you need to consider a true repotting and replace a good bit
of the soil. Be sure to leave a good amount in the crown and rake out the lower 50%.
Rake the surface some too, radially, and see what's going on with the nebari.
A bit of a trim of the roots to down size a little before you wire it into its pot.
Again, maybe not this year, but while it's out of the pot you should replace some of the soil
in all directions. Bowl, as in a small dish, bowl out the bottom centre, and tease the roots radially
from underneath and on top. You'll lose more soil than you think, because I don't think
it has been 3 years since its last repot. Just try to stay less than 50% volume. Your juniper is weak.


I have a blue pfitzer juniper that breaks my skin out when it contacts my arms and back of my hands,
so I wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves when I work on it. It is in the ground though and I plan on
lifting it in a year or two. Pfitzer juniper are ground safe to zone 3, but don't know what juniper you have.

 

[19Mateo83]

This juniper has loads of potential with that base and trunk. I hope it does well. That pot is pretty too!

 

[Salcomine]

Thanks for all the info, making a box is a great idea as I have a few other trees I boxes ive made. I wish I was in zone 4a, but the canadian and American zone might be bit different its zone 3 here in Canada. I might just be being overly cautious with the pot, this other juniper made it through without damage to the pot, only one of my pots actually broke this year. I teased out the lower half of the soil and replaced it with new and trimmed the dead smaller branches, left the big dead one on for now.








I'm pretty hopeful that a good year of feeding will get the roots nice and strong. Most of my trees by the fall have roots trying to come out the bottom or attaching to the ground like this cedar I also did today.

 

[Salcomine]

This juniper has loads of potential with that base and trunk. I hope it does well. That pot is pretty too!

Thanks, yeah it's a pretty nice tree.

 

[19Mateo83]

I love your potting bench

 

[Salcomine]

Hehehe if it works it works







Need to clean to concrete but there she is for the summer. You can see the super weak lower branch here.

 

[Japonicus]

Hehehe if it works it worksView attachment 432148

View attachment 432149


View attachment 432150


Need to clean to concrete but there she is for the summer. You can see the super weak lower branch here.

Have you done the paper test for mites?
Todays picture looks less green than previous posts with similar lighting.

 

[Salcomine]

I haven't tested for mites, I assume just shake over a piece of paper? Could just be my phone it's old. Like its not strong by any means not sure what was being done to it to get almost 100% juvenile growth.

 

[Japonicus]

Hold a white envelope or sheet of paper under a foliage pad a d tap the top of the pad repeatedly. Lay the paper down and watch for a few seconds. Spider mites are smaller than . on my phones mey pad, but actually about the size of. on my phones screen. They will begin crawling, smear your finger over them and thet will leave brown or red streaks. I would repeat on multiple locations and all your bonsai.

 

[Paradox]

The yellowing foliage is a huge concern. I hope its just its winter coloring since you are still having snow, but it's not looking good. It looks weak and potting it might not have been the best thing for it right now.

Better check it out for mites asap and treat it asap if it has them.

Sorry to say it but it might be too weak and/or too late

 

[Japonicus]

The yellowing foliage is a huge concern. I hope its just its winter coloring since you are still having snow, but it's not looking good. It looks weak and potting it might not have been the best thing for it right now.

Better check it out for mites asap and treat it asap if it has them.

Sorry to say it but it might be too weak and/or too late

I agree wholly. Progressively more yellow since the thread started, not one I would expect
to make it through Summer. Un potting and repotting annually never a good idea.

 

[Salcomine]

I think most of the yellowing is an artifact of the camera, the green newer growth is quite similar to all the other trees. There's definitely some yellowing of the older growth I haven't removed.