Will my juniper survive?

[drip]

New to bonsai, bought this juniper off fb marketplace for $20, pot had no drainage holes, fake moss, super glued rocks, and bad soil, repotted it 4 weeks ago and cut off a layer of rotten roots, now in lava/pumice/akadama/pine bark, barerooted it because I didn’t know, washed off all the old soil and soaked the roots but also didn’t know I should water the new soil so it was in dry bonsai soil for about 4 hours then deeply watered, been hitting it with superthrive since. Noticed a bunch of new growth on the tips and long shoots in some spots. Will he live and does it have potential for a shohin or should I just restart on new material? Trunk is a little over an inch, no idea where the front is or what to do with the long sweep on top, couple thick lateral branches hidden by the foliage, haven’t pruned it at all other than some snipping browned up shoots from the repot. Please help

 

[Kodama]

Hey it looks healthy to me so far from the pics but there is typically a somewhat longer delay effect from anything you do on junipers. Glad to see you know now that full bare root on juniper is not recommended. It looks like a young plant with alot of foliage so you might be ok. Just dont prune anything and leave it alone for a year and monitor. Now that you are in full inorganic mix you will need to be diligent about watering. Do not let it dry out.

 

[drip]

Hey it looks healthy to me so far from the pics but there is typically a somewhat longer delay effect from anything you do on junipers. Glad to see you know now that full bare root on juniper is not recommended. It looks like a young plant with alot of foliage so you might be ok. Just dont prune anything and leave it alone for a year and monitor. Now that you are in full inorganic mix you will need to be diligent about watering. Do not let it dry out.

Got it, i’ve been resisting the urge to prune since I bought it and I water pretty much daily. Should I buy better juniper material or do you think i can work with this? Going to the bonsai show in august and i’m bound to find something decent and healthy.

 

[Kodama]

Ha, i will always advocate for buying another one in any case. Time will tell you if and when you can work with the one you have. But patience will be required while you wait for signs of good recovery next year. That's why you buy another one, and another so you can have more to work on and learn in the process. I would only buy better material on the types you are familiar with and you know you can keep alive. Unless you want to feel the pain of loss with bravado and ignorance. Ask me how I know.

 

[Shibui]

Younger trees are generally more resilient than an older tree of the same species so we can get away with things that are not advisable with older trees. I've had no problems bare rooting young junipers so I would not count that as a fatal error. It's probably a good move where the original spoil has been causing root problems because leaving any bad soil in a pot is likely to cause more problems down the track.
As mentioned, it can take some weeks for problems to show up on junipers but, fingers crossed, yours will come through this unscathed.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Concur with the above.

Considering the situation and your location would put this tree is 30% shade for the summer to help ease the transition.

Cheers
DSD sends