Juniper turning brown - bonsaiTALK Community

23-May-2007	#1
ArcLad bonsaiTALK Artisan Join Date: Nov-2005 Location: Fairfax Country: Virginia USDA Zone: Zone 7 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 148	Juniper turning brown Hey all, My mom went to NY last year and bought me a Juniper bonsai and I really appreciated it alot. It flourished over last summer but this summer, I started to notice that the foliage was turning brown and it just wont stop. It turned brown on the back side and it basically took a chunk of it out. Now the front is getting to that point as well. My mom bought the tree at a chinese nursery in NY, she said it was a nursery but i dont know if it was actually something else. I dont want it to be like a mall-sai...but yeah every week there is more of the tree that is turning brown. I fed it and water it but something is def. wrong. I checked the soil content and it is not glued together so that is a good sign. When an infected part starts to show i snip it off. Soon, there will be nothing left! -David __________________ Family Guy: Niles: Well Frasier, you're so corpulant that when you sit around the magnificently appointed tusken villa, you sit AROUND the magnificently appointed tusken villa. Peter: Huh, this is the smartest show on TV!

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23-May-2007	#2
rockm bonsaiTALK ArchMaster Join Date: Oct-2003 Location: Fairfax, Va Country: USA USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 4,561	What's the soil like? How often are you watering? Stop feeding it. Fertilizer won't help.

23-May-2007	#3
Mcspeed bonsaiTALK Master Chief Join Date: Mar-2006 Location: West Springfield Massachusetts Country: USA USDA Zone: zone 5 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,203	Where do you keep the tree, and what was this past winters care for the tree like? __________________ If at first you don't succeed -- skydiving is not for you. Always remember that you're unique -- just like everyone else Enjoy this day. Bill

25-May-2007	#4
ArcLad bonsaiTALK Artisan Join Date: Nov-2005 Location: Fairfax Country: Virginia USDA Zone: Zone 7 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 148	well the soil is not very loose, it is very clumpy. if you were to pull the tree out of the pot it would just come straight out. and during the winter, the tree was placed outside under a tarp with all the other outdoor trees. oh yeah, the base of the tree was covered with mulch for winter protection. __________________ Family Guy: Niles: Well Frasier, you're so corpulant that when you sit around the magnificently appointed tusken villa, you sit AROUND the magnificently appointed tusken villa. Peter: Huh, this is the smartest show on TV!

25-May-2007	#5
chansen bonsaiTALK Craftsman Join Date: Sep-2005 Location: Richmond, VA Country: USA USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 95	Does the soil look like dirt, or like gravel? If it's more 'dirt' like, you problem is most likely soil compaction. Most mallsai-esque trees come in soil that holds lots of moisture when wet, but when it dries out it's like a brick. And getting it wet again is a problem. Hence, the common watering instructions to soak the pot for an extended period of time, this allows the brick-like soil to finally get wet al the way through. So I would think that the tree hasn't had water at it's roots for a long time. From what I've seen (and I've killed a couple), your juniper is a dead. When various parts of the tree keep dying, it's not a good sign. My condolences Christian p.s. I just parted ways with a trident the other day, the one of two maples that I bought from a 'real' bonsai nursery as my first decent pre-bonsai stock. I feel your pain.

27-May-2007	#6
ArcLad bonsaiTALK Artisan Join Date: Nov-2005 Location: Fairfax Country: Virginia USDA Zone: Zone 7 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 148	oy...thats great...i think i might have to take a picture to show the damage. My mom went to new york again just this morning to buy a new juniper. probably from that same place. i cant stop her from gettin it, if she gets it and brings another home, is there anything i can do to avoid what happened to my dying juniper? __________________ Family Guy: Niles: Well Frasier, you're so corpulant that when you sit around the magnificently appointed tusken villa, you sit AROUND the magnificently appointed tusken villa. Peter: Huh, this is the smartest show on TV!

