Problem after reporting pine

[Dom23]

Hello all,

I have an issue with my bonsai. Its about a year and a half old. I repotted it about a month ago and it started to deteriorate. The tree had been inside since I planted the seed. It is an unknown pine from japan. I put the plant outside after the repot because I was told it should be outdoors.

I repotted it again thinking that the "bonsai fertalizer" I got from bunnings was too strong or not good. It now has no fertalizer, just "bonsai soil".

To water the plant I used to water it with a hose from the top but for about a a week now I have been placing the pot in a tub of water and allowing it to soak up for a couple of minutes as i was told this is a better method. I have only been watering it when the top layer of soil becomes dry.

Any ideas on bringing this bonsai back to life?

Does it look like it's too far gone?

[rodm]

Dom
Pines aren’t hard to deal with but you must give them time to adjust to anything you do to them ie potting, wiring, etc. looks like you might have over worked it. Soaking it all the time is not healthy, some plants need to dry out a bit between watering. Pines are one of those plants. Fertilising straight after repotting will have a detrimental affect. If you can find a club in your area they will surely give some sound advice. You can also check out this site, there’s heaps of information on pines for all levels of experiences.
Cheers RodM

[Bougy Fan]

Hi Dom did you post a photo ? I cannot see one. If it is a conifer (pine) and it looks dead it may well have been dead for months. Did you bare root it ? Not sure if November would be a good time to re-pot - you haven't filled out your location to help us help you.

[shibui]

So many things you have not told us that could give some clues as Bougiefan has said.
Location: I know you know where you are but for the rest of us it makes a huge difference if you live in Hobart or Cairns or Chicago.
Species: From experience 'unknown pine from Japan' can mean any conifer from anywhere in the world. A few good photos would help a lot to determine what species and from there the correct treatment.
Inside: sounds like a problem as there are very few species that really enjoy being inside. Conifers in particular do not do well indoors but it may well have been too late by the time you realized and moved it outside.
Fertilizer: is rarely the problem, especially organic fert but you have not mentioned how much or how often so there is nothing to go on there either.
Water is a perennial problem. Enough is great but too much or too little can be deadly. Watering from above is not a problem. I have watered all my bonsai from above with the hose for 30 years with no problem. Soaking can also be a good technique when used properly. The surface layer is not really a good indicator as the soil below can still be saturated even when the surface has dried a bit.
Unfortunately many conifers take a long time to show any problems. By the time symptoms are obvious the tree is usually well and truly dead but without a photo it is not possible to judge in this case.

Not sure where your good advice came from as this is your first Ausbonsai post. There are many well intentioned beginners who offer free but not very comprehensive and sometimes dangerous advice.
I hope you can accept this setback as learning and take on another bonsai project in future.
Please show us what you have now and give some further feedback on some of the issues raised so we can try to help with answers.

[Dom23]

Hello, sorry tried to post a couple of photos. I will try again now.

I am located in melbourne australia.

The fertaliser used after a re pot was:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/bonsai-100m ... r_p2883571

The whole packet mixed into the soil when I did the re pot. It now has no fertaliser, I am just using a bit of seasol when watering.

Just after repot - first time living outside:

20201230_124238.jpg

One month later:

20201230_124238.jpg

[Dom23]

It started off getting brown spots in the middle of the needles, not the tips so I researched and found it might be a fungus? I lightly sprayed an organic fungacide onto it once about a week ago.

[treeman]

It died from root rot. Pot too big, pot too shallow, too much water, too much feed, not allowing it to dry, mix holds too much water (?) damaged roots followed by death.
Try again and this time avoid the above.
As an example, I dug up a few large black pines this spring, I put them into pots just big enough to cramp the roots into. The mix was mainly gravel with a bit of bark. I watered once and then not again for 2 weeks. They are all alive.

[nathan987]

Treeman’s description and your pics look about right - speaking from experience as someone who recently did the same to an advanced stock pine.

First time I’d repotted it. Only replaced half the soil and left the other half of the root all untouched, washed out a lot of clay muck when replacing the soil, then put it into a larger pot to ‘help’ it recover and give it room to grow and ‘thrive’.

It looked like yours after a few weeks. I deduced that with the root removal at repot and putting it into a larger pot and watering it as usual caused it to drown aka root rot. Lesson learned, at not insignificant expense.


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[treeman]

Treeman’s description and your pics look about right - speaking from experience as someone who recently did the same to an advanced stock pine.

First time I’d repotted it. Only replaced half the soil and left the other half of the root all untouched, washed out a lot of clay muck when replacing the soil, then put it into a larger pot to ‘help’ it recover and give it room to grow and ‘thrive’.

It looked like yours after a few weeks. I deduced that with the root removal at repot and putting it into a larger pot and watering it as usual caused it to drown aka root rot. Lesson learned, at not insignificant expense.


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I learned a valuable lesson by killing 10 or more 300 dollar black pines I dug up a few years ago by doing that.