How to Get Think Dense Foliage (Garden Store Bonsai)

[Taxlord]

HI guys, I bought a Blue Point Juniper from a local garden store and am trying to train it to be a formal upright juniper. I have attached the pictures. I would like to start training for dense foliage. I am not sure where to prune the branches / leaves for that. Any recommendations will be helpful.

Also, does anyone happen to have photo of blue pine bonsai, are they even good bonsai? Thanks.

 

[Giga]

You need to create pads, bonsai4me has a good article on this. On a second note the tree its kinda pencil thin and you may want to plant in the ground a few years and let a few branches run wild to thicken things up, also when you remove over 40%'ish of the foliage you can weaken them. Sorry to be a downer but also from what I can tell are your branches come out the side on a 2D plane. Maybe it's just the pic though. I would recommend reading a lot on junipers, Off to a good start though!

 

[Taxlord]

My branches are coming up on a 2d plane. For some reason, I though this is how it's suppose to be done. I guess I will allow new branches to grow on the side.

Also, can you please link me to the article? Now sure if I'm pulling up the right one.

 

[Giga]

Here ya go then at the end there is more

http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Juniperus.html


Scroll down and look at the formal upright juniper and see that branches come from the front back and sides
http://bonsaitonight.com/tag/needle-juniper/

 

[mj_barb]

For what its worth: a few months back someone posted a bunch a excellent 360 degree pics of some nice trees. I can't seem to find the thread right now, but if your new and haven't seen too many trees in person it may be helpful to see what they look like from angles other than the front. I'll keep looking around for the thread.

 

[nairb]

My branches are coming up on a 2d plane. For some reason, I though this is how it's suppose to be done. I guess I will allow new branches to grow on the side.

You have some branches wired already, so why wait to grow new ones to give it a 3d look, pull some of your branches forward, some back, look at the tree directly from above so that you can see its no longer in a 2d plane.