# Suggestions for this 45 year old juniper I purchased a couple years ago. It wasn’t very healthy. I brought it back, now needs trimming

**URL:** <https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188>\
**Category:** Design\
**Created:** [August 5, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188 "2026-08-05T19:13:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dluigi63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@Dluigi63](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Dluigi63)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2026, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188/1 "2026-08-05T19:13:49Z")

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![IMG_2460](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/bonsaimirai/original/3X/e/e/ee2f7dd558914dcc922f233c6570e15d0c4c5831.jpeg)

 ![IMG_2461](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/bonsaimirai/original/3X/9/a/9aaeef559cd0b191e272a6fe2b25eda249d15e36.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![RickMcFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5daacb/32.png) [@RickMcFly](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/RickMcFly)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188/2 "2026-08-08T18:10:06Z")

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That’s a very interesting juniper and it looks like you’ve done a nice job of bringing it back to health. I’d Suggest waiting a little longer into the fall to do any significant cleaning / pruning to maximize the tree’s energy. As for the design, Id like to see more movement and separation in the lower branches. If it were mine, I’d probably raise the upper left branch up, Above the deadwood, then raise the two lower branches on the left side up to form more of a stair-step pad formation. I’d let the lower branch on the right continue to dive down. Anyway cool tree! Thanks for sharing.

-R.M

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**Author:** ![Eastbayvet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@Eastbayvet](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Eastbayvet)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2026, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188/3 "2026-08-08T18:25:40Z")

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Difficult to see well because can’t see base but area in red should be foliage. Everything else I would remove based on your photo. Nice tree:)

 ![IMG_1074](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/bonsaimirai/original/3X/4/8/482bb29c824eab1d8916a0a32a15d06c44421c46.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Dluigi63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@Dluigi63](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/u/Dluigi63)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.bonsaimirai.com/t/suggestions-for-this-45-year-old-juniper-i-purchased-a-couple-years-ago-it-wasn-t-very-healthy-i-brought-it-back-now-needs-trimming/13188/4 "2026-08-09T16:30:18Z")

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Thx for the advice! I’ll wait to trim it and will try that look.