Thanks so much William. Yes, I always try to keep a tree in the best possible health. It is very tempting to want to do all the operations we do at once as it does give the WOW effect, but as you point out, at what cost to the tree. In my humble opinion this is more driven by personal ego than what is good for the tree, so if we can get ourselves out the way and focus on bringing out the best in the tree then we will focus more on the needs of the tree and less on our own.

Great! Glad I did not forget anything.

Thanks so much Erick!

Thank you so much!

Thats great to hear Clifford!

Winter is not a good time to repot juniper. It’s when new growth is beginning. If you are doing drastic root work then do the 50/50 approach. It’s a lot less likely to lead to the trees demise.

Thanks so much!

Thanks Asger for your comments. I certainly did not mean to suggest that Sonare was not to be found in Japan, as they most certainly are and there are some incredible specimens for sure which I have seen in person at nurseries and on exhibitions. However I think the point I was trying to make in the video was that it is not as common as it is where I am, which is in South Africa, where almost every bonsai enthusiast has at least one! :) Yes, as you mention, it seems the trend now to change the foliage of Sonare to something like Itoigawa, which although Itoigawa is amazing foliage the tree, to me, looks amazing as a Sonare but I appreciate there are fashions that influence bonsai in Japan and also that perhaps the grower can sell the tree for more money eventually as this is the main motivator for doing this work.

Yes, worldwide would be the same for the species in this video, procumbens nana. When the tips of the foliage are swelling and greening up. Typically mid spring and then again in autumn. The better time is spring.

That's great, thanks for the help Terry.

When a tree is in development you can certainly use cheaper components, those which will produce a lot of growth continuously as that is the goal. It’s only when you want to refine trees that the growing medium needs to be chosen that much more carefully.

Thanks Mike. Actually it’s super simple. It’s American bonsai master Boon’s technique to my knowledge. You bare root the front 50% of the tree and leave the back alone entirely. Two years later you come back and bare root the back 50%. At that time you leave the front half alone. Now you have treated the entire root ball with the minimum risk to the plant.

Thanks for the reply Terry, really appreciate the help. Due to my inexperience and rush to get a couple of Juniper 'Nana's' repotted, I removed all the soil during the process and they're not looking too happy. Now, with the help of your video, hopefully both myself and more importantly, my Junipers will have a healthier future.

No problem Mike. This is how some lessons in bonsai are learnt. Provided you left the foliage alone then the trees should pull through with a lot of misting. If you cut a lot of foliage and did a lot of root work I’m afraid the chances are slim. But hang in there and perhaps they pull through.

Thank you Jorge. This tree was a customers. It responded well and was growing strongly when I last saw it. The customer has sold it though so I don’t know if I will have it on the bench again for styling. Sorry.

Baie dankie Arno, waardeer dit!

Juvenile foliage is usually a response to stress. When the tree has recovered it will revert back to adult foliage. However some species will always have some degree of juvenile needle foliage. Some are mostly juvenile like the procumbens nana. I’m not aware of this character being related in any way to the age of the tree.

@@TerryErasmusbonsai thanks for the info, I had just assumed that with it being called adult and juvenile foliage it had something to do with the age. Thanks for the prompt reply, much appreciated 👍

Sorry but I do not remember. It’s a customers tree.

Hi David, no, not at all. You can place it in sun. At the moment the sun is not strong and it will help strengthen the tree. The main thing to protect from is wind.

We are in late winter in Melbourne. Can be a bit windy sometimes and cold night but during the day it is warming up. Thanks for the reply

@@davidn3841 ok. We’ll be sure not to repot too early. You must start seeing the tips of the foliage swelling and greening up. If you’re removing a lot of root try to keep as much foliage as possible.

Thanks for the question Rubén. I did cover this in the video. I would suspect that it’s too late now. You can repot again in Autumn though but read this to know what to look out for: www.bonsaitree.co.za/blogs/tree-talk/the-fantastic-juniperus-procumbens-nana

Good question. I used equal parts of akadama, lava and pumice.

Hello Aussie, as its not my tree I cannot tell you. I don't like to guess either. Sorry.