I just got my first bonsai, it's a juniper bonsai I saw at lowes and I just thought it was super cool! I've been doing a lot of reading/research trying to learn as much as I can. I'm not sure where to start with trimming or shaping though. Is it too early to trim and/or shape this tree? How would I go about either? Any help appreciated!
by Ok_Package9241
2 Comments
Make it look like a tree
https://youtu.be/9QlzgDtpg1M?si=ifoViAvrd_9xWvlY
It’s super young material so trimming it is only going to slow down its growth—and junipers are a very slow-growing species as it is. However, this young and flexible it is a good time to wire that long shoot and shape it however you want.
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If you want a plant to beginner bonsai that you can really start working on immediately and get quick growth with, go get yourself a ficus or two.
Btw, way better deal than buying a single $35 ginseng: If you go to Lowes or Home Depot you can get one of those five-gallon pots of ficus for $30-$50 (don’t know what it is now after years of inflation). These pots typically have multiple individual plants in them. So you can take them out, do rootwork and repot them in bonsai soil, plant all the branch cuttings you made to reduce the height to more manageable size…by the end of it you’ll have more ficus than you know what to do with, which means plenty of material to practice bonsai technique on.