Emergency help please
Ok I don't know if I can post a pic on here or not but I believe I have a juniper bonsai my friend gave me tonight that he was goimg to throw away. Its very yellow and very brittle towards the end of the trunk. Hes been giving it miraclegrow and I'm not really sure if thats important or not but my question is is there any emergency care I can give it that will help it survive (if there is any hope at all). If I cant post a pic on here I can either txt or email a pic to you. Thank you for any help.
To post a photo, take a look at [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=23]these[/url] guidelines. The photos must be hosted by a third-party service, e.g., Picasa or Flickr.
No more Miracle Grow; it will encourage top growth that the roots of the plant can't keep up with. In an already stressed plant, this could be The End.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
No more Miracle Grow; it will encourage top growth that the roots of the plant can't keep up with. In an already stressed plant, this could be The End.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Picasa or Flicker or photobucket.com I use photobucket and I think it is easier than any of the others for posting pictures here.
Do post the pictures for our bonsai experts (I'm not one!) to look at. But understand there was probably a reason your friend was throwing it out. Junipers tend to die in slow motion from the inside out. By the time they are looking bad, they may have actually been dead for awhile and well past saving.
Do post the pictures for our bonsai experts (I'm not one!) to look at. But understand there was probably a reason your friend was throwing it out. Junipers tend to die in slow motion from the inside out. By the time they are looking bad, they may have actually been dead for awhile and well past saving.
Startalon, here is a list of the usual suspects that a new grower confronts.
Juniper is a rugged temperate zone shrub. Meaning it needs the cycles of weather that mother nature provides. So as a result in order for it to prosper it must reside outdoors. Including snow pack and frost.
Shippers use gravel that they hot-glue to soil to keep it in place in pots. You should remove that.
You will need to learn how to water your new tree. Use a chop stick and stick in the soil. When you withdraw it water only after the chop stick comes out dry.
Juniper is slow to show decline after mistreatment. Your new juniper may never recover, It may already be too late.
There is a season for fertilization, This is not the season for high nitrogen fertilizer. If you simply must (and I don't think your tree can stand it) look at a 0-1-1 fertilizer. Apply it at 1/4 the reccomended rate.
Juniper is a rugged temperate zone shrub. Meaning it needs the cycles of weather that mother nature provides. So as a result in order for it to prosper it must reside outdoors. Including snow pack and frost.
Shippers use gravel that they hot-glue to soil to keep it in place in pots. You should remove that.
You will need to learn how to water your new tree. Use a chop stick and stick in the soil. When you withdraw it water only after the chop stick comes out dry.
Juniper is slow to show decline after mistreatment. Your new juniper may never recover, It may already be too late.
There is a season for fertilization, This is not the season for high nitrogen fertilizer. If you simply must (and I don't think your tree can stand it) look at a 0-1-1 fertilizer. Apply it at 1/4 the reccomended rate.
Ok ive tried the photobucket thing but the only internet I have is through my phone and for some reason it wont give me the whole img code... I thank you for all your quick responses but I thimk the cause is probably lost. After a couple of days of sunshine and good, healthy(no fertilizer) water there seems to be no Improvement at all. I think he probably fried the roots with the miraclegrow. I tried to tell him to use natural fertilizer like compost or something of the sort but he must have misunderstood. Oh well it was worth a shot to try and save, and ill give it another week or so, but I think its a lodt cause. Ty all for your time.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
It was that color and we thought the same thing but it seems to be recovering. don't know if thats wishful thinking or not... Still to early to tell but it seems to be getting greener
Edit: now that I have a pic up can anyone tell me what kind it is?
Edit: now that I have a pic up can anyone tell me what kind it is?
Last edited by Startalon on Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
-
rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b