Newb with a Juniper question......

[Cuda52774]

So yeah, I know that junipers aren't the best bonsai for a newbie to start with but I guess I'm one of those loser tourists who bought one on impulse. Sue me. At least I'm researching. LOL.

So this is my new Juniper. Any ideas as to exactly what kind of Juniper it is would be appreciated also.

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/golfballman/Personal/100_0642.jpg
Back

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/golfballman/Personal/100_0641.jpg
Front

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/golfballman/Personal/100_0643.jpg
Close up

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/golfballman/Personal/100_0644.jpg
Soil

Obviously, I have some questions about how to best care for it. It obviously has had some work done on it to get it where it is now, but I'd like to take it into a slanting style and if I'm not being over ambitious, maybe even a root over rock slanting.

Here's what I know and don't know.

I don't know how old it is. It's about 6-7 inches tall. It looks pretty young to me but I don't know how long it would take a Juniper to reach this size, so I'm a little lost as to how long to wait to trim the roots.

Soil seems to be about 95% organic and 5% small aggregate rocks. Does not drain well and I'm considering how and when to repot it. I posted a thread about the soil I'm considering but haven't received any answers yet.

Fertilizer I'm using is Miracle Grow Liquid houseplant food.
Total Nitrogen is 8%
Ammoniacal - 1.2%
Nitrate - 1.2%
Urea - 5.6%
Phosphate - 7%
Potash - 6%
Iron - .10%

I fertilized it for the first time last Saturday, two weeks after I bought it.

I water it from the top down with a watering can when needed depending on when the soil feels dry about an inch down.

I'm spraying it with an insecticide called Garden Safe Housplant and Garden.

It's on my front porch so that it can get morning sun until about noon, then it's in full shade.

I guess my main questions are about the soil and style. I want to get it into a free draining inorganic medium so that it can get some air, but as it's now August, should I just wait it out until the spring? I've read in an article that I should leave it alone for a couple years but I feel like the soil it's in is eventually going to do it harm. So, repot now, in the spring, or just leave it alone?

I'd like to eventually get the roots to flatten out so I can put it into a shallower pot on a rock in the traditional slanting style. What's the easiest way to get it started in the slanting style? Tilt the pot so it grows at an angle, or wire the trunk and train it. The trunk doesn't seem very plyable but I've never done this before so I don't know how much I can bend it to my will, so to speak.

Sorry about the novel, but I'm really getting into this and want to be fully educated on what I'm doing before I go and try something half cocked.

I'm sure I'll have a ton more questions, but right now I'm just looking for a general overview on what to do about my soil and how I can get the tree heading in the direction I want.

Thanks in advance.

Cuda

[Cuda52774]

Thinking about the way my tree is shaped today, I feel I may have a hard time getting it into a slanted position considering I have two limbs of approx. equal length on each side and a top that bends towards the back. So I may have to go with an informal upright unless I want to prune off an entire branch and I don't think I want to put that much stress on my first tree.

I would still like to do root over rock with a thickening of the trunk.

Any help or ideas would still be appreciated.

Cuda

[kdodds]

Hard to tell, but probably J. procumbens nana. They're used very commonly in "mallsai". This juniper is a "creeper", low growing and compact. It's used a lot in landscaping as an evergreen ground cover. As you can imagine, care would be similar in a pot or in the ground with the exception that in a pot it will be a bit more tender. Junipers need to be kept outdoors, year round. The good new for you is that if you want to thicken the trunk, the easiest and quickest way to do this it to actually plant the tree in the ground.

[Cuda52774]

Hard to tell, but probably J. procumbens nana. They're used very commonly in "mallsai". This juniper is a "creeper", low growing and compact. It's used a lot in landscaping as an evergreen ground cover. As you can imagine, care would be similar in a pot or in the ground with the exception that in a pot it will be a bit more tender. Junipers need to be kept outdoors, year round. The good new for you is that if you want to thicken the trunk, the easiest and quickest way to do this it to actually plant the tree in the ground.

So not much chance of this little tree getting any taller then? I guess I need to start thinking about a short trunk compact style then. I was hoping to get it up to 2-3 ft tall but if all it's going to do is spread out, I need to start re-thinking this.............again. LOL. Thanks for the info.

Cuda