27-May-2007	#7
anttal63 bend me twist me Join Date: Jul-2006 Location: melbourne Country: australia Posts: 2,074	agreed christiansounds like it is too late to me __________________ Antonio . . . ------------------------------------

27-May-2007	#8
chansen bonsaiTALK Craftsman Join Date: Sep-2005 Location: Richmond, VA Country: USA USDA Zone: 7 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 95	Arclad - Now you've posed a question that I don't have a good answer to. Hopefully others will chime in to help out. If the problem was indeed the soil conditions I proposed, you're faced with a bit of a puzzle. Now is not a good time to repot much of anything, so there isn't a quick and easy fix. Due to my inexperience, I wouldn't suggest anything, but I may point you to look at a couple different possibilities. One would be to wait until summer dormancy to do an emergency repot. A lot (I don't know if all, or if junipers fall into this category) of trees have a dormacy period in the summer, they stop growing for a time. This may be a decent time (best time for emergency repot given the situation) to get it into different soil. However, I have no experience doing this, and I'm not suggesting that you do, but you may want to ask others with greater knowledge if this is a possibility. I would also ask if you could gently slip the tree from the pot now, and place it in a larger pot with a free draining soil mix. However, this doesn't solve the problem of the poor soil directly surrounding the roots, so I'm not sure if it would work. Sorry I don't have a better answer. I guess it's really not an answer at all, just more questions that I would ask if I were in your situation. Good luck with it. Christian

28-May-2007	#9
ArcLad bonsaiTALK Artisan Join Date: Nov-2005 Location: Fairfax Country: Virginia USDA Zone: Zone 7 AHS Heat Zone: 7 Posts: 148	I understand where you're comin from christian. My mom comes home tonight and she may or may not have bought another juniper. The other thing is she has my camera. I would really want to take some pictures and show you the actual damage. I've had about 2 junipers that died. They were my first trees, it was like the thing to get cause the signiture tree for bonsai is a juniper. i left it indoors and grew it inside and found out that it wasnt such a good idea. i've seen how it looks like when it's dead. the needles are VERY rigid, discolored and almost painful to touch. However, my tree outside that my mom got me is NOT AT ALL like that. I should have specified that the browning occurs on on the base of the branches, where they were once green, and then they travel onto the needles. they started to turn more and more often and they fall off more and more. but OVERALL the tree is still very lush! could i have misinformed you guys? cause it surely does not look dead...there is another factor that i wanted to know if it has affect on the tree. I do not know when the seller potted the tree. but the soil seems to be really compacted with roots as well as the soil. the tree has a small pot, could the tree be showing me a sign that the pot maybe too small and that it needs more space to grow its roots by turning brown? __________________ Family Guy: Niles: Well Frasier, you're so corpulant that when you sit around the magnificently appointed tusken villa, you sit AROUND the magnificently appointed tusken villa. Peter: Huh, this is the smartest show on TV!

28-May-2007

#10

tachigi

What importance a title

Join Date: Dec-2003

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Quote:

However, my tree outside that my mom got me is NOT AT ALL like that. I should have specified that the browning occurs on on the base of the branches, where they were once green, and then they travel onto the needles. they started to turn more and more often and they fall off more and more. but OVERALL the tree is still very lush! could i have misinformed you guys? cause it surely does not look dead...there is another factor that i wanted to know if it has affect on the tree. I do not know when the seller potted the tree. but the soil seems to be really compacted with roots as well as the soil. the tree has a small pot, could the tree be showing me a sign that the pot maybe too small and that it needs more space to grow its roots by turning brown?

ArcLad,
First of all I'm not criticizing, just stating facts

Now that is out of the way, on to the Juniper. Your posts are confusing and kind of contradictory. So pictures when you can get them may help.

If your Juniper is green and lush then its not dying. It may have mites, to much sun in one spot, or if its browning from inside out then it could be old foliage dieing off. There are a myriad of things that will cause what your describing. If it is root bound find out by either gently lifting it from its pot and inspecting or if it won't lift easy then work a chop stick in and see who much resistance there is. You'll do two things by doing this. One find out how root bound you are or are not. The second being you'll aerate the root ball slightly by probing with your chop stick. Whatever you do don't repot, wait till fall. Figure out what the problem is now and then address it down the road.

You received this plant from an unknown source so you should receive it with gratitude, but expect the worse. I always repot when I take in a tree, with few exceptions. It gives me a base line to know when things have been done. I then will let it sit for a season, get to know the tree and make sure its healthy before imposing my will on it.

BTW: Junipers haven't been a signature tree for bonsai since the karate kid was in theaters

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Tom

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Don't flay yourself mentally when you make a mistake or when something bad happens. Just pick yourself up from the god-awful mess you’ve made, say to yourself "I must make a note not to do that again." and go on to the next step, of the hundred or so that remain.

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