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I'm waiting until next month to pot a juniper. I'm wondering how I should prune the roots.

Thick roots do nothing. Only white thin feeder roots can take up water or nutrients.

As often, the answer is "it depends".

Water, etc., come through little hair like feeder roots. These roots are connected to the rest of the tree, usuawith those long thick roots. Cutting the thick roots off may remove a lot of the feeder roots, which can damage the tree. If you have a lot of feeder roots near the base of the tree with a long tap root you can cut off the tap root with little harm, since you aren't cutting off many feeder roots.

Do not cut thick roots because "they are doing nothing". As Ivan point out they are most often a link between the fine fender roots and the tree itself. But also important is that they are most often used to build good looking nebari. The trick is to remove those that dont benefit the design without taking too much at a time and risk the health of the tree.

Depending on where you live, next month might be an unsuitable time to repot junipers.
Ideally, especially if inexperienced, repot in early spring, just as plants are starting to grow. feb - April for northern hemisphere, depending how far north you are & how long it stays cold that year. If you repot before, the tree will normally not be able to respond to the work untill sping, meaning it is more vulerable to infections.

You can trim any root you like, as long as you keep a few things in mind:

- Plants need their feeder roots. That is where the bulk of update takes place. If you remove a large part of the feeder roots at one time, you risk killing the tree. So if you have only a few large roots holding most of the feeders, spread the work over multiple years
- Junipers have a fairly strong link between root and branches: Removing one big root may cause one bich branch to struggle or even die.
- Where possible, reduce roots to a side-root, so that the feeders on the side-root can take over
- Make sure you keep a significant part of the fine, feeder roots. how much that is depends on health, timing skill and position.. In doubt, leave till next year.

(The best bonsai is a living bonsai. There is no pride in dead trees)

leatherback wrote:

Depending on where you live, next month might be an unsuitable time to repot junipers.
Ideally, especially if inexperienced, repot in early spring, just as plants are starting to grow. feb - April for northern hemisphere, depending how far north you are & how long it stays cold that year. If you repot before, the tree will normally not be able to respond to the work untill sping, meaning it is more vulerable to infections.

You can trim any root you like, as long as you keep a few things in mind:

- Plants need their feeder roots. That is where the bulk of update takes place. If you remove a large part of the feeder roots at one time, you risk killing the tree. So if you have only a few large roots holding most of the feeders, spread the work over multiple years
- Junipers have a fairly strong link between root and branches: Removing one big root may cause one bich branch to struggle or even die.
- Where possible, reduce roots to a side-root, so that the feeders on the side-root can take over
- Make sure you keep a significant part of the fine, feeder roots. how much that is depends on health, timing skill and position.. In doubt, leave till next year.

(The best bonsai is a living bonsai. There is no pride in dead trees)

Thanks for the information. It really helped me!