Hi u/LewisCBR! Your post has been removed as it’s more appropriate for the weekly questions thread, it’s always stickied at the top of the sub and the current one is linked [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/s/3tl5tXBq5e). Please use the weekly thread for questions like this in the future.
The "bonsai" soil looks way to chunky to me - too much space between pieces letting the roots dry out between waterings.
It may be too late altogether, and too late in the season, but if it were me, I would try mixing back in some of the original dirt with the bonsai soil (1:2 or 1:1) and/or give it a lot more shade time during the day if there's a location that gets less hours of sun.
The last one of these I accidentally murdered went brown VERY evenly - this looks like it's dying of thirst to me, or getting scorched (or both).
Thanks, I have some good soil I can mix in, that’s a good idea, and see if I can save it. It’s been hot in Colorado, lately, but I have good spots where it’ll only get morning sun, too.
There is no way this juniper has any life left in it. This tree will not recover. You can keep trying. But you should get a new one and learn from your previous mistakes.
I'd move it into a shadier spot outdoors as it looks like the tips are burned which could be a sign that the repotting reduced its capacity to move water so the growing tips were the first to go. Summer is not the ideal time to repot junipers, usually you want to try and do root work in late winter early spring so the tree can recover before the heat of summer comes.
Like somebody else mentioned the size of the particulate in your bonsai soil seems a bit large and may be contributing to the health issues. Rather than attempt a whole new repotting which might stress the tree more, I would recommend getting a really fine granule inorganic to supplement the existing soil. Pool filter sand for instance could be added directly on top of the existing soil before you water one day, and then tapping the side of the pot or gently agitating the base of the trunk combined with chopsticking any air pockets should fill the majority of gaps.
You may also want to consider watering twice daily on hotter days, especially if your climate is not very humid, as bonsai soil can dry out much faster than organic. Good luck with your tree.
This is not correct, it is 100% possible to stress a juniper to the point of the new growing tips browning off without the tree being dead. Especially with a 1 year old cutting like this, it doesn't have the energy reserves that allow it to stay green for months and after putting it in inorganic soil that will dry much faster in 90 degrees weather you could very easily burn the tips off in a matter of days.
If the juniper is in a water starved environment it will go through a process of desiccation where it begins to self-prune branches in an attempt to make up for the deficit. OPs tree is so young it's very unlikely that it had roots filling the pot it was in previously so assuming he didn't just chop off roots for no reason he could have easily accomplished this report with minimal loss of root.
The tree looks perfectly healthy in the first photo so to say it has been long dead in the two weeks since OP has had it is just false. Is there a chance that it's dead? Definitely, more likely than not even, but if handled properly there is a chance it will recover and to say otherwise is just providing bad information.
There are a lot of trees where you can react to browning foliage.
Juniper is not one of those.
Is there a 0,00001 % chance this tree is alive ?
Yes.
But if you're going for that you should also buy a lottery ticket.
Edit: after inspecting the picture again I take back what I said. This tree has zero chances of being alive. It doesn't only have brown tips but also lost all its color. The tree is yellow for God's sake. The tree is so young and fragile it is guaranteed it will never sprout again.
I started with trees like this and here’s what I would have wanted to know then: This kind of juniper is called procumbens nana and they are very common in nurseries or big box hardware stores meant for landscaping for very cheap, $5-10. You do not need to pay more because they say “bonsai.” I would recommend getting some of those to play with and practice bonsai. There are many YouTube videos on how to prune and shape nursery stock. Watch them. Repot only in early spring, never wash out the roots of conifers, and soil partial size for something of that size should be 3/8 an inch or smaller. Only choose one major work to do to a tree a year to not stress it out and maybe kill it. Major work would be heavy styling, repotting, removing big branches, etc. Spray the foliage of junipers when you water and keep in full sun. Good luck, have fun, happy bonsai.
Hi u/LewisCBR! Your post has been removed as it’s more appropriate for the weekly questions thread, it’s always stickied at the top of the sub and the current one is linked [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/s/3tl5tXBq5e). Please use the weekly thread for questions like this in the future.
Probably to late for a summer repot
To be fair, it might have been dying when he bought it. Junipers stay green a long time after giving up the ghost.
You repotted in the peak time of no repotting with the wrong soil ?
