My First Bonsai

[newtoboNZai]

Hi this is my first post!
This is my first bonsai ever and I am just looking for some info on caring for it, i have read a few threads and decided to give it a go. It is a juniper squamata and i purchased it from a local store it was i a black pb bag and extremely rootbound in the bag so i ended up having to get rid of quite a few of the roots. For the soil i used yates potting mix with cat litter which is zeolite as i read that is a suitable as bonsai soil-I sived the cat litter to get rid of the dust and very small particles. I trimmed the tree quite alot already even though there is still a large amount of foliage. when trimming I focused on trimmig everything that was coming off the bottom of the 'branches' if thats what you could call them. then I put some moss that was in a corner of my back yard on the top. I also places some small rocks under some of the branch like roots.
Do i need to trim it more?
Will the soil mix I used be okay? etc etc etc

Any of your criticism would be appreciated.

first pic is the front second is from the side

bonsai.png

bonsai2.png

[squizzy]

You have a big backyard and you will need to fill it with bonsai. Oh you will understand what I mean in a year or two. I will leave the styling of your tree to the experts

Squizz

[Olivecrazy]

LOL squizzy but what you said is so true wish i had such a big back yard

[Luke308]

I dont think that is moss you put on top of your soil. I think it is liverwort which is usually found on soil in pots that are impenetrable to water. Personally I would google liverwort images and if it is what you have put on your tree I would remove it as it also impedes watering.

Welcome to Ausbonsai, and it is true the bonsai bug will bite, its only a matter of time

[newtoboNZai]

hey luke thanks for that I will remove it asap. Just thought it looked better than the soil

[Bretts]

The potting mix and zeolite will most probably be a little too water retentive for a bonsai pot. Not because of the ingredients but because it does not sound like you sifted. In future make sure you sift any ingredients that you put in a bonsai pot.
Search the site for other possible ingredients that you may be able to find near you.
I will concentrate on keeping this guy alive for you. After a repott such as this after care is very important. Juniper will take in alot through its leaves so I would not remove any more foliage. The trick to keeping this guy alive will be keeping the foliage hydrated without rotting the roots.
Mist the foliage say a couple of times a day at least/ more on any hot days. Tilt the pot to help drainage and only water when soil is practically dry. When you water saturate the pot in fact water it for a good few minutes trying to flush all the old air/impurities out.
You could spray with seasol or other stimulant foliar feed as well as this may help.
Good luck.

By the way what was the kitty litter you used that contained zeolite?

[newtoboNZai]

Hi Bretts,
Do you think it would be worth re-repotting? and by sifting would an old kitchel sieve do the job or can you buy one from somewhere? Also what should you sift and run a hose through the soil at the same time or is this a bad idea? I have scanned the site for what to use for soil but there was only very broad guidelines so it was hard to understand exactly what to mix up. Any tips you have would be handy

The cat litter was just budget brand as I assumed it would have the least additives. I did sift it and run a hose through it while sifting to get rid of anything nastys that may have been present the bag just said zeolite on the front i tried crushing it and it was fairly solid.

Thanks

[Greth]

Thats a lovely little starter tree, congrats on a good choice!The low bend on the trunk gives it some movement already. Your first job is to make sure it is surviving and thriving its first repot. Be careful and dont abuse it too much, keep the water up as you find out whether it has settled into its new home happily. When you see lots of new growth happening, you can relax a bit and think about what styling you want to do. Meanwhile, if you really want to be a bonsai nut, start looking for other things you can collect and grow on. If you start hunting your own or other's gardens, you will find seedling trees, maybe some shrubs you can try uplifting, seeds you can start. Of course if you are blessed with a good income, go talk to bonsai nurseries and get some good trees. If you are anything like us, after a year you will have 20-30 hopefuls coming along, lol. Good luck, welcome to Ausbonsai!

[Bretts]

Try starting here

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11324

Yes you can buy a sifter from most bonsai stores and if there are none that you can access then you can find them online. It would be the most important tool but failing that you can use fly wire to get the finest particles out. But sifting to grade of 2-4mm is very beneficial.
I would not recommend re-potting at this time for various reasons such as complicating things. It will take some time for you to get your head around a good bonsai mix and your next attempt may be little better than this one so I would recommend managing things as is for now.
Tilt the pot to get rid of as much water as possible after each watering will go a long way to helping. So will misting the needles.
It would help to see how much root was removed/left as I fear the worst but Fingers crossed it wil make it and then thrive.
If it doesn't you have picked a great time to start another

[newtoboNZai]

It would help to see how much root was removed/left as I fear the worst but Fingers crossed it wil make it and then thrive.
Yea the roots go from about the top of the pot to the bottom and cover half the pot so hopefully this is plenty, i tried to keep the larger roots intact.
Ahwell you got to start somewhere I guess.