My first California juniper yamadori

[Leroux]

Hey guys.

Just picked this up and super stoked. Was told it was collected in 2022. It’s in native soil. I’m hoping next year to put in a pot with good bonsai soil. My question is what fertilizer to use to pack on growth and when? Thanks bonsai peoples…

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Any kind of fertilizer should work. Apply it during the growing season, so now till the end of autumn.

But for something in human care for 2 years, it doesn't look very strong.

 

[AshleyMammal]

I'm not familiar with Cali junipers (being in the UK), but for any of my junipers (sabina, regular chinesnis, itoigawa and shimpaku) I'd really want to see lots of nice extension growth before even thinking about repotting it (i've lost more than one juniper through repotting).

I'd feed it and give it all of next year to really bulk up, it needs to be vigorous and healthy before rootwork and it's the foliage that really drives juniper root growth.

 

[gooeytek]

Regular Miracle-gro will work fine. I'm looking forward to this one's progression, I like how it looks.

 

[AshleyMammal]

It reminds me of a few of a few Ryan Neil trees and is exactly the type of material he seems to like working on. It'll be stunning in a few years

 

[Leroux]

It should be fun. I thing an angle change and the right pot. With some new growth. Will be a kick ass tree