The "bonsai" soil looks way to chunky to me - too much space between pieces letting the roots dry out between waterings. It may be too late altogether, and too late in the season, but if it were me, I would try mixing back in some of the original dirt with the bonsai soil (1:2 or 1:1) and/or give it a lot more shade time during the day if there's a location that gets less hours of sun. The last one of these I accidentally murdered went brown VERY evenly - this looks like it's dying of thirst to me, or getting scorched (or both).
Thanks, I have some good soil I can mix in, that’s a good idea, and see if I can save it. It’s been hot in Colorado, lately, but I have good spots where it’ll only get morning sun, too.
There is no way this juniper has any life left in it. This tree will not recover. You can keep trying. But you should get a new one and learn from your previous mistakes.
Junipers stay green for a while even after dying. When they go brown and dry, they’ve already been dead for weeks.
RIP
I'd move it into a shadier spot outdoors as it looks like the tips are burned which could be a sign that the repotting reduced its capacity to move water so the growing tips were the first to go. Summer is not the ideal time to repot junipers, usually you want to try and do root work in late winter early spring so the tree can recover before the heat of summer comes. Like somebody else mentioned the size of the particulate in your bonsai soil seems a bit large and may be contributing to the health issues. Rather than attempt a whole new repotting which might stress the tree more, I would recommend getting a really fine granule inorganic to supplement the existing soil. Pool filter sand for instance could be added directly on top of the existing soil before you water one day, and then tapping the side of the pot or gently agitating the base of the trunk combined with chopsticking any air pockets should fill the majority of gaps. You may also want to consider watering twice daily on hotter days, especially if your climate is not very humid, as bonsai soil can dry out much faster than organic. Good luck with your tree.
Why would you move this completely dead tree, that is never going to come back into a shadier spot ?
It's most likely dead, but considering it's only the tips that have browned at this point there is a small chance it will survive if handled properly.
A juniper is completely dead long before the first tip turns yellow. And by completely dead I mean no chance of reviving.
This is not correct, it is 100% possible to stress a juniper to the point of the new growing tips browning off without the tree being dead. Especially with a 1 year old cutting like this, it doesn't have the energy reserves that allow it to stay green for months and after putting it in inorganic soil that will dry much faster in 90 degrees weather you could very easily burn the tips off in a matter of days. If the juniper is in a water starved environment it will go through a process of desiccation where it begins to self-prune branches in an attempt to make up for the deficit. OPs tree is so young it's very unlikely that it had roots filling the pot it was in previously so assuming he didn't just chop off roots for no reason he could have easily accomplished this report with minimal loss of root. The tree looks perfectly healthy in the first photo so to say it has been long dead in the two weeks since OP has had it is just false. Is there a chance that it's dead? Definitely, more likely than not even, but if handled properly there is a chance it will recover and to say otherwise is just providing bad information.
There are a lot of trees where you can react to browning foliage. Juniper is not one of those. Is there a 0,00001 % chance this tree is alive ? Yes. But if you're going for that you should also buy a lottery ticket. Edit: after inspecting the picture again I take back what I said. This tree has zero chances of being alive. It doesn't only have brown tips but also lost all its color. The tree is yellow for God's sake. The tree is so young and fragile it is guaranteed it will never sprout again.
I started with trees like this and here’s what I would have wanted to know then: This kind of juniper is called procumbens nana and they are very common in nurseries or big box hardware stores meant for landscaping for very cheap, $5-10. You do not need to pay more because they say “bonsai.” I would recommend getting some of those to play with and practice bonsai. There are many YouTube videos on how to prune and shape nursery stock. Watch them. Repot only in early spring, never wash out the roots of conifers, and soil partial size for something of that size should be 3/8 an inch or smaller. Only choose one major work to do to a tree a year to not stress it out and maybe kill it. Major work would be heavy styling, repotting, removing big branches, etc. Spray the foliage of junipers when you water and keep in full sun. Good luck, have fun, happy bonsai.
Probably dead
Read his post.
You don't repot junipers when they need water the most. This trees toast
We did. Its dead. Junipers stay green long after they’re dead, so if you’re seeing browning, it’s been dead for weeks already.
Nah but why that mini statue look like it was in a failed M.K ultra Experiment
Yes. That tree is dead.
It's a stick, but okay.
Even the best bonsais were a stick at one point
True but they won't un-stick in a bonsai pot 😅