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Instant Nirvana
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:38 am
- Location: Washington
Advice for Basic Care of Juniper Bonsai?
I just purchased a Miniture Juniper Bonsai tree and I do not know anything about how to water,prune,or even basic care of these trees. so if someone could help me out that would be GREAT. thank you.
First up: Can you take a picture of your new tree and post it for us to take a look at? This will help.
Second: Junipers need a lot of light. What's your climate like? If at all possible, grow your juniper outside. inside, it needs to get a ton of sunlight from a window or be placed within 2" of a very bright fluorescent light. keep it at least a foot away from a window though, or the nightly temperature drop during winter can kill it. it really should go outside at least during the summer: most bonsai enthusiasts will swear that junipers can't be grown indoors at all, and while a few people have succeeded, they did so by putting a 4' fluorescent shop light literally an inch above the junipers, and even then they grew incredibly slowly.
third: check the soil its in. I bought a juniper and didn't figure out until after it died that it had been grown in a teeny tiny square plot, then transferred into basically sand and a bonsai pot. the soil should be chunky rather than sandy, and water should go through it pretty fast. you'll probably need to repot it, though I'm not sure if its better to wait for it to acclimate to its new location or until spring. if you can't pour water through the soil easily, then you may need to take the whole pot and immerse it in a bucket to properly wet the entire pot. this is very messy with sandy soil, but might save your tree. You won't need to water very often with this method. if the soil has a layer of gravel glued to the top so you can't get at the real soil, you'll need to chip it apart.
fourth: Junipers can die and show little outward sign for quite a while. There's a pretty high chance that your bonsai is already miserable and/or at death's door, despite looking ok. Be proud and happy if you can save it. Don't take it personally if it dies, just try again, perhaps with a more durable species, like Schefflera or Ficus.
don't worry about pruning at all until you've kept the tree alive for at least a few months, and probably more like a year.
Second: Junipers need a lot of light. What's your climate like? If at all possible, grow your juniper outside. inside, it needs to get a ton of sunlight from a window or be placed within 2" of a very bright fluorescent light. keep it at least a foot away from a window though, or the nightly temperature drop during winter can kill it. it really should go outside at least during the summer: most bonsai enthusiasts will swear that junipers can't be grown indoors at all, and while a few people have succeeded, they did so by putting a 4' fluorescent shop light literally an inch above the junipers, and even then they grew incredibly slowly.
third: check the soil its in. I bought a juniper and didn't figure out until after it died that it had been grown in a teeny tiny square plot, then transferred into basically sand and a bonsai pot. the soil should be chunky rather than sandy, and water should go through it pretty fast. you'll probably need to repot it, though I'm not sure if its better to wait for it to acclimate to its new location or until spring. if you can't pour water through the soil easily, then you may need to take the whole pot and immerse it in a bucket to properly wet the entire pot. this is very messy with sandy soil, but might save your tree. You won't need to water very often with this method. if the soil has a layer of gravel glued to the top so you can't get at the real soil, you'll need to chip it apart.
fourth: Junipers can die and show little outward sign for quite a while. There's a pretty high chance that your bonsai is already miserable and/or at death's door, despite looking ok. Be proud and happy if you can save it. Don't take it personally if it dies, just try again, perhaps with a more durable species, like Schefflera or Ficus.
don't worry about pruning at all until you've kept the tree alive for at least a few months, and probably more like a year.
Instant -
First, welcome to the forum. And good luck with your new acquisition!!
You will get quite divergent opinions on many things here and this is one:
I will tell you that in my experience, I don't know of a Juniper that will be happy if kept indoors, so hopefully yours is outside or you plan to put it outside for the winter. The odds of it thriving inside under any kind of artificial light are very, very small. So first put it out if it isn't already.
If it's been kept inside for a while it will need to transition to a colder environment outside gradually so that it can harden off. How cold is your average temp. currently?
Now is really not a good time to do anything with outdoor bonsai. Pruning and feeding should be left until late spring before it comes out of dormancy.
Even watering is just enough to keep the soil moist but if it's outside the rain/snow will do a nice job of that for you unless it gets bitterly cold in which case you might consider putting it in a sheltered area. We'll know more about that when you report back with how chilly it gets in your area.
Wind can also be a negative factor. So give us an idea of your winter conditions between now and March.
This is a good time for you to ask questions and read all you can for the coming season. Please send us a picture so that we might see what we're dealing with here.
This is really not rocket science and once you learn the basics you will be able to take care of the tree as well as anyone.
First, welcome to the forum. And good luck with your new acquisition!!
You will get quite divergent opinions on many things here and this is one:
I will tell you that in my experience, I don't know of a Juniper that will be happy if kept indoors, so hopefully yours is outside or you plan to put it outside for the winter. The odds of it thriving inside under any kind of artificial light are very, very small. So first put it out if it isn't already.
If it's been kept inside for a while it will need to transition to a colder environment outside gradually so that it can harden off. How cold is your average temp. currently?
Now is really not a good time to do anything with outdoor bonsai. Pruning and feeding should be left until late spring before it comes out of dormancy.
Even watering is just enough to keep the soil moist but if it's outside the rain/snow will do a nice job of that for you unless it gets bitterly cold in which case you might consider putting it in a sheltered area. We'll know more about that when you report back with how chilly it gets in your area.
Wind can also be a negative factor. So give us an idea of your winter conditions between now and March.
This is a good time for you to ask questions and read all you can for the coming season. Please send us a picture so that we might see what we're dealing with here.
This is really not rocket science and once you learn the basics you will be able to take care of the tree as well as anyone.