Field Grown Kishu Stock Progress

[dtkabardin]

Starting this as a progression/advice thread.
I bought this field grown Kishu Juniper from Cedar Rose Nursery. This plant was in a pond basket in the ground. The roots outside the pond basket were removed when the plant was removed from the ground April 2025. I then slip potted from the pond basket to a larger container. For this season, im letting it recover, and trying to figure out a gameplan for next season. There is a lot of foliage there and I can’t figure out what to do. There’s a lot of good curves in the main trunk, but the foliage is so thick, it’s difficult to see in photos.
Would it be safe to start pruning the tree next season? How much would be safe to prune?
How do I go about finding the “bonsai” in this bush?

 

[Shibui]

Lots of bends is great for smaller juniper bonsai but also makes it a little hard to design. A plan may become clearer when you can see more of the trunk.

I was going to suggest that part removal of roots outside a colander is not much and you could start thinning but then I saw you also slip potted so maybe better to give it a few months to recover and acclimatise to your place.
If the tree still looks healthy at the end of Summer I would be happy to begin the thinning to look for the trunk. For a start I would just remove obvious redundant growth and branches blocking the trunk line - branches on inside of curves, branches close to better branches, overly long, overly thick, etc. Maybe convert any redundant branches to dead wood initially. Can be cut flush later if you decide against jins.
See if you can identify possible keeper branches - the ones on outside of curves, staggered on different sides of the trunk, etc. Try not to thin out so much as to make 'the poodle cut'. Some of the short interior shoots are important to replace long, bare branches.

50% reduction is no problem for a healthy Chinese juniper. I usually limit reduction to max 75% at one time but I don't think you'll need to go that far for the initial inspection and thinning.
Use winter to consider options then take the next steps next Spring/Summer or look for a workshop with someone you trust to assist with the initial styling.