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Bonsai Is Hard
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Posted by
maxdog Illinois (
My Page) on
Tue, Mar 17, 09 at 15:39
| I am kinda new to the bonsai thing and I bought a juniper one and after a month of having it it is turning lighter and it is very britle like. I am not over watering at all and it gets sunlight every morning for about an hour. Other than that its indoors as it is 20 degrees here in Illinois right now.. What am I doing wrong? Also I recently bought some cactus soil that I planned on replanting it sometime soon. Please help. DOnt wnat it to die. Thanks |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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| I would say 1 hour of sunlight a day is not enough light |
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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| Hi, I have some bad news for you - your tree is probably a goner, because once a juniper becomes lighter in color and brittle, it's usually been gone for some time and just didn't show it. The problem is that yes, one hour of light is not even close to enough, but while you say you're not overwatering, I'd be very curious to know what you mean by that, because the #1 killer of those little trees is watering way too often, especially if they're in the crappy soil they usually come in (not to mention the layer of glued on rocks on top that never should have been there to begin with and should (hopefully) now be long gone. Cactus soil won't do it either. What you'd need would be more like aquarium gravel with a little bit of bark mulch (l/16-1/8" bits) mixed in, so water runs straight through and doesn't rot roots. Even with that mix junipers need to be allowed to get pretty dry between waterings, and that on top of living outdoors for life (even if properly protected in Ill. winters) and getting lots of sun (the darker the environment, the less water most plants need). I suggest that rather than spend more money now, or count just on my few basic tips for help, you find a local club to join where you can really see how things are done, what's meant by various terms, and how to properly choose which trees are suitable for your own environment (especially if you want to grow things indoors, which would mean really only tropicals, and for that you need to know a lot more about them and the possible equipment you could need to grow them. Start out reading at www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html, then go to www.bonsai4me.com and, for 'outdoor' trees (things that need long cold dormancy) read the articles at www.evergreengardenworks.com ... read them anyway because there's so much good basic stuff there, indoors or out. There's more to bonsai than bringing home those Wal-Mart cuttings stuck in pots and treating them like house plants - you really need to learn a lot about growing things, about individual species and their needs and only when you've kept a few alive and well for some time (longer than a few weeks in spring) would even think about the styling aspects of 'bonsai'. |
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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| Junipers will not live indoors. They need the cold duing dormant season as do most trees/shrubs you might use as bonsai. Even at 20 degrees a healthy juniper will be fine outdoors. Good luck
Frank |
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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| Well Its not like really light yet, Its still green but is kinda hard. I have since put it outside and really I am not overwatering, I use a spray bottle and do it once a week. I have not taken off the rocks yet but plan to this weekend, figured I can use the broken up rocks and mix with the cactus soil. I really want to keep this one alive as it looks very nice. |
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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| Maxdog, "kinda hard" is not good at all. Hard usually means the tree's a goner. Foliage should be relatively soft and flexible and if it's not, the tree's probably been gone for quite a while (they just stay green for a long time afterward). Using a spray bottle to water is like spraying the face of someone dying of thirst - you need to pour water (slowly) over the soil til it comes out the drain holes so all the roots get a good drink. The trick to "not overwatering" is not to just give a tiny amount of water often, but to give a good drink less frequently - allowing a fair amount of the mix to dry out in between. Your saying you don't overwater is not helpful unless you know for a fact (from long experience) what that means and doesn't mean. As it is, your tree may in fact be overwatered if you use the spray every day and/or more than once, but may have been underwatered if you use the spray but only once in a while. Putting it outside now, into possibly shocking (to the tree at this point in the season when it may still be quite cold overnight) is not going to help much all things considered. It's too bad some people say "it needs to live outside all year" with no explanation about it's needing to acclimate to the cold through the fall, rather than just going straight from indoors (where it never should have been unless it came from inside in winter) to out with no protection or time to have gotten used to the cold. Also dormancy is something that happens to trees in the fall and early winter, not something you can induce in late winter when the tree is programmed to push buds for spring awakening even if the buds aren't yet visible to us. |
RE: Bonsai Is Hard
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But wouldnt some junioers, the needle junipers, be described as having hard foliage as theyre quite prickly? Or does bonsai training keep the foliage young and soft?
Either way it should be outside, watered well daily and allowed to dry out some between waterings. |
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