Hello dear Bonsai emperors,
I and my girlfriend got into Bonsai by buying saplings from nursery stock. I think the sapling I have is juniper skyrocket and I want to make it informal upright style.
I'm newbie on whole plant business and don't know what to do now.here are my questions,
1.should I wait it for grow the trunk?
2.should I prune the whole branches now and start wiring?

I've shared my juniper's photos and waiting for your guides fellows. I've read a lot of things but nothing answered to my questions exactly

What country are you in? Next I hope you just took it in to take pics, you cannot keep it inside it will not survive. It is quite difficult to see where branches are, so it moight be an idea to remove the very thin branches so you can see the trunk, and the larger branches.
Having selected branches then you can think about style and size etc. It will take a long time with this particular plant, so you will have to be patient.

Thank you for reply dear friend,
I live in Eskisehir,Turkey. There aren't many bonsailovers, just a few, that is why I can't take help from them...the ones who care about bonsai don't answers to forum topics :(I took it in just to take photos, it is at outside now. I will remove those branches to see the trunk ok, it's approximately size of the finger at the moment. So you say I should grow it until the trunk gets bigger. I'm thinking to buy another sapling

Alpse wrote:

Hello dear Bonsai emperors,
I and my girlfriend got into Bonsai by buying saplings from nursery stock. I think the sapling I have is juniper skyrocket and I want to make it informal upright style.

This juniper's branches growth habit is straight upwards. Trying to train the branches downwards will go against this habit and will have a negative effect on the health of tree. I'd choose another species.

You think that I should give up this juniper

Hi Alpsy, don't go throwing it away just yet! The tree to me looks in poor health at present so do not repot the tree yet. I personally would use this Juniper as Practice and with some degree of good fortune it can teach you something and become a Small Shohin sized tree.




I would clean out all dead needles and yellowing needles, Lower the height of the tree and keep some branches to train in a manner somewhat like my Virtual. Most Junipers and alot of other species when growing strong tend upwards , this is not really of concern yet . you will concentrate of bringing up the trees health and training with some light wiring the branches in a slightly upwards and out direction. Let the tree put out some good amount of new growth and learn as you go.

Dear craig,
Thank you so much for you reply. I will buy aluminium wires as soon as possible, will shape my "Balamber" to form that you drew. I'll try to get healthier. How should I lower the height of the tree, with knife? And the pruning shears for branches or piching them out? As I understand from the photo I will follow the blue line for pruning or cutting

Alpse wrote:

You think that I should give up this juniper

Why would you want to do that? It's not suitable for bonsai, but to nuance that:
I think it's not suitable for bonsai, when we are talking about Japanese bonsai art.
It would be suitable as garden bonsai, pom pom style. Of course you could just plant it and let it grow naturally.

Yes just give your new tree a go. You can reduce the overall height with a pruning saw/shears, try sealing the cut end with some type of cut paste or if you have none you could use vasaline or maybe playdough. I would only clean out dead foliage etc and not really go too hard after reducing top. Only lightly wire out branching to allow light and air into the tree, this will definately help.Don;t pinch out tips unless dead. Don't rush and make sure it gets good amount of sunshine.

Point being, practise is everything and you have nothing to lose , everything to gain.
Have fun.

Craig wrote:

Point being, practise is everything and you have nothing to lose

You won't learn much from practicing on and eventually killing a non-suitable tree.