How hard is Hollywood Chinese Juniper to bonsai?

I purchased a nice sized Hollywood Chinese Juniper at Home Depot today and I am wondering how hard it is to bonsai. Should I treat this differently than I would a Shimpaku? I am using Shimpaku as reference since I found lots of bonsai tutorials on it. Any tips will be much appreciated.

The tree is in a squat 10 gallon pot and was about 7 feet tall when I purchased it. I think it is down to 3 feet now since I had to chop it to get it in my sedan. Visible trunk is about 3" - 3.5" but the base could be much wider under the soil/roots which I intend to find out this spring.

Any and all input is welcome. Thanks!

Dario,

Torulosa is a tough juniper to work as a bonsai. What you may have to resort to is grafting. You could try kishu or maybe an itoigawa, but usually left on their own they're tough to get good branch work from.

Orion,

What a bummer but I appreciate the input. Thanks!

Is it tough in the sense that I can work on it hard or are they "sensitive"? If they can take abuse, I would love the challenge to get a descent bonsai out of my stock tree. If that fails, I might have to hone my grafting skills.

Oh they are tough as nails...

I have two and in my experience I found it tough as nails. My bunjin I split the entire trunk twisted and bent faily hard. It responded like a champ. This was the done the winter before last. I'll put it into a pot this spring.

GREAT! I like them tough. I will be "brutal" come spring then

Thanks guys!!!

Dario, check this out...

https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t1662-torulosa-juniper?

Thanks Russell!!! I will read the full thread later (seems well discussed too)

Anyone know if I can safely investigate below soil level around the trunk now? Say disturbing 3" all around to look for the actual tree base. Of course I do not know how deep I will have to go for now.

The 10 gallon pot is about a foot deep and I am worried about disturbing the roots at this time but w/ the current trunk chop I am thinking I probably can. The soil...is basically a mat of roots really with a few remaining nuggets of bark.

Thanks!

You should be fine cleaning away soil from the base now but i wouldn't go any further at this time.

Thanks Bob!

Pictures added at OP.

Really nice piece Dario, best of luck with it.

Poink88 wrote:Pictures added at OP.

That is nice material, Dario. Certainly many ways to go. Keep us posted with the development.

Best,
Dorothy

Great garden-center find with those low and twisty branches, plenty of design options. This will be fun to play with over the years. I'd wait to even think about styling until you get it repotted and see what the true base looks like. Your current front just may be the back!

Orion, Dorothy, and Joey,

Thanks!

I will update pics once it is repotted and actual base is exposed come spring.