Juniper Bonsai Trees For Sale

One of the classic bonsai tree species, Junipers are evergreen trees with foliage which is ideally suited to bonsai cultivation due to its ability to produce the image of a large tree on a small scale. Here is a look at the Juniper bonsai trees for sale at All Things Bonsai.

How to grow Juniper bonsai trees

Location

Junipers like plenty of sun. A location in full sun is ideal for most of the year, perhaps with a little shade in very hot summer weather. Junipers are frost hardy and able to stay out in most winters. Some growers will move them into a greenhouse for the winter. This is useful, as you’ll be able to control how much water they receive. Junipers which are protected from frost will keep their green colour better and look more healthy, though Junipers kept outside will green back up as we move into spring.

They cannot be kept indoors for very long without dying.

Watering

Aim to keep the soil evenly moist, like a damp cloth feels during winter. Water daily during growing season in hot weather. Its good to allow the soil on Junipers to dry out slightly between watering – not too much though!

Pruning and Styling

During the growing season, finger prune Junipers by pinching the growth tips. You look for the small shoots which grow little spikes and just nip off the tips. This has the effect of encouraging the tree to put more effort into the weaker parts of the foliage. This balances the energy within the tree.

If you want to remove growth which is thicker and more coarse, this can be trimmed with scissors.

Please remember that Junipers generally do not back-bud very well – they don’t chuck out new shoots on old wood easily. Due to this, it is important to make sure that you leave some foliage on each branch, if you cut them back too hard in one go, the branch can die.

Junipers can be wired easily. Newer growth is very pliable. Older wood can be quite brittle.

Pests

Juniper bonsai trees do not suffer from many pests. Spider Mites can be a problem in hot, dry weather.

Repotting

Chinese Junipers are tolerant of tight root masses. The tree can cope with a dense root ball and does not need to be repotted very frequently. In fact keeping the tree almost pot bound helps to keep growth very tight. Please don’t take this advice as a recommendation to neglect the roots, we’re just saying that junipers can be grown slight more tightly than other bonsai trees.

Younger bonsai should be repotted every three to five years. For mature specimens, repotting is less frequent and only takes place when necessary.

When we repot them, we use a free-draining soil mixture, usually Kiryuzuna, kyodama, pumice, grit. Often the junipers come in a more compost rich mixture.

When repotting, remove about 30% of the root mass. Repotting can be done at any time of year apart from in freezing winter conditions. I would also avoid hot summer weather. Most bonsai trees are repotted in early spring. Mid-spring is a good time.

It is considered unwise to fully bare-root Junipers when repotting. Bare-rooting works on deciduous trees and while some people claim it is fine, other people say that they have damaged their Junipers by fully bare-rooting when repotting.

Further Information

Thanks for having a look our current Juniper bonsai trees for sale.

For further bonsai information, have a look at the bonsai tree care pages of our website. We also working to produce other bonsai tree species guides here.

Please also have a look at our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AllThingsBonsaiSheffield

Further information on Chinese Junipers can be found on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniperus_chinensis