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Hi, I have a 6 yr old junioer that i bought from home depot and have planted into a 1/2 soil 1/2 rocks and a few table spoons of perlite.

Its still growing , but the main branch tip is growing a tad bit downards. I dont want to use wires because it is a very young tree that i do not want to hurt. also i have no experience. can i do something as simple as placing a book or box underneath the branch that would curve it upwards? and then leave it like that for a few months? would that work in training it?

Hi Leo,

Don't put a book or box on the branch, that will just hurt the branch! With wire you can easily curve the branch. What I did, when I just began with bonsai. Take a little stick and take a bit of rope and then secure it to the stick and wait till it holds his position.

But the best idea to do it, is still with wire

Quick answer is no. On a juniper the tips will always tend to hang down. The tree wants to renew its foliage constantly keeping the foliage that catches the most sunlight while dropping the foliage that doesn't. Shoots that hang down will eventually die off.

The only way around this problem is to thin down the foliage annually to allow sunlight to reach all the branches. Then wire the tree properly. Be carefully not to damage the young, gentile shoots. Arrange the branches like nice foliage pads and bend the tips upward a bit. Then remove al the downward growing shoots and all the long upward growing shoots to. Pinch back new growth regularly to promote back-budding.

This is an important process. To keep junipers healthy you have to encurage back-budding so the tree is able to constantly renew his foliage.

Also, wiring is a very important bonsai skill, but is also one of the hardest to master. If you don't have enough experience or you don't feel confident about your wiring skills then I would suggest going on a beginners bonsai course. An experienced bonsaika can teach you how to wire properly and can tell you all the pitfalls.

Junipers are very forgiving trees. They are able to take a serious beat and still survive. Even young shoots are pretty flexible and able to bend quite a lot. I'm pretty sure wiring this tree won't cause any serious problems.

Oops, I didn't saw that there stood 'tips' but I thought just a branch.

I fully agree with dsdevries, don't have to add anything more

dsdevries wrote: This is an important process. To keep junipers healthy you have to encurage back-budding so the tree is able to constantly renew his foliage.

Thinning and back-budding is not done to keep a tree healthy. Any normal tree grows without trouble when not trimmed. One trims in order to keep foliage close to the main trunk. Once light levels drop closer to the main stem, becaus of dense foliage on the outside of the canopy, foliage on the interior of the tree dies off, leaving bare branches. Over time, you end up with a tree that only had green on the outside of the tree, whereas you typically tree to keep branches green all the way to the main trunk. Regulat trimming allows light to get to the interior of the tree, and stimulates growth closer to the trunk, while reducing growth on the outside.

When trimming, always trim stronger on the top of the tree than on the lower branches, and more on the outside of the canopy than on the inside.