AusBonsai

My JBP is sport some new shoots, but overall it's looking pretty sad. The trunk on the right is looking healthy enough, but aside from the two new shoots on the trunk on the left (circled), it's not looking good at all.

Any advice on what I should do, particularly in regards to styling? I was thinking of styling the trunk on the left as deadwood and focusing on the right trunk. Thoughts?

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I wouldn’t be thinking of any styling at the moment. Just it will live. If it’s still alive in 2 years time you can think about styling. Doing any work on this tree now would probably mean certain death.

dansai wrote:I wouldn’t be thinking of any styling at the moment. Just it will live. If it’s still alive in 2 years time you can think about styling. Doing any work on this tree now would probably mean certain death.

Would you recommend repotting into a larger pot (grow pot) and let it go for a few years?

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I would just check the drainage and put the pot in optimum light conditions and nurse it along until it recovers. And pray.

Yep, leave it until it is in good health again. Somewhere with good lighting but not baking hot, keep your watering even and just let the little guy recover.

Repotting it now would be an extra stress it may not be able to tolerate imo

This is exactly the type of specimen which will do you more harm than good with regard to your ongoing interest in bonsai. The smaller trunk is already dead. It just doesn't know it yet. The second trunk will take 2 years to recover (if it does)and by that time there won't be much you can do with it to interest you. The best possible course of action now is to buy yourself a new tree. The big lesson here is not to remove more than 1/3 from a conifer at any one time and preferably 2 years apart.
Get yourself another pine with plenty of low branches and keep them while you study it. You can slowly remove a branch here and there until the tree ''tells'' you which way to continue.
The sooner this tree is a just a memory the better. Keep the pot!
We all lose trees and this is the only way to get the correct information into our heads.

treeman wrote:This is exactly the type of specimen which will do you more harm than good with regard to your ongoing interest in bonsai. The smaller trunk is already dead. It just doesn't know it yet. The second trunk will take 2 years to recover (if it does)and by that time there won't be much you can do with it to interest you. The best possible course of action now is to buy yourself a new tree. The big lesson here is not to remove more than 1/3 from a conifer at any one time and preferably 2 years apart.
Get yourself another pine with plenty of low branches and keep them while you study it. You can slowly remove a branch here and there until the tree ''tells'' you which way to continue.
The sooner this tree is a just a memory the better. Keep the pot!
We all lose trees and this is the only way to get the correct information into our heads.

Mike is spot on with his advice . id give it a 5% chance at best . We all kill trees learning heck even after 14 years of bonsai ive killed stuff fairly recently by pushing a tree too far too quickly

Im sure some of the above is not what you wanted to hear. But I have to agree. This tree is unwell and on a downward incline.

So first, if you are too learn from this, tell us what you have done with this tree in the last couple of years? We may then be able to help you avoid these mistakes again.

Secondly, I was going to address the question you asked of me about putting into a "grow pot". Before I looked at this thread I saw this thread. Pretty much said what I was going to say, except more detailed and straight to the point. "Grow pots" (and I put this in inverted commas because it doesn't really describe a large pot accurately) are for trees that are growing vigorously and will fill the medium quickly. In your case, planting this tree in a bigger container than it is in will be certain death. Even as it is in looks way over potted.

quodlibet_ens wrote:My JBP is sport some new shoots, but overall it's looking pretty sad. The trunk on the right is looking healthy enough, but aside from the two new shoots on the trunk on the left (circled), it's not looking good at all.

Any advice on what I should do, particularly in regards to styling? I was thinking of styling the trunk on the left as deadwood and focusing on the right trunk. Thoughts?

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the mix looks like it’s clayey and compacted or is it just the picture?


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