AusBonsai

so, i recently purchased a thuja orientalis.
this is not my first blue cone, mind.
however every time i start playing with these they die on me shortly after. Im assuming they struggle with having too much foliage taken off them but how much is too much?
how much rootball should i remove? ive been sticking with a pessimistic 1/3 removal.
sweet moses someone help because id love to begin really training one of these trees.



its this beautiful straight trunk that caught me.

Might need a bit more info to say what is going on, like when are you doing it, are you doing the roots and styling at the same time, what kind of aftercare, etc?

Check the best season to work them, then perhaps just style the tree first and then leave it to settle for a couple of months, before potting it up and working on the roots? I've not had much experience with them, so perhaps anothe rmember may have some more they can add

I had a play with one around 3 months ago, $5 bargain bin. Took at least a 1/2 of the roots. left around 1/4 of the foliage if that. Its only just starting to back bud now, I've had a feed bag on the whole time. Not doing anything special just using typical scoria,bark,ziolite mix. Would love to see it flourish, nice bendy branch structure although not a lot of depth to pads.
Good luck

Do they grow well in your area? walk around and see how many are thriving.

Just a thought.

BikesandBonsai wrote:I had a play with one around 3 months ago, $5 bargain bin. Took at least a 1/2 of the roots. left around 1/4 of the foliage if that. Its only just starting to back bud now, I've had a feed bag on the whole time. Not doing anything special just using typical scoria,bark,ziolite mix. Would love to see it flourish, nice bendy branch structure although not a lot of depth to pads.
Good luck

So they sound like a much more idiot proof juni.
Perfect

Hi Blackfoot,
thought id post a pic of the tree I attacked a few months ago so you can get an idea of the amount of foliage I removed.
Its taken at least 2 months but as you can see in the pics its starting to produce new buds. Hopefully something shoots at the top for an apex and the pads fill out.