I have bought 2 juniper bush’s (blue point and blue rug) in 3 gal nursery pots. I am a 80 yr old newbie. Can I clean them up and repot them in 2 gal nursery pots. I am trying to give them the proper bonsai soil and let them get stronger before shaping and wiring.

Yes you can.

Hello again,I have purchased beginners course and love it. Trying not to skip topic, but in this case it is relevant. After doing some shaping and cutting some unwanted branches I am repotting nursery plant from 3gal plastic pot to 2gal plastic pot and letting it get stronger ( this is a nursery plant I recently purchased ) for a month or 2 until maybe middle of May before I do anything else to it. My question is ,since it is a nursery plant when should I fertilize,wait or start right away. I live in st Augustine fl zone 9b,our spring starts on March 19. This year the sunshine state has been the cloudiest in 86 yrs. My luck!,

I fertilize all my trees from the time in spring when they start growing until early authum when growth slows down.

Thank you for your prompt answer. Since the plant is newly purchased nursery stock ,and I am putting it in a new smaller pot,I thought I read somewhere that you would stress plant by fertilizing right after repotting. And you should wait until it’s more mature. Very confused ,don’t want to ruin my first try. Thank You in advance Stuart (ramman). I am going to use 6-6-6 organic slow acting fertilizer.

Hello,me again. When putting tree in new 2 gal pot should I leave some of old nursery potting soil with the new inorganic bonsai mix so there is less stress on roots. Or just use the new mix alone. Thank You!!

For some conifer trees that rely on symbiosis with mychorichia it may be a good idea to just do partial repotting.

I have never had any problem doing it all in one go on broadleaf trees. I do have lost broadleaf trees after repotting, but I blame too heavy root work, not the replacement of soil.

Yes, do not bare root any conifer. I would leave a few weeks before adding any fertiliser,

I do tend to bare root my conifers, add some mychorizia back into the mix and use mineralized fertilizer. When using mineral fertilizer no mychoriza is needed really.

But I agree on the recomendation to beginners to be more careful.