AusBonsai

i know this might sound stupid but i am really confused as to how to prune juniper foliage?

i was told to flatten out the foliage and pluck the stems growing on top of the branch and also to pluck the bottom stems.

today i was told to just pluck out the bottom stems and leave the top stems.

is it possible for someone to explain exactly in a step by step format how to prune each stem.

if possible a close up picture of how the foliage actually looks. i've looked on the net and cannot find anything on what i am after.

please if you have any advice for me let me know thank you so much..

My first question would be, what species of Juniper? J,procumbens is pruned differently to Shimpaku which is pruned differently to needle junipers.

The next question would be what style is the tree?. It dose make a difference.

Also there are many Chamaecyparis and Cupressus, that are referred to as Junipers, and in fact are not. Therefore again the pruning and pinching is again different.

I note you belong to Bonsai North west. I would suggest that you look in the library for Bonsai Today # 11, as this copy has a very concise article on, Juniper ramification, telling when pinching is done and why, also on thinning or pruning,and why . With pictures.

Cheers, Pup

thanks for that, sorry it took me ages to reply, i asked the guy that i bought the tree off and he told me what type it was, unfortunately i have really bad memory and also the guy who sold it to me has a very strong Vietnamese accent, it was very hard to understand. sorry about that. give me a few more days and i will figure it out i never knew how many types of juniper there are.. again sorry i'm really not helping you answer my question, thanks for trying to help me anyway.