Caring for my Chinese Juniper in the tropics?

[thebbes]

Hi! So I've been taking care of plants for some time now (mostly heat resistant ones like Bougainvilleas and Adeniums), and have no experience with Chinese Junipers, or conifers in general. I saw a mid-sized one cheap at my local garden centre and was absolutely pulled in by it. I looked through some videos online, but none of them really cover taking care of these plants in the tropics, and since I knew this site exists, I thought I'd ask before buying.

So one thing I'm thinking about a lot is temperature: the videos I watched all talk about winter, and since that obviously isn't applicable to me, what approach should I take given the temps here range from 20°C—35°C? I genuinely have no idea what I should do considering all my plants so far have actually grown BETTER under the blazing sun year round, and I know this plant would react differently.

Secondly, how should I water it? The information I've gotten so far from searching online has kind of been conflicting — do I water it as much as I can, or do I leave it to dry as much as I can? What do you guys think?

Lastly, just what kind of general info would you give regarding soil and pruning? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Shibui]

Some north Queensland growers have reported that J. chinensis grows well in tropical areas but no direct details. Hopefully someone with tropical experience will jump in and give direct help.
The fact they grow well means there is no requirement for dormancy or winter. Your trees will probably grow all year round.

Junipers do not like soggy soil but they also don't like being too dry. I grow mine in my standard potting mix - same as all other trees here, so soil mix is probably not critical but well drained is probably advisable. My soil mix drains well so I just water whenever needed which can be twice a day in summer. I have not yet lost any to overwatering. A different soil mix would require different watering regime.
My junipers are mostly in full sun (hot, dry summers) but also grow well under 50% shade in summer, especially those in smaller containers.

Pruning is like most plants - as required and depending on what you want the tree to do.
To DEVELOP a juniper: allow shoots to grow unpruned to get thickening. Shoots you intend to use as part of the bonsai need to be pruned before the older needles drop. They do not shoot reliably from bare wood. Sacrifice branches work well to thicken certain parts of a trunk or branch. Allow sacrifice branches to grow as long as needed to thicken the tree but be prepared to chop any sacrifice if the bonsai parts start to loose vigour. Remove lower foliage on sacrifice branches to minimise shading on the bonsai parts of the tree.

To MAINTAIN juniper: allow shoots to grow a little then trim back to shape with scissors. trimming may be required 2 or 3 times each season. Maybe more where growing season is longer.