So, a couple of days before Christmas I was walking past an outdoor market and the stall that sells flowers had a some small evergreen shrubs that resembled Christmas trees.
They were only 7zł (about $2) so I bought one for Christmas, but thought that after that I'll try and make something of it haha.

Anyway, yesterday I did some pruning on it, then this morning I went full on with it and wired it and pruned it some more. I'm pretty happy with the shape and I'll put up some pictures in a minute to see what you guys think Also I'll need an I.D. on it because I never even thought to ask what it was when I bought it. I think it's a juniperus sabina?

The front

Left side


Back


Right side


Close up of foliage

Ignore the pot and the stones for the moment, they're just there to keep it upright as it's not wired to the pot. I'm putting it in a different pot hopefully tomorrow

Quick question: When should I take the wire off? The only info I can find on this is to take it off before it starts digging into the branches during the growth season. But how do I know if the branches are "set" by then?

Good that you got started!

i am assuming - hoping - that you have the plant outside? Inside + Juniper = death; Just keep in mind that if you move it from indoors into -20 the tree will also die; It needs to adjust slowly

The wire "digging in" is in fact the branch getting thicker, and growing around the wire. Thin branches such as this will have set by the time the wire starts to bite the branch.

This is however not ideal material. It is somewhat young for bonsai purposes.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
It was inside for a few days over Christmas but it's outside now.
We've got really mild weather at the moment here in Poland, it's about +10 during the day and maybe +3 or 4 at night so I wasn't really worried about acclimatising.
It's definitely a Juniper yes? I really don't know, I had never even heard of a Juniper up until a few weeks ago.

I understand that it's the branch growing rather than the wire closing or something, but good to know that they should be set by that time.
Yeah I kind of thought it's a little too young, but I needed to quench my thirst so to speak after reading so much info recently and watching so many videos haha.

I have no interest in buying a mature Bonsai and I don't have the patience yet to grow from a seed or cutting so this is my own homemade prebonsai.

May I suggest next time you post a picture of your new tree before you start pruning?

Yes it's a good suggestion, I meant to, but forgot when I actually started.
Basically it was a normal Christmas tree/teardrop shape about 9-10" tall.
What advice would you have given? Wait a few years

Darsh wrote: Quick question: When should I take the wire off? The only info I can find on this is to take it off before it starts digging into the branches during the growth season. But how do I know if the branches are "set" by then?

leatherback got the important part across, but in case you want a bit more info here's a quote from the book I learnt most techniques from:

'The principle behind wire training bonsai is simple. If a piece of wire of an appropriate thickness...' [1/3 the thickness of the branch] '...is coiled around a branch, the two together can be bent and the wire will hold the branch in position. As the branch grows, it thickens as new wood is produced. This new wood conforms to the new shape of the branch. In addition, the pressure of the wire on the bark increases as the branch thickens, and the wood beneath it becomes compressed and much more dense... as a general principle, young deciduous shoots and twigs can set within a month or so, while springy conifer branches can take several years'

Sorry, I just really like the science behind bonsai techniques

You may want to look up YouTube videos on when to take wire off (if you're still worried, of course)

Okay so coniferous trees can take longer, good to know thanks
What book is that from??