belliott4488 wrote:

leatherback wrote:

The main risk is that your tree will use so little water in fall, that the roots quite litterally, drown in water. If you can shelter it during heavy rains, it should be OK.

I have styled most of my junipers in winter.

I'm not considering root-pruning before next Spring, when I'll re-pot it. I'd just like to remove some branches that know I won't keep, like lower ones and young shoots in wrong places. It's also tempting to shorten some longer branches, but I can wait if that will be too stressful.
What I'm really asking is how resilient junipers are to branch pruning. Can it be too stressful if I do it during the Summer?

This was the original question, before we were side-tracked by discussions of August in the mid-Atlantic.

How did my answer not answer your question?

Mid-atlantic? You live on an island somewhere?

leatherback wrote:

How did my answer not answer your question?

I must have misunderstood your answer. I thought you were referring to the effects of heavy root pruning. Did you mean that even if I prune only branches without reducing the root mass, then the roots won't take up as much water? That makes sense, although I'd never heard it before.

Maybe I will consider both pruning and repotting in the Autumn after all.

leatherback wrote:

Mid-atlantic? You live on an island somewhere?

I wish. It's the middle of the Atlantic Coast of the US, hence "mid-Atlantic".

Why don't you do it now, repot & first prune?

Looks to like you should have moist warm weather, ideal for repotting a juniper.

Maybe, just to be sure, do you have a picture of the plant you are talking about?

leatherback wrote:

Why don't you do it now, repot & first prune?

Looks to like you should have moist warm weather, ideal for repotting a juniper.

Maybe, just to be sure, do you have a picture of the plant you are talking about?

Many of the how-to guides recommend pruning and repotting only in Spring or maybe Autumn. Summer isn't typically recommended since trees can enter a state of semi-dormancy in the heat of Summer. I was pretty sure a juniper could handle it well even now, but I wanted to check in case anyone would say, "Oh, no - I tried to repot a juniper in the Summer and it died!"

I've attached a couple of photos, per your request. The close-up show what I'm currently thinking will be the front.

I'd say the pot is small enough to remove up to half of the upper growth without any worry for winter.

leatherback wrote:

I'd say the pot is small enough to remove up to half of the upper growth without any worry for winter.

Great - thank you. That's what I had hoped, but since I haven't tried this before, I thought I should ask.