Creeping Juniper - First Bonsai Progression

[mopifish]

HI everyone! I just got my first bonsai today (a creeping juniper from my local nursery), and with some wonderful advice from @pandacular pruned it into a shape.
Since this is my first ever Bonsai, I thought it'd be fun to start a progression thread

This was the initial Juniper, which I had help picking out. It had a thick, central trunk compared to all the others and a really awesome branch structure which will be revealed shortly




This was the second stage, after I had pinched off enough needles to reveal the trunk, as well as removed the most errant branches. I had a lot of doubt and concerns about progressing at this point, but was still pretty thrilled about how cool it looked already!



After a lot of debate, this is the final shape I arrived at. I decided that the swooping branch was too beautiful to NOT focus on and that I should try to turn it into a semi-cascade.
There's a stray branch on the back I haven't decided what to do with yet, but I really enjoyed how it looked on its lonesome, so I'm sure I'll figure out some use for it!

All the cuts are also liberally covered with cinnamon. The bonsai employee at the nursery said sealant was important to prevent infections, and that cinnamon was all he used (though you could go out and buy sealant).
I'm not sure if cuts this small really needed to be sealed, but since I was being so aggressive I decided to err on the side of caution.



I also chopped off the extra lip from the plastic pot and shook off some top layer soil to reveal the trunk a bit better. There were a LOT of top-layer roots sticking out, and a few creeping out from the trunk itself.
I remember hearing about this type of root, and that it had something to do with the tree being in distress water-wise? I Can't fully remember.
It looks like there are roots creeping out the bottom of the pot too, which makes me think it's pretty severely pot-bound.

From what I've heard re-potting is a pretty stressful thing for the plant though, so it may be a while before I get to do that, especially after such an aggressive pruning.
Any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!

Overall I'm pretty thrilled, and super excited to see where this little tree goes!

 

[Ruddigger]

You removed what I would have kept. Keeping the interior and cutting back the length would improve the sense of scale.

The cinnamon thing is interesting, I’ve never heard that before.

 

[pandacular]

I should first disclaim all advice I give by saying I don't even have a year more of experience than you do, but I appreciate that you accepted my wisdom of sending it . Happy to share my thoughts as a fellow beginner who has become obsessed.

After a lot of debate, this is the final shape I arrived at. I decided that the swooping branch was too beautiful to NOT focus on and that I should try to turn it into a semi-cascade.

Love this. as they say, let the tree lead the dance: you've gotta play to it's strengths and find what makes you love the tree.

There's a stray branch on the back I haven't decided what to do with yet, but I really enjoyed how it looked on its lonesome, so I'm sure I'll figure out some use for it!

I would need to see more angles of the tree to say, but I like the reasoning of keeping it until the future. There are tons of things you can do with it by keeping it alive and exactly none you can do after you cut it off (well, unless you prepare first!)
The cinnamon thing...well remember what I said about taking everything you hear with a grain of salt? I do agree that these cuts likely don't need after treatment, but I wouldn't rely on cinnamon for when you make cuts that do.

Regarding the overall design, I think I agree with the comments from the others that traditionally you'd want to drive growth to inner areas and divert it from outer (apical, of the apex) regions. This has design and horticulture reasons, but none of them are tree breakers. One option is to do what Frank recommended, and "chase" foliage back inside. Another option is to lean into the "poms poms" look if that's what you want for this tree. A lot of people will use the phrase "poms poms" derogatorily, and I can understand the dislike of it, but it can be really fun.

On the second part, on the more fine growth I advised you on, you seem to have done a really nice job! I would need more pics to see details, but what I can see looks nice. Going back to the piece about diverting energy into the interior, I'd say you could likely trim back the growing lengthy bits somewhat. You'll want to cut to a pair of branches/branchless so you have two pieces forking. Dont cut into the woody parts but, try to bring the extending pieces into a consistent silhouette. Can't say how far this would be but it could be 2-4 internodes.

I also chopped off the extra lip from the plastic pot and shook off some top layer soil to reveal the trunk a bit better. There were a LOT of top-layer roots sticking out, and a few creeping out from the trunk itself.
I remember hearing about this type of root, and that it had something to do with the tree being in distress water-wise? I Can't fully remember.

I liked this too, good work there. Regarding the surface layer roots, I would just let them sit, cover them back up with a bit of soil/substrate. You can prune small roots that grow out of the upper trunk. I wouldn't worry about these roots, and I certainly wouldn't think they're due to poor water environment.

It looks like there are roots creeping out the bottom of the pot too, which makes me think it's pretty severely pot-bound.

A pot being full of roots means a tree's roots are happy NOT that it's root bound. A tree is root bound when the roots are so overgrown that it's impacting the health of the tree. Roots coming out of the bottom is really more a bare minimum sign that the most recent repot was a success, not that another one is needed. If you come from learning about houseplants, try to leave much of that behind.

From what I've heard re-potting is a pretty stressful thing for the plant though, so it may be a while before I get to do that, especially after such an aggressive pruning.
Any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!

You could consider slip potting it in the spring, but I wouldn't work the roots on the bottom. There is a technique that is essentially a "repot" of just the surface, pruning some roots and refreshing the soil up there. I'm forgetting the Japanese name for this technique, but it's essentially what Ryan Neil of Bonsai Mirai recommends as a way of checking if you really need a repot. There's tons of roots up there, so this may be something for you in the spring, but for now, I'd just cover them and learn to water the thing.

Awesome work, I look forward to seeing this and your next trees develop! I'm stoked that you're stoked, my man (or fish, or whatever you wish)

 

[mopifish]

Keeping the interior and cutting back the length would improve the sense of scale.

you'd want to drive growth to inner areas and divert it from outer

I'm still a little confused on these concepts.

Would it just mean trimming the branches to be shorter to prevent that reaching effect like this:


I didnt trim any branches shorter yesterday as I heard cutting junipers is pretty bad (same with trimming away too much new-growth).
Do either of you have any resources on this I could check out?

Much appreciated!

 

[pandacular]

I'm a big of Bonsai Mirai. There's a huge range of experience levels that they teach at, but their videos targeted at beginners are hard to beat.

I would go through the whole beginner series, and when you're through with those, check out the BSOP series of free streams.

Other than that, I also like Growing Bonsai with Jelle a lot, but I couldn't find a juniper pruning specific video. It's also great to have a few books, as those tend to organize things in a more beginner friendly way than the YouTube firehouse. Check out your other post for some book recommendations.

The cut lines you put on that image look about correct, but watch some of those Mirai videos and the beginner series on pruning, Ryan can teach it better than I.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Simply put, on junipers and pines, if you have interior growth that has potential, dont remove it because you can prune back to that growth to reduce and compact the tree.

Good luck!

 

[pandacular]

If you think about it in terms of redistributing growth, the outer growth naturally grows faster and the inner growth is harder to grow, so you want to counterbalance that to get even density.

 

[Ruddigger]

This is a good video that goes with what I was saying.