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bonsaiTALK Neophyte
Join Date: Jul-2006
Posts: 3
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Juniper's not looking so hot. Or too hot?
I'm afraid this may sound a bit repetitive, but my mallai bonsai, which I purchased at the mall less than a year ago, appears to be in a state of emergency. Many of its branches have turned a deep greenish color. They are brittle and break off easily when I brush my finger across them. Some of the branches still look like they are alive though, and are green and soft to the touch. I tried doing the wick test, which yielded a dull green.
I repotted the bonsia in the winter before I realized it needed to be kept outside. By that point, the ground was frozen. New Hampshire winters are pretty extreme and although I know the juniper is a hardy plant, I didn't think it would be apt for the change from 68 to 70 degrees F to ten below, or for our extreme booger-freezing frost and three feet of snow.
Now I'm afraid I don't know the golden-mean between what is too much sunlight and what is not enough, nor the golden-mean between over watering it and under watering it. It's getting a few hours of sunlight each day, though is mainly in the shade, and I water it about 3 to 4 times a week. I believe the drainage is decent but I haven't checked the root system yet. I understand extreme heat is not a problem for bonsai, but is extreme humidity a problem? As bad as NH winters are, NH summers are worse.
Finally, I live in a dorm room over the school year and I'm not able to keep the bonsai outside, although I bring it home for a winter residence. My guess is that although the junipers are hardy, I have somehow managed to kill it. I have not given it any fertilizer because I read that I wouldn't be doing that until it got much bigger. In the whole, it doesn't look like it has grown since I bought it. Please tell me everything I did wrong, what I didn't do, what I should do, and so forth by whatever means possible. If there's a chance my juniper is still alive, there's no time to waste!
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