Hi, I've recently received a 13 y/o Juniper bonsai (Juniperus Squamata Prostrata) for my birthday. Trying to do my best with the tree but I'm getting a bit worried about how it's doing. I've been struggling with finding reliable information about how to manage it. Every other page seems to give different advice.
I live in Sydney.
The tree is outside all day every day.
The tree has full sun all day.
I water the tree when the topsoil feels dry, that's been every 2-3 days so far.
Haven't fertilized it yet, since I've only had it for about two weeks.
A few browning/yellowing pines have started appearing in the last few days. The moss has also turned from a green to more of a yellow. Are these things a problem? Am I doing something wrong?
Some older needles turning yellow is normal. Older needles must die after 2-3 years. Provided new growth is healthy and green your tree should be OK.
Check needles in affected areas closely for insect pests. Junipers can become infested with mites or scale. Both are really tiny so you do need to look close. If you can't see any pests chances are the tree is normal.
Watering is important, especially as we head into warmer weather. How much and how often depends on size of pot, weather, species, type of soil and other factors so water cannot be scheduled or dictated by others.
Browning moss can indicate a number of things. It may just be warmer days or increased sunlight affecting it or getting dry between watering. Not all moss lives through summer so brown moss is and indicator but not a vital part of the bonsai.
Allowing the soil to get almost dry before watering is good but when you do water it must be thorough. The water MUST penetrate all the way to the centre of the root ball. A quick sprinkle to wet the surface is probably not enough through summer. Water then allow that to soak in then water again to make sure the water gets right in. A weekly soak in a tub of water is a good fall back for new growers to make sure the pot is properly wet at least once a week. See if you can feel the difference in weight before and after soaking the pot. Check again before and after normal watering to see if your watering is effectively filling the soil with water.
Full sun is very variable depending where you live. Most of Sydney should be fine for juniper in full sun- as you say, provided you can keep the water up to it. The pot is reasonably small so If it starts to look sad in hot weather try a little afternoon shade to reduce the need for water.
My tree has unfortunately gone from bad to worse in the last week. I moved it into a more shady spot about three weeks ago. I think maybe I'm underwatering it still. The browning from the inside out has continued, and one cluster of a branch seems to be mostly dead. Any ideas as to what's happening to it? Is it too late to save?
It almost looks like something's been eating the end of this branch?
Overall looks healthy. Lots of heathy growing tips means it is doing well.
Browning from the inside is a seasonal thing with junipers. Oldest needles die in summer because they are at end of life. New growth takes over.
The lowest branch is not as happy but even it has some good shoots so is trying to stay alive. Lower branches are usually the weakest on most species because the tree's aim is to become the tallest tree in the forest as fast as possible to compete with others. That means lower branches are always expendable (from tree's point of view)
Lower branches dying is often a sign of not enough light. Even the dense branches above can shade low branches enough for them to die. We often see this where trees are placed close to a wall or fence and the back branches don't get sun. Obviously moving to more shade will make that problem worse if that's the cause.
I also note the wire on that branch. Was it bent or moved at some stage this year? Bending can sometimes cause enough trauma to set a branch back and because of its location it can take even longer to recover. Pruning upper branches can redirect some of the energy to the lower branches and could help.
This case brings to mind a quote from Tom Yamamoto - 'You have problem? Cut him off. No more problem!' so maybe consider that branch as expendable and get rid of it. Bonsai are often restyled and I think this tree will look just as good without that lower branch.
Not enough water could cause some of the problems but the fresh new tips all over the rest of the tree look quite good so I don't really think it is dying of thirst now.
It looks like even on the branch that you are concerned about, there are new growth tips which look fine. There are tips which appear to have been pruned. Whenever I hedge prune/clip a juniper I get browning at the tips where I clipped but after I remove these browned parts of the tips I get no further browning. So is it possible that it was clipped before it was handed to you or you did a bit of clipping after you received it?
Maybe someone who has had more junipers than I have will confirm this, but I do get some internal browning from older growth. So, as the new growth pushes out I get some die-back behind this. So, I don't have any issue with looking at browning on internal growth. This is usually on the older growth where the sun doesn't reach.
How much sun your tree can tolerate also depends on how much and what it's planted in. All of my junipers are in training pots as having all of my trees in bonsai pots would drive me crazy trying to keep up with the watering. Yours is in a bonsai pot, you will need to be more careful with your watering regime. I went on holidays for a couple of days, I moved my junipers under larger trees. Especially as we have just had consecutive days of 30+ degree heat, I wouldn't have them in full sun and only water every 2nd or 3rd day. I don't soak my junipers every day because they are pre-bonsai and I am letting them grow, I haven't significantly reduced their foliage and their leaves cover the pot. So the surface of the pot is mostly in shade. I give a light watering every second day and a full watering every other day at the moment during summer.
You will get various advice and conflicting advice because there are a lot of variables and part of the learning with bonsai is figuring what is suitable for your local condition. These things will factor:
- How much rain we've had recently
- What soil/material you have planted your tree in
- How fast the combination of soil/pot drains
- How much water the soil/pot retains (how long before it goes dry)
- How much sun your plant gets
- How thirsty your plant gets
- How much sun the pot and surface of the soil gets
Worth noting is your surface could be dry and inside could be damp. It all depends on how familiar you are. You could pull your plant out of a tub and the base could be soaking. Surface moisture is only one indicator.
Yes, you've got some browning on that branch, but it may be normal. Also, if I was concerned I'd be looking if there has been any physical damage to the branch. Is there any insect damage to the branch. Carefully look to see if there was any damage when the wire was applied.
Another suggestion is to find a local bonsai club, or nursery. Find someone who is familiar who can see the tree in person.
It may of been mentioned already but when you wire a branch down turn the tip of the branch up . Juniper branches that are just wired down tend to lose vigour especially if the other branches are growing up .
