Newbie here, looking for a little advice on two nursery trees

[ManSkirtBrew]

Good morning! Over the last few weeks I've been getting back into my love of bonsai, doing all of my reading and researching. Now I've got a couple of trees I'm starting.

I think where I'm getting stuck so far is design. Like I look at the tree and I'm not sure where to go. I guess I'm hoping to get a feel from some of you more experienced folks how you would look at this stock and decide what to do.

With the azalea, I just started trimming until I had a nice looking trunk structure. I'm pleased with how it's looking so far. What would you do next?



The juniper is a little more intimidating. There are large, crossing branches everywhere. Do I cut them? Wire them? How do I choose? I'd love to see this guy in a semi-cascade style, with that nice heavy trunk.



I also made a little video spinning the juniper around.

 

[Vin]

Welcome back to bonsai. Design is the hardest part of bonsai for many (including me). It looks like you have given the azalea a good start. Unfortunately, it looks like you repotted the juniper recently so you shouldn't do anything else to it until next year at the earliest. It would help if you put your location in your profile.

 

[wlambeth]

The one thing you could do now to the juniper is to stake the parallel growing branches in a more upright fashion.
Don't put too much pressure on the branches but definitely put a couple of stakes in the pot and use string to tie the branches to the stake.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Thanks for the advice. I'm in Hackettstown, NJ. I'll fix my profile in a minute.

I just pulled the juniper from it's nursery pot. I don't have too many bonsai pots yet so I'll probably put it in a training pot until next year.

Really I feel like the juniper needs some thinning out so we can see the trunk and roots better. I keep looking at finished products and trying to work out how to get from here to there.

I'll post up pictures as I go. I bought this guy as a learning experience, so really what's the worst that can happen?

 

[Vin]

Junipers do not appreciate root work like azaleas and many other trees do. It looks like there has been quite a bit of soil removed from the root ball. You do not want to stress the tree out anymore than necessary. I strongly recommend holding off until next year before thinning it out. But, it's your call.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

I'll take that advice, thank you. I didn't know that about juniper and root pruning.

I'll just have to get more plants to play with in the meantime. Darn!

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

It looks like there has been quite a bit of soil removed from the root ball.

This was because the tree was buried all the way past that first main trunk split. I was raking it out to try to find out where the heck the trunk was!

So question on getting it back into a training pot. I'd like to use more of a bonsai soil mix, but I've read that it's a bad idea to put a root ball back into better-draining soil because it can lead to root rot. Should I rake out all of the existing soil, but not trim the roots back hard? Or should I pot it back into potting soil?

 

[Vin]

I don't know what you have access to but if you have pumice or lava available, I would use one of those. No more root raking. Put it in a larger but more shallow pot than it was in and use a 50/50 pumice/pine bark (sometimes soil conditioner) mix to fill in the voids. I find that if you surround the existing soil and root ball with 100% pumice (or lava), the remaining soil can actually get too dry because water drains too quickly through the pumice and doesn't allow the old soil to retain much water. Generally speaking though, soil that drains more freely will help avoid root rot. I hope that makes sense?

 

[Tieball]

I don't have too many bonsai pots yet so I'll probably put it in a training pot until next year.

My thoughts. You don’t need Bonsai pots yet....not for several years. Boxes and training pots are best right now. (I’m a wooden box guy.) Don’t be in a hurry to move the trees to Bonsai pots. Focus on health and growth for quite awhile....these are the important attributes to build a good foundation to your Bonsai quest. Design will come along as you research online searching out similar species, view natural trees like you have in winter and summer around you, and as you observe other Bonsai trees at exhibits (and can take some time looking closely at what you like). In the early years of these trees you likely change designs several times anyway...so resist cutting to much for awhile...growth, healthy growth rules.

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

That does make sense, thank you. I can't find the source now, but it said if you put a nursery root ball into well draining soil, the root ball would retain too much moisture. That did seem counter intuitive. Maybe they meant you'd be more prone to over water, since the new soil would would seem dry faster.

I have pearlite, turface-type clay, and regular potting soil. Maybe 50/50 turface/pearlite would get me in the ballpark.

 

[Vin]

I don't use perlite but the mixture certainly sounds feasible in a pinch.

 

[Tieball]

That does make sense, thank you. I can't find the source now, but it said if you put a nursery root ball into well draining soil, the root ball would retain too much moisture. That did seem counter intuitive. Maybe they meant you'd be more prone to over water, since the new soil would would seem dry faster.

I have pearlite, turface-type clay, and regular potting soil. Maybe 50/50 turface/pearlite would get me in the ballpark.

What I believe happens is that the roots resist moving into the new substrate...I guess the roots are afraid of the unknown....unless the roots and soil of the ball are teased open and the new substrate and soil ball areas integrated some. The root ball stays wet because it just holds all your water....it doesn’t send the water to the outer layer of new substrate. That’s what I’ve known anyway.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Kill em all!

Sorce

 

[ManSkirtBrew]

Welcome to Crazy!

Kill em all!

Sorce

lol Thank you. I'm already well on my way.

Since I had only raked out maybe the top inch or so of roots/soil, the rest of the 8" of original root ball were still intact. I just slid it back into the nursery pot and topped it up with loose perlite/turface. My screens came in today so I was finally able to sift it properly.

Junipers still do need to have the nebari developed, so I will eventually need to rake the whole root ball out, no? Is that something I'd do in the early spring before the tree starts putting out growth?

 

[sorce]

lol Thank you. I'm already well on my way.

Since I had only raked out maybe the top inch or so of roots/soil, the rest of the 8" of original root ball were still intact. I just slid it back into the nursery pot and topped it up with loose perlite/turface. My screens came in today so I was finally able to sift it properly.

Junipers still do need to have the nebari developed, so I will eventually need to rake the whole root ball out, no? Is that something I'd do in the early spring before the tree starts putting out growth?

I like a wide stable base...but an even radial spead gets NFG!

More attention should be paid to have visible live and dead hitting the soil in the "front". Surely not JUST dead.


If you dont wobble it...
And cut little.....

It should live.

Sorce