Sick JBP

[sneal77]

Hi all. I started playing with bonsai about 6 months ago and this is my first post. I have a JBP that's not doing so well. We've had a bit of a heatwave up here in Gladstone Qld in the past week or more so I've been giving my trees a bit of an extra drink in the afternoon. All of the trees are liking the extra water except for my JBP which has dropped all the needles on one branch and two others the needles have drooped and starting to brown of from the tips back. Would the extra water be the cause or is there something else I should be looking at. I re-potted it into this bigger pot and topped up the mix without disturbing the root system about 2 months ago. Any help would be appreciated. Cheers Neal

[KIRKY]

I'd say its too much water. You dont have a lot of growth on it so it wouldn't be drawing much water. Pines like to be on the dry side. You should allow it to dry out a bit between watering so watering every day is just too much.
Also what is it planted in? Is it retaining water? You should check how well it drains this will also give an indication of quality of mix.
Cheers
Kirky

[sneal77]

Hi Kirky,
I didn't disturb the original mix it was in from the nursery but filled in the gap around the edge with a good quality potting mix which is what I grow all my plant cuttings in. The weight of the pot appears to feel lighter when I check it but it obviously is holding too much moisture. I'll isolate it a bit more and get it into more sun and hopefully it'll pull through.
Cheers,
Neal

[shibui]

It is possible that the roots are, in fact, dry. I know that sounds crazy when you are providing extra water but the possibility can be a result of slip potting. I have noticed a tendency for this to happen after slip potting into a larger pot. I believe that what happens is there is a sort of barrier between the old mix with the roots and the new, fresh mix, probably because they are different but there may be other factors at play. Anyway the water wets the new mix well but does not transfer properly across to the older mix around the roots so the roots gradually get drier and drier, even though they are surrounded by nice, damp mix.
Pines do not generally show distress until it is far too late to save them so I think the tree will be past saving. When you are satisfied that it won't come back please do an autopsy and see what the roots are like. I predict they will be dry and dusty inside the original root ball but if you find wet, rotted roots you can say I told you so.

[sneal77]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully i can salvage it. Is it worth pulling out of the pot and checking or is it not a good time of the year to expose roots?
Cheers,
Neal

[anthonyW]

Yes Neal you can just bump the black pot off it now,and have a look,sagging foliage starting from bottom and working it way up usually means overwatered,you can not do any more damage now,I believe it is gone.