I was just wondering if I need to keep my juniper bonsai outdoors or if it can be kept indoors? Any answers are greatly appreciated.
Hi, I will presume you got it from a store, where it was kept inside, therefore until after the last spring frost (late April?) in Stratford, you need to keep it inside for this year, then put it out and leave it for good. In winter you'll need to protect it somehow, maybe with the pot in a larger one, with mulch in between, and in some kind of garden shed with a window, or unheated porch, etc. (but don't be afraid to pile snow on it, it's great insulation and will 'water' it as necessary on dry days). Once the soil freezes stop watering til it's thawed at any time for long enough that more (than less) of the soil has dried. And now that it's inside, if it came with a layer of glued down pebbles on top, pry it off and throw it away... it will interfere with watering properly and judging dryness, etc. I would also suggest you repot into peat-less soil with at least half the mix being small size aquarium gravel (you'll have to buy that) or chicken grit from a 'Feed' store. A larger pot (for a couple of years) will let it grow faster. Don't prune anything til you learn to keep it alive for a few seasons. Water only when at least 1/3 of the soil in the pot is dry, keep it in a cool airy place and give it as much bright light as you can all day (without moving it all over the place, which will stress it). Good luck.
Thank you for all the great info. It is poted in a cactus soil in a fairly large pot for the size of the tree. So for one full year or so I don't pinch off new growth or anything. What about ferilizing my tree? how often and with what?
Oh, so glad it's not in some tiny tray with glue and mud :-)! I didn't mean you couldn't ever prune/pinch anything, it's just that 'newbies' tend to go nuts a bit and want to do too much too soon, and then they have a stick-in-a-pot and wonder what happened! Well, in the spring, if you have lots of new growth (lighter green foliage at branch tips) you can pinch-prune (no scissors) any you want where you want more foliage eventually, or just where you don't want more period (those places you'll have to keep pinching in future). Branches should wait til Nov., but little twiggy things are not a major problem now (rather than later in the spring). Fertilize with any reg. balanced house plant fert. like a 15-15-15, etc., but in the fall look for one with almost no nitrogen (the 1st #) as evergreens/conifers don't do well on it over winter.
I'd follow Rimas advice about the fertilizer.....a plant will use all the different chemical elements in all parts.......bit like our bodys convert proteins into different proteins....so the nitrogen for example is not only used to make the leaves green.....anyway enough of my boring waffle.........any feed is better than no feed, at the right time of course. :)
Rima, you said to keep the tree inside for the first year, but don't they have to be outside in order for it to survive?
Normally it should be out, but it was probably born and brought up indoors, so putting it outside now without acclimatization could shock it silly, and if it's taken good care of til being put out later, it should be ok, and then will stay out for life.
Smegal - I wouldn't spend anything for tools - you really don't need them for one small(ish) tree yet, but if you do want something and plan to continue with bonsai, the one indispensable tool would be a concave cutter (8"), which can be bought online (hardware stores don't have them or know what they are) at places like Dallas Bonsai Gardens, or www.bonsaimonk.com, etc. It's not something you can easily substitute, though in a pinch, with a very large tree branch secaturs have been used, or very sharp good scissors for very small ones. The range is about $40 to hundreds, but one good pair can last forever, so I'd go for something just a bit better than the cheapest. Other things can be used to sub. for some of the other tools advertised (many of which most of us never bother with).
tools you need, concave cutters...might be all you need. 30-12-12, who said that? that's grass fertilizer. most bonsai fertilizers have n-p-k ratios less than 10's...with cactus soil, i'm assuming it the loose kind you might need some plant supplements that contain micronutrients. nutrients normally found in outside dirt, but lacking in commercial soil. they have at home depot as [micromax] or pure at some nursery. or use 3 parts bone meal, 2 parts blood meal, 1 part cottonseed meal.
why can't you just use secetars instead of concave cutters? aren't they basically the same thing? cant secetars be used to trim, prune etc concave cutters look like they can only cut small branches. also while im here what wire can be used for bonsai - can normal wire from the hardware store be used?
There are concave cutters that can cut 3" diam. branches though a small folding saw is a good way to first cut that to a stub, then use cc's to 'carve' out the stub flush to the trunk... the point of using them in the first place. They leave a barely visible (very shallow) saucer, so when the bark grows over the scar, it's invisible. You don't want stubs on a bonsai, though there are two reasons to leave them temporarily - one being to avoid 'die-back' on the branch just below the stub (which is then cut/carved off next season when it's died), or because you want to create 'jin', which means actually leaving long stub, then cutting/tearing carefully part of it away later on to look like naturally occurring deadwood, such as would be left after a lightning strike, or just natural die back, etc., usually on conifers.
