#BonsaiNews: I want to grow a bonsai forest [Looking for advice]

ONE of the things I've been dying to try and do over the last few years is to grow a forest in a pot - a few Steemians reading this may be thinking: 'What the hell is he talking about'.

This is what I am talking about:

I know, I know. To those unfamiliar with bonsai, such a concept may sound rather stupid - I mean forests grow out 'there' not in your yard or house but, believe me, it is more than doable.

So, I pretty much have everything I need in terms of the proper soil mixtures etc, a rather large pot and a few young bonsai I would like to use - I was thinking of using Chinese Junipers for this initiative since they take really well to this kind of bending and will more than likely take form smoothly.

I would however like to use Italian Cypress if I can but, this is a species of tree I have never worked with.

The little bit I know is that they are well suited the climate in my country and should do fine during both warmer and cooler months since we never dip below 10°C in winter however, this tree species will be receiving some shade in summer when temperatures can go as high as 40°C.

My thoughts are that the Chinese Juniper may be better suited and would be easier to control, especially when there are roughly 10 of them in the same pot.

I'm not so concerned about general maintenance or care however what does have me concerned is the process of re-potting these trees every few years and I assume that since they will all be sharing one pot, that this would need to be done annually so as to avoid the roots growing into each other.

My first question and where I mostly need advice would be: How does one go about re-potting in a scenario like this without possibly damaging the other trees and their roots?

My theory that I have, which I think may work, would be to layer individual compartments into the large pot using clay which I can bake to harden and in so doing rule out the concern of roots crossing roots - I am however worried that this may add too much weight to the pot. (Meaning I may need to find a more permanent spot for the pot and even perhaps consider building shelter of sorts which would provide it with morning sun and partial afternoon shade/indirect sunlight.)

I was advised to use Siberian Elm trees for this project however, I don't like Siberian Elm trees since their just way too easy to grow and work with - more on that in a later article.

My second question: What am I missing since I feel that with a project like this (something I am probably not ready to tackle) could get out of hand quite fast.

Drainage of course would be no concern regardless of whether I create individual planting compartments or not since I can always drill a few holes into the pot.

Should I consider using other trees for this or was I correct in choosing Junipers/Cypress?

Any advice would be great!

PS. If I end up choosing Cypress I'll have to use the seedlings I have which I would rather avoid however, it would mean that I could get straight to work since they are still young enough and will be much easier to control.