I'm a bonsai newbie who's been fixated on root-over-rock for a little while, and I found a literally-perfect specimen for what I've had in mind right in front of my dad's old workshop. I can't even begin to describe how lucky this find is - it's almost certainly the species I've wanted (Eastern redcedar) at about the size I've wanted, and it's right in my own backyard. I found it buried under several feet of foliage in a terribly overgrown bed full of weeds in poor soil that's encased in asphalt and gravel. This thing somehow survived everything in nature stacking against it up until I found it. Now it just has to survive me.

Needless to say, I want this little guy in a pot so I can eventually start working on it. But I also want to be extremely careful because I know evergreens are very sensitive, even though this one is clearly a tough cookie. This little guy seems to fall into a knowledge gap as far as I've found online - all advice I've seen has either been about seed plantings or much larger yamadori. Even shohin advice I've found has been about older trees. I don't have anyone to turn to in person about this, so I'm turning to those of you here with more experience.

I realize this is fairly basic stuff, but I've decided I can't be too careful with this one, and I want to lay the groundwork properly. Once it's out of the ground and established in its new pot, I'll be much more confident about how to proceed.

The bullet points:

• Species: Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)
• Area: NE US, Zone 6b
• Height: 1ft
• Current soil quality: Barely qualifies as soil.
• End goal: Root-over-rock