Is diging up a Juniper ok in Feb?

[Sime76]

HI Folks,

I dug up a largish 4 trunk Juniper today, I thinks its a Shimpaku or similar.
I'm just wondering if it was a risky move to do it this time of year?, It was 30 degrees today while i was digging.

I gave the top some very light trimming, just here and there. Once I freed it (which was a bit of a mission) I misted the roots it and then took a breather for about 30 mins. There was not much feeder roots just mainly the thicker variety. The soil was quite poor and lumpy. I trimmed some of the thicker roots then misted the top of tree and took it home. Then I got more of the soil off and cut off as much of the thick roots as I could without going down the bare root path. Potted it up and wired it in place then gave it a Seasol drink. Ive moved it into an shaded spot.

So my question is, have I done the right thing regarding procedure and time of year for a Juni?

[Webos]

Perfect! I'd give it a high chance of survival....not having much in the way of feeders would be my only concern. You'll just have to wait and see.

[shibui]

I wouldn't have attempted it.
They can be tricky at the best of times.
Having done it keep it well shaded and roots moist but not soggy.
Of the ones I dug early in spring all the ones that went into pots with good care have grown well. 3 out of 4 that went back into the ground are now looking very yellow so good aftercare seems to be the key.
Several of the ones I dug had lower branches touching the soil that had put out a few roots and these were cut off and potted as separate plants but a couple of these did not have enough roots to survive.
Good luck with the on you've collected. Let us know one way or the other next year. (they sometimes take quite a while to make up their minds about dying)

[anttal63]

Shade and a drip tray essential. Then cross ya fingers.

[bonzaidog]

Sime76....D..all of the above,and mist the foliage as often as possible, lack of feeder roots has you up against it...Good luck.. Dog..

[gollum]

thought I'd mention also ...
the balance between roots and foliage is quite important
if you reduced the root system by 40% then you should do the same ratio for the foliage
the tree will cope ok if it has enough stored energy in its trunk
plenty of seasol and superthrive
lots of water and good drainage will help
full shade until new growth occurs
these trees can bounce back really well or sulk and get sick very quickly
watch out for dying off and insect attack,bugs can quite easily take advantage of a stressed plant

now ... Show us a pic

[ozzy]

I'd remove as much unwanted foliage as possible.

[anttal63]

I'd remove as much unwanted foliage as possible.

NOT!!! Conifers need it to push roots!

[aaron_tas]

i dug some fairly old juni's last year in the height of summer, not such a great result. 1 out of 6 survived.

i think that you need to leave around 20% more foliage than you have feeder, keep em well watered before the winter, and water more and earlier than you would usually as they start to move in spring.

keep the nutrients up to em too.

good luck

[Webos]

I'm with ant...I wouldn't be taking off too much foliage...

[Bretts]

Now this is getting intresting.
I always heard this about Pines. Root work one year foliage the next and guessed it was the same for Juniper.
Then I heard a snippet here and there that Junipers are tuff as and will take anything so I have been waiting to clarify what you actually should do when collecting or doing major root work.

I had an interesting conversation with Leong from Bonsai South when I was looking into hard pruning pines.
You may have seen this video
http://www.bonsaisouth.com.au/cms3/inde ... &Itemid=75
Leong mentions that what enables him to prune a pine this hard is reducing the root ball to balance with the foliage removal Leong stated something about how the tree would drown if it was left to suck up water with all those roots.
This kinda goes against what we been told. I extended this discussion over several international forums and another accomplished bonsai practitioner stated that the roots did not need to be reduced but water needed to be limited so as not to flood the foliage. Basically the same idea accomplished a different way.
I will clarify the exact wording but that is the gist of what they said.
So it seems that balancing foliage to roots is a sound technique with pines and now I again wonder if junipers are similar?

[anttal63]

Walter pall has written on this topic extensively. I have experienced his findings 1st hand on more than one tree. He is the Bible

[Bretts]

Don't hold back Antonio show us the text . I can say Walter chimed into the discussion I had about this but he had very little to say

[anttal63]

Don't hold back Antonio show us the text . I can say Walter chimed into the discussion I had about this but he had very little to say

Nothing to hold back and dont have the time to go looking. Plenty written and experienced. He is probably tired of joining evey discussion on this topic. I would imagine his blog has this information. If not the Forums are full of it! If you want it you will find it.

[Bretts]

Thanks for the contribution Antonio