Next time, remove about half the roots straight across the bottom.
concave the root ball maybe 2” deep at most while you’re learning to style the roots.
Tease out radially, and begin practicing what you learn in repotting videos by known bonsai artists,
transitioning to bonsai soil. Even though they’re dealing with bonsai (not projects), the technique is
pretty much the same.
This will be done in a vessel that accommodates the nursery foliage, be it a bigger pot,
a wooden grow box you make, or a pond basket should have enough height, but needs more water.
Notice I haven’t mentioned styling the foliage. The foliage will drive recovery of the roots, always.
The following year start on the foliage. Certainly not before late July-August same year you might
open the foliage some to get light and air in.
I often do the reverse, styling the foliage with little to no wiring, and certainly no big bends
as Spring time, the cambium is more apt to break apart and not heal. We just typically do not
do both to nursery projects in the same year. Repotting 2 years in a row also is not advised.
Whatever vessel you go with, be sure to secure the root ball to the pot so that it does not move much.
Always repot a juniper that has lush healthy foliage and leave the foliage.
You can trim off something to get it into the pot, under growth that will require more energy
to live rather than providing energy (out of Sun light) and leave as much interior foliage that may
be usable to the design later, that you can. Sounds backwards? It’s a learning curve.
You don’t want Pom poms, with bare branches for so much distance from trunk to branching
yet you want to remove inessential energy drawing foliage not producing energy.
So remove a snip here, and a snip there to get light inside. But the new growing tips is where
the most energy is being driven from. Remove those is removing life. It’s a balance once you
get familiar with it.