new to bonsai

[randomhero]

im new to bonsai and i was hoping to get some answers to some questions. i recently bought a japanese juniper (im not sure. i just bought it and i don't know the age or type of tree i just know its probably about full size, or about as big as its going to get) and ive been growing some jack pine from seeds for the past 2 months or so, which ive been keeping indoors by a window, and its been doing pretty good so far. i was wondering just basic questions, mainly on the juniper, such as where to keep it, indoor or outdoor(i live in st louis MO so it gets really really hot and really really cold.), how often and how much to water it, good fertilizers and how often to fertilize, how often to re-pot, how much sun it needs, humidity, things like that. ive been researching on it and i get conflicting information on all this stuff.

[alexinoklahoma]

Definitely need a pic or two. And I doubt it is as big asw it is going to get; few junipers are normally' small in any way.

You need to get a background fast on basic care (!). Start with www.evergreengardenworks.com/articles.htm and www.bonsai4me.com (dig around) and also the 'stickies' here (top of list of threads, per se)...

It is way too tedious to type out 'basic care', so you have some reading to do Plenty of credible sources and a browsing of Forums will tell ya what is right -v- wrong. Irrefutable basics are free-draining soil (non-soggy), prudent fertilizing (opinions vary, but in between 'debated extremes' is just fine 99% of time), and that *all* deciduous/evergreen trees must be outside 99.99% of the time. I am in central OK n hour east of OKC and have yet to have any real issues with weather extremes here (with proper precautions, of course). I get MUCH more damage from squirrels (two sapling Japanese maples bitten in half yesterday, one with me standing just three feet away...here we go *again*!

Your jack pines are probably *very* weak from lack of strong sun and not being exposed to the real weather. I am just being bluntly honest; they aren't doing good, IMO. And ithey're also missing out on getting ready for winter so its got a bleak future as it won't handle being indoors much longer. They may pull through, but will be less than what they could've been. I have done seed in wrong seasons as well for the heck of it, but knew that the future was bleak for them when I did it

To have any chance of success, you *must* know what species you have so you know what specific care is needed for that species. Saying some kind of 'Japanese juniper' gets you nowhere really, sorry to say

Alex

Alex

[chio88]

Thanks alex for that. I'll look into the sites you gave. Wish me luck. I'm a newbie in this too

[alexinoklahoma]

Happy to help

You'll soon find that posting pics is as essential to this hobby as most anything else, LOL. We all love looking at pics

Alex