Raw material, Juniperus media (gold star)

[Jurij]

Hello!
I am fairly new to juniper bonsais and am intrested in creating one from this gold star nursery stock I bought for 12€ (quite a steal).
Couple questions about making a slanting bonsai in the future years...

1. How much can I safely prune back this early spring? The tree looks healthy and did not have much dead/weak foliage near the trunk. The growth on the branches is quite thick from the trunk to the end.

2. I want to cut back 3 big branches at the middle of the trunk (to big/thick for the composition I have in mind), making jin out of them. Should I cut them off this spring leaving no foliage and make a jin at the end of summer/the next season when the tree regains it strength?

3. Does Juniper media backbud willingly? How many years am I looking at to get a branch aprox. 4mm in thicknes from newly form growth/budy?

If it would be possible I would cut back the tree leaving just enough foliage on so that the tree regains its strength and produces buds on the trunk. The tree will stay potted in its original soil for now.

Thank you for all the help in advance!

 

[Joelshack2362]

Nice find for that price.

 

[Gabler]

Keep at least a third of the foliage, ideally more. After drastic pruning, don't mess with the tree for the rest of the year.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

. Does Juniper media backbud willingly? How many years am I looking at to get a branch aprox. 4mm in thicknes from newly form growth/budy?

Yes and no. In a healthy state, on young branches, it backbuds easily. In branches and trunks older than two years, not so much.
4mm thickness can be achieved on a decent runner in 2 years. In a heavily pruned branch, closer to 5. From bud to runner can take a year, so lets average it at 3.5-ish.
The trick is to leave the roots alone, if you do so, they recover rapidly. If you mess with the roots, you're looking at a 60-80% reduction in growth capacity for that year. Maybe another 50% off for the next year.
They'll come out happy either way, but the speed of growth in these junipers seems to be heavily related to the roots.