Hello again! I wish this post was about how well my juniper has been doing since the last time we chatted, but its not!
My bonsai is browning and drying out and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I re-potted it with free draining soil. I also leave it outside, where it gets full sun and frequent mist throughout the day. My tree gets a good watering just before drying out and with the medium its potted it, I believe it is almost impossible to over-water. The health of my juniper started to stress when changing its location to outdoors..
Has anyone had this problem and give me some advice on what I'm doing wrong? I would love to see it with its soft dark green color again...
Now, I'm not sure on this because I've never had any experiance with junipers before, but from what I've read about them, once there needles start to dry up, its to late to bring them back. Supposedly, the tree dies even before it starts to loose needles. Yet, the tree could also still be alive, and the shedding of the needles could just be a result of the move from where it was before to where it is now. Another thing may be if you kept it inside all winter, and it never got any dormancy, then that would inevitably kill it as well. But don't take it from me to know what's wrong. Wait for someone with a better knowledge of junipers to come by and help before you decide to do anything.
Sorry to hear about the tree, but it doesn't sound good. Could be a lot of things; mites, phomopsis (juniper twig blight) dessication from wind, but I suspect the repotting is to blame. There are a lot of pitfalls to dry out roots; leaving air pockets, not watering in enough, but one problem leads the rest...
Evergreens are very reliant on mycorhizal fungii, and fungi are very sensitive to soil disturbance. If we do not add a fair amount of the older soil into the new soil we are potting into, we are not innoculating the new soil with a significant amount of the very biology those roots are counting on for help in the new medium. Extra care and watering is a must during the period right after a repotting, not just for the tree but for the other living organism in the pot, the soil. I suspect this is where the problem was...did you include a fair amount of old soil in the new mix?
There are mycorhizal mixes out there that can help considerably with this issue; ectomycorhizal is the better mix for evergreens. Sorry to hear about the loss, but consider it a lesson learned and prosper from that with your next tree...
My dad is great at growing tomatos. Maybe I should start growing them.
Don't be too hard on yourself, we all lose trees, sometimes you never know what really happened. You kind of got off on a wrong foot by buying a Juniper in mid-winter. They should not stay inside but putting them out is a risk too. Had you started last spring or summer and allowed the tree to properly harden off you could have left it outside and would have probably been OK.
If you don't mind a suggestion; go to a local nursery and get a Juniper in a one gallon, or larger, pot and begin training it yourself. You will get more tree for the money and will learn more in the process.
I second Gnome; there is an old saying in bonsai "You must pot many trees, you must prune many trees, you must water many trees and you must kill many trees." We'll try to keep the body count down for you...
"You must pot many trees, you must prune many trees, you must water many trees and you must kill many trees."
Hi, glad to see you back. I never heard it put that way before but a similar sentiment opines that "dead trees are the tuition one pays to learn bonsai" I believe John Naka is credited with having said that.
I agree that buying bonsai in the dead of winter was a bad choice. As soon as the weather gets better I think I'm getting a maple. I have a big maple in my back yard that could use a friend.
