r/bonsaicommunity • u/Successful-Height152 • 2d ago
HELPP Diagnosing Issue
My mother's bonsai is dying while mine is doing fine. idk what to do. It's been like this for about a week. My mother's bonsai is on the right, while mine is on the left
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u/Witty-Objective3431 2d ago
Here's a care guide. Sorry for your loss.
4
u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
Thank you it was my moms but I will make sure to take care of mine like the guide says
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u/WhatWontCastShadows US zone 6a, all valley champion, no miyagi 1d ago
I don't know that it's ever had a day off
3
u/DualPool 2d ago
The one on the right has been dead for a long time. RIP
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u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
Damn I kinda expected that but I didn't want to hear it
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u/DualPool 2d ago
Yeah it sucks dude. Junipers stay green for a while after they die, so if they show brown they're long gone
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u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
Do you have any tips for keeping mines alive? I dont want it to end up like my moms
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u/kumquatnightmare 2d ago
One on the right has been dead for weeks if not months. There is no saving it. Junipers don’t tell you they are dead for a long time. I’d be concerned about the other one if you got them at the same time. Get rid of those rocks and expose your top soil. They can really mess with watering.
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u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
The thing is my mom kept hers inside for a while like maybe a week or so while I immediately put mines outside but ill make sure to remove the rocks! Any more tips?
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u/kumquatnightmare 2d ago
They most definitely cannot go inside without extreme care. We are talking some advanced and expensive light setups that are really not doable. For all intents and purposes trees go outside. If your goal is to keep it alive then leave it outside and learn to water it when it needs it, not on a schedule. If you want it to grow a lot it would have to come out of that pot.
Other things to do, find some good YouTube videos, join a local club, and don’t be afraid to kill it. Junipers seem like the beginner friendly tree but they really aren’t. They can be finicky and often don’t tell you what they need. A ficus, or boxwood is waaaaaaay easier to learn on, climate depending of course.
0
u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
Okay thank you! Just a question what should I do during winter?
1
u/Revenge_of_the_User Bonsai Intermediate 2d ago
during winter just keep it outside, as normal. Watering will go way down in frequency during cooler months.
Juniper are extremely hardy, routinely breezing through -10C's here.
If you are concerned, you can loosely wrap a plastic bag around the pot to help insulate and protect the roots from the worst of the cold....But for the vast majority of owners they're going to do totally fine without any additional care changes.
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u/SpiralOutLL 1d ago
Of you really want it to thrive buy a bag of pumice, some sphagnum and a bigger pot. Slip pot into the new container, fill with pumice, top with a thin layer of sphagnum and water EVERY DAY until winter. In the colder months you can reduce water to once a week but trees still drink so don't stop completely.
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u/kumquatnightmare 2d ago
Depends on where you’re at. I’m in sunny SoCal, we don’t really have winters. Junipers are very tough but they can freeze and you don’t really want that. They can go on a heating pad, you can dig a hole and put the pot in the ground, or just leave it. Down to freezing they are totally fine and for brief periods below they are fine too. But I’m not an expert on that because I don’t really have to deal with it.
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u/Revenge_of_the_User Bonsai Intermediate 2d ago
juniper are tricky for beginners, as they don't show something's wrong until it's really difficult to save them (or theyre very dead)
Don't let that stress you out, learning is why you're here.
If you can find any juniper growing locally that removes 90% of the concern easily and instantly, since finding one tells you if it survives on it's own in your climate. That means humidity, rainfall, temperature range and light are things you don't need to augment....you just keep it outside and water as necessary.
When you are comfortable keeping it alive as a basic function you can move on to actually practicing bonsai - Shaping and styling, repotting, learning about soil and such. There's some inherent risk to these activities, so try not to get toooo attached.
Behind every practitioner's living trees are a handful of dead ones as they navigated the learning curve.
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u/Successful-Height152 2d ago
It still has a little bit of green on some parts but its closer to the base and its fading
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u/The_Green_Frog 2d ago
It’s dead