How to approach overgrown nursery Juniper for repotting

Maiden69

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Hi, this is the juniper I posted about mid-May 2022 requesting help to identify it. From the responses, I ended up thinking it was a parsonii, not 100% sure but I think it looked close to it last year.

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Fast forward to today and this is the present condition of the tree. "Slightly" overgrown with lots of options... last summer when I bought it I cleaned up the top of the soil and exposed the nebari as much as I was comfortable at the time. The rootball feels pretty hard so I'm sure it is close to being rootbound. The tips are beginning to turn bright green, am I ok to repot now? How much can I reduce from the foliage? It will go into a 2 or 3 gal Rootpouch for a season or two depending on how it recovers, then it will be moved into a bonsai pot. I want to start the transition from the nursery soil to inorganic, so if possible I plan on reducing the rootball considerably. In that case, will it need protection from full sun for a few months right? I am building a small area with a 50% shade cloth for my maples and ginkgo like what @Clicio has for his... an experiment here in Texas to see if I can grow them without the severe leaf burn we get mid-late summer.

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Base of the trunk

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Other side

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Bonus Question.

I received this two junipers from Brent, shimpaku and kishu, they are 1 gal trees, but the rootball is not intact at this time. Should I keep them in their cans for 1 more year, or can they be repotted this season as well?

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Kishu

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Shimpaku

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You probable have more experience with juniper than I do . So most likely the wrong person to ask. I have a few shimpaku . Including one dug from a yard . And have a struggle with native needle common juniper . There so hard to collect and get to live 🤷‍♂️ But I don’t believe in repotting . And drastically pruning Chinese . In one go . I don’t have the hate sone have for nursery soil . But I get stuff in bonsai soil as soon as possible . ( when there healthy and season is correct ) so to answer your question I would repot all 3 into bonsai soil . Don’t trim the 2 smaller ones let them grow . Trim the bigger one little to open it up . For light penetration . Then aggressive cut it back next spring as a first styling so to speak . But like I said not much experience. With them mainly as limited full sun area . And over ridden by other trees . I like the nursery . Had to look it up . Fairly prostrate grower . Do you have a style in mind looks like a nice cascade or semi . Best of luck bro
 
You want the largest rootmass and top growth possible to heal big cut wounds, so do that before repot and wait till fall to start reductions, otherwise yes to all the things you are planning unless you are happy with base branches. I think some people like to wait until a flush is over so it is not interrupted.
Depends on your plan for it - you could leave all the base branches it came with and start looking for clouds right away
 
If your happy with the trunk size, and you feel the plant is in good health, I’d definitely take the first step in root ball reduction. If tips are swelling, roots are running. IDK, in Texas the roots may be active most of the year.

If there is a number of thick roots - with attached feeder roots- that need to go, you may have to go easy on how many roots get chopped in the first go. In other words, feel it out.

From nursery can to bonsai pot -should take at least a few stages of root work while incrementally replacing all soil.

I would rake top and bottom out considerably, then choose the right training container from there. Nothing too big, as your no longer growing out. + you don’t want a rootball with nursery soil in it and a bunch of bonsai soil surrounding it. I’ve made this mistake and watering becomes almost ineffective.
Something like a Anderson flat may be too shallow for the 1st, but usually a goal (for me) for the 2nd repot. - this is my just my limited experience with nursery juniper. 😄
 
I dig and root prune junipers (mostly shimpaku) any time from mid winter (mild winters) through to late spring. They do not seem to need a particular time of year for root pruning so I don not worry so much about buds or shoots starting to grow.
Junipers do seem to be susceptible to root problems (too dry or too wet) so my first priority is always to get the roots out of old soil and opened up to give more room to grow. They do seem to recover better when I leave intact growing tips after severe root trim, esp at transplant from grow beds to pots. To reduce transpiration I usually remove obvious redundant branches completely while leaving possibly useful ones entire to help drive the new roots. The junipers I occasionally lose after transplant seem to be a result of drying out so plenty of water helps survival rates.
Juniper root take longer to regenerate than most deciduous so I continue post transplant care and don't count a success until after middle of summer following transplant. Little or no pruning or other work in this time and usually for a full year after severe root reduction.
My transplants go straight into full sun for the early part of spring and summer but when temps rise and humidity reduces around solstice I give them some shade to reduce strain on recovering roots. Seems to work OK here.

You can repot the shimapku and kishu if you feel the need but obviously no real need if there's still plenty of room for roots.
 
i worked a similar size Kishu in the end of our spring here in Brazil, while I’m not recommending you to do what I did, i think junipers are far more resistant than people say. At least here in my climate…

I fully bare rooted and pruned everything I was not going to use. Now it’s on 100% bonsai soil. We are in the end of our summer and it has backbudded and recovered very well, lots of new growth.

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Hopefully tomorrow I will have the time to jump on this one...

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While the procumbens glows with some new mature foliage. I think that one may be moved to a bigger basket / rootpouch next year. I think now that I moved it on the grow bed, the high humidity from the water evaporating from the pine bark will help this tree grow faster.

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You want the largest rootmass and top growth possible to heal big cut wounds, so do that before repot and wait till fall to start reductions, otherwise yes to all the things you are planning unless you are happy with base branches. I think some people like to wait until a flush is over so it is not interrupted.
Depends on your plan for it - you could leave all the base branches it came with and start looking for clouds right away
whoops I was talking about the smaller ones. Larger one I would chop one side and start cascade other.
 
I was able to move the parsonii into a root pouch, did some pruning just to clean up the inside and remove some extra long branches. It was sitting on dappled shade until I saw it starting to move and recently moved into full sun. It is just a bunch of branches going everywhere right now, I think I will start looking at it and identifying what to remove next spring and probably starting some shari and jins.

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I have a nursery J. parsonii that looked about like yours when I bought it. Long gangly branches that I had trouble doing anything with. So they ended up jin and I was left with this, which I rather like. A case of less is more.
 

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I have a nursery J. parsonii that looked about like yours when I bought it. Long gangly branches that I had trouble doing anything with. So they ended up jin and I was left with this, which I rather like. A case of less is more.
Mine will be cutback a lot once I decide on the shape I want, but I may take advantage of all the branches and wire and shape them the year before doing the cutback to see if I can add interesting jins to the design. As of now all I can see is a cascade/semi-cascade, but I'm sure once I start wiring I may find other options. I'm going to try to get some decent pictures and try to post on Mirai's forum Q&A as well to see what Ryan suggests.
 
Not much of an update, moved it to a different location and noticed that it is taking a hold of the bag. Not bag for a few months of root growth, I think it will be firm by sping.


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How much root reduction did you do, and what media did you move to? I just grabbed two 5 gal junipers from Houston Garden center. $10each!! Sabina Junis, 1.5" trunks (4" nebari by Bonsai Auction measurement 🤣). No hurry to do anything with them except Jin some extra branches.
 
How much root reduction did you do, and what media did you move to? I just grabbed two 5 gal junipers from Houston Garden center. $10each!! Sabina Junis, 1.5" trunks (4" nebari by Bonsai Auction measurement 🤣). No hurry to do anything with them except Jin some extra branches.
I miss this post for months! I reduced the root ball a lot, but still didn't bare rooted. I think it was slightly bigger than a softball intact with plenty of feeders coming out of it. It is on my preferred inorganic mix for most conifers Bonsai Block/Monto Clay/pumice 1:1:1. Plan is to go in 3 years and clean out the center section.
 
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