I looked around a bit & discovered that many sources list the plant as appropriate to either z 9 or 10. Since chill impacts plants in pots more than plants in the ground, I'm going to go out on a limb and on record as saying that unless factors other than zonal issues take the plant, I think you'll be fine over-wintering the plant outdoors in open shade from Dec-Feb.

Evergreens don't actually go dormant. They will still be photosynthesizing very slowly during the winter. Research shows that excessive light levels during periods of retarded photosynthesis can damage the photosynthesizing mechanism, which is why it's best to keep your evergreens shaded during cold periods.

Thank you very much I am gonna do what you say.

I also wanted to know about soil I bought some Akadama and Kanuma and I'm gonna mix them for this plant because he soil I has drains pretty poorly. Can i repot it now because the soil is really bad.

Is it safe to assume you're talking about a drainage issue? How about a picture of the pot and soil surface?

Al

Yes it is a drainage picture here is a picture I took with my phone sorry for the bad quality.

I really think your best coarse of action would be to wait until the deciduous trees in the landscape start to leaf out in the spring and repot at that time.

Until then, I think that if you employ a couple of tricks that will help you reduce water retention, you'll be fine. If you tip the pot at a 45* angle after watering and employ a wick, you'll remove most of the water that would be considered excess. As long as you don't over-water, you'll be fine. See the drawing I made:
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The shaded area represents water that won't drain from soils under the force of gravity alone. Your pot would be represented by figure A. If you tip the pot at a 45* angle, you can see the reduction in excess water held in the pot in figure B. Figure E represents the effectiveness of employing a wick to remove excess water.

You can also use this trick to remove excess water from soils: Water thoroughly so you've flushed the soil. Hold the pot in your hands and move it downward, then sharply reverse direction so the pot is moving upward. This uses Newton's First Law of Motion (The Law of Inertia) to force water from the pot. You'll immediately notice the water exiting the drain hole. If your pot is small enough, you should be able to remove ALL excess water via this method.

Whatcha think?

Al

Okay but my will the tree be damaged by replacing the soil? I am not very good by judging the water but I've been getting a little better. This soil is great from what I've heard and Id rather have this soil in sooner then later.

Also the plan you have is great and if I really can't replace the soil I'll definitely use it.

I'm confused. What soil is great?

Trees are always 'damaged' when you replace the soil. How badly they are damaged depends a lot on how skillful the grower is at repotting. Some damage is due to the number of fine roots killed by desiccation and breakage as the soil is removed, and some of the damage is intentional (root pruning). Your juniper likes to be repotted when it's warm and the plant is about to enjoy a period of robust growth. Repot now and it will likely sulk all winter, which is why I suggested dealing with your drainage issues via methodology rather than repotting, until the plant is in the part of it's growth cycle when it will recover fastest from the work.

I took into account that you might not be an expert waterer yet; and that's why the suggestion to wait a bit to repot and put the other tips to use in the interim were aimed directly at increasing your margin for error.

If you intend to make bonsai a lifelong pursuit, you'll need to know something about how plants work and how water behaves in soils. Bonsai is to container gardening as competitive high diving is to jumping off a diving board. There's a difficulty factor. I can help you understand soils. See the link below. It will save you a lot of heartache and you'll use it to help you improve your ability to grow anything in a container.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: How water behaves in soils

Okay thank you I'll wait until spring to replace the soil. I'll read that link you gave me and also. About when (what month) would be the best time to replace the soil. The soil im going to be using is a mixture of 90% Akadama and 10% Kanuma. Thank you for the help and link.

This post was edited by BonsaiGuy15 on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 13:28

From my post above: I really think your best coarse of action would be to wait until the deciduous trees in the landscape start to leaf out in the spring and repot at that time.

Al

Okay thank you for all the help :)

It's fun - helping others get more from their growing adventures just seems to be a natural extension of the whole experience to me. Good luck - Merry Christmas.

Al

Thank you again and merry Christmas !