Juniper's not looking so hot. Or too hot?

bernini

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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soonami

Juniper die slowly, so if it is showing signs of stress now, the trigger might have occured several weeks ago.

That said, if you juniper is still alive, get it outside in full sun. Evergreens love sun and junipers are no exception. Don't bother with fertilizing or anything like that, just keep it moist and in the sun.

Good luck

Mcspeed

Moist but not constant wet, is the "soil" dirt or more like gravel? If it's dirt and you water 4 times a week it might be too much, tell me there aren't rocks glued on top, Please, if so remove them so you can properly check the soil for water needs. A finger, the tooth pick/ chopstick test are good ways to see how much moisture is in the soil after a while of doing the checks you develope a feel for when you need to water. Some time you can judge by the weight of the tree and pot, but you first have to know the differance between need water, and doesn't need to be watered. Overwatering kills more than underwatering.

All trees big or small need food, but try soonami's suggestion about getting it outside, and hope you get some new growth, then you can start some fertilizing, but it doesn't sound good.

Don't get discouraged if it is croaked though, most of us have learned the same way, and are for the most part better for it, if you cosider being a Bonsai nut better , I do.
Good Luck
Bill

bernini

Thanks a lot guys! I will hop to that right away. You've been wicked helpful even if I am a few weeks too late. My bonsai was layered with moss, thus holding in a lot more moisture than it should have been so I will also remove that pronto. I will let you know what the outcome is. Thanks again

nsmar4211

Don't feel bad if your juniper doesn't make it.... my roommate asked me what happened to one of my junipers and got a "it died" as an answer! I thought I had it acclimated enough to put it on the west side of my house and apparently not.... but, it took 3 weeks to show the stress-too late! I've been told they are tempermental at times. You wouldn't think so by how many are planted in the medians around here, but then I found out they just plant a new one when one dies (notice, not "if"!).


If you've got the space, it's a good idea to have several trees-don't have to all be "bonsai", but just something to distract you from babying one tree to death (literally sometimes) . I'd have a lot more dead trees if I didn't have a bunch of cuttings to "play" with!

Good luck!