another dying juniper...PLEASE Help! PICTURES

[falcon]

Hi, like I said, I have a dying juniper. After looking on the internet, I can see that this in not an uncommon problem. I got it about 2 years ago for christmas in a kit. It said that it was about 2 years old at the time, so that would make it about 4 years old now. Anyway, the kit came with a book, that said to keep it inside during the winter while its under 10 years old, because while its young it wont be able to handle the cold. So, thats what I did...put it out in the summer and as soon as it got cold, brought it inside. It seemed fine, in fact last summer it grew profusely, there was tons of new foliage. However, 2 months ago I noticed some foliage was breaking off here and there. I figured it needed to be repotted, because last year I had repotted it in some soil that I had found in my grandmothers basement (I didnt know anything about gardening when I did that. The soil had probabley been there for at leat 10 years and was likely either dead or diesaesed) and in the fall some sort of fungus had started to grow on the soil this fungus started to grow up the trunk of the tree. I didnt know what to do. I had read that you shouldnt repot until spring, so I panicked and scraped it off (down to the white of the wood). I was worried but the trunk seemed to grow back perfectly, so I figured it was fine. Anyway, so about 6 weeks ago, I repotted my bonsai in a mix of 60% soilless organic potting stuff and 40%all purpose potting soil. 2 weeks later, I noticed that even more branches were getting crunchy. I was getting really concerned, so I go on the internet and find tons of dying juniper stories, and find out that they HAVE to stay outside , even in the winter, to go dormant. So, I immediatly put it outside in an area sheltered from the wind, so as not to shock it with the transition. But at this point, winter is pretty much over and I'm worried that it hasnt had time to go dormant. I really looked at it today for the first time since I put it outside and its just as bad as before. Foliage is still breaking off and is a really unhealthy looking colour of green. There is green under the bark, and when I bend the branches they bend and don't break but, it just doesnt look healthy. What can I do Please HELP! Thank You! PS: Sorry about going on an on, but I really want my tree to live

[kdodds]

Unfortunately, I don't have any advice to offer on saving this tree. It seems to me that you were doing okay with it up until the point of the repot and scraping of the bark. If you scraped the bark down too far, the tree can not pass nutrients/waste from above to below and vice versa. This may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. In any case, if it's getting all "crunchy" it is likely already dead and beyond the point of redemption. If it were in my care, I would toss it right about now, from past experience trying to "save" such trees.