Juniper Procumbens Literati in the Making

[Bonsai Forest]

Simple Big Box retail bonsai makes for easy beginner compositions



New pot is prepped with mesh and anchor wires for stabilization


Removing placed moss
Removing plenty of soil from root ball



Placed in 50/50 organic and pumice
Stabilized, structure pruned, and wired for style




Final touches, cleaning up



Tea bags with Bigold Original tied to wire and lower trunk, watered and fertilized


Juniper Procumbens tolerate heavy pruning, repotting, and heavy fertilizing quite easily and wonderfully. This tree will respond very well without worry

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Design options

If you have suggestions for creative and interesting trunk line design, I would love to see them!

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Fun with filters


Round pots would look nice
Bowled or flat, either is fine

 

[bwaynef]

Kudos for not making a cascade juniper from cheap bigbox juniper material!

I'd suggest you use thicker wire on the trunk, and maybe 2 strands. Then you could get the trunk upright w/o having to repot it. They're plenty flexible with enough encouragement (thicker wire).

Also, go ahead and start developing the pads now.

 

[Eckhoffw]

View attachment 539681

Design options

If you have suggestions for creative and interesting trunk line design, I would love to see them!

I’m liking #1. Nice start.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Kudos for not making a cascade juniper from cheap bigbox juniper material!

I'd suggest you use thicker wire on the trunk, and maybe 2 strands. Then you could get the trunk upright w/o having to repot it. They're plenty flexible with enough encouragement (thicker wire).

Also, go ahead and start developing the pads now.

I’ll begin on pads right away, my man. I may lonely wait until the next repot to reposition to more upright

 

[Bonsai Forest]

I’ll begin on pads right away, my man. I may lonely wait until the next repot to reposition to more upright

I wonder how much more I could bend without breaking fully. I did not hear crack, but inside the elbow can only bend so much. You’re making me think now

 

[Eckhoffw]

A Raffia or electrical tape wrap may help.
And like @bwaynef said, I would also use two pieces of smaller wire instead of one very large piece. For me, it’s a lot harder to get a nice and tight wind with really thick wire.

 

[bwaynef]

To clarify, I was suggesting using thicker wire and maybe 2 strands of it (thicker wire). I did exactly that and got just about all the movement I needed on some pronana junipers last year. 2 smaller strands cut in faster.

If you have difficulty getting the bends you want, use jin pliers.