kala83

Hi there I am new to the hobby of keeping bonsai Trees I have a lil Ficus tree for about three years but it was a plant that already came in a pot when I got it. I got it from the Botinical Garden in St.Louis,MO when they had there Japanese festival going on.

Now recently when visiting there I picked up some starter plants, a Tri Colored Juniper, a natural plum,and a bougainvillea
I planted the Juniper a few days after we got it home in a new bonsai pot I bought while at the festival. But I have noticed some things about the plant that maybe just fine but could esclate to something else.

like I said I don't know much about Bonsai's so I am un sure. I took some pictures of the Juniper a few weeks ago and all of the trees where really green and bright now I am starting to see that the tips of some of the leaves are starting to brown around the edges. Also the trunk of the tree seems to move very easily whenever I move the pot or water it. I am un sure if something like that is cause for concern but it dosn't seem okay to me.

I called one of the nurseries in town and they said that the leaves might be turning because of over watering and they recommended for me to change the potting soil for something better suited for bonsai, i was housing just regular house plant soil up until now. But am open to try other things i am just not entirely sure.

also just a quick question when you have starter plants that have not been put into a pot yet what size bonsai holder should you try to look for to put that plant into. If there are any specific things I need to watch out for with the care of the other trees specificly to there species that would be great.

I had a plum type of bonsai before which seemed to do find but then the whole thing just started drying up and eventually died on me and I was afraid I had not been properly educated on how to care for the plant. So any advise you all could give on that would be great too.

But right now I want to make sure i take the best care of my Juniper as I can. hopefully you call can help me with getting it in better shape.

I had been wanting to take my trees to a bonsai club meeting in my local area...but I am un sure when the next club meeting will be so I wanted to try and address the problem here before it had a chance to get any worse. Oh and just for reference all of the the trees are outside on a out door porch in direct sunslight for right now since I figured that would be good for them all.

Mattbonsai

Hiya Kala, Welcome to the site, we're a friendly bunch here, so don't be afraid to ask any sort of questions.

First off, the Juniper, I think your problem may be that it was re-potted at the wrong time of year, Junipers should be re-potted in winter - spring, the browning tips may be die back because of the badly timed re-potting. There is a chance the tree will die through this, Junipers, as most conifers, will stay green for a while, even if they're dead, to check if this tree is alive, slightly scratch the bark on the trunk, if its a healthy, fresh looking green then it might still be alive, if its brown its dead, if its a dark sickly looking green I'd leave it a bit longer. Here is a care sheet for Junipers:

Species Guide Juniperus Juniper Bonsai

The Wobbling in the pot is where it wasn't tied down sufficiently during the re-pot, bonsai should be wired into their pot's, and the wire not removed until the tree has rooted fully.

The starter trees should really be put into, either the ground, or a larger grow pot, the bigger the better, but start with a smaller pot, say they're in a 9cm now, move them onto a .5 / 1L pot, and then up to 5L the next year / when they have filled the old pot with roots. Try to pot them in as open a mixture as possible, the more air around the roots, the healthier the trees will be and the quicker they'll grow.

I don't have wide experiance with natural Plums, or bougies, but I'm sure someone who does will chime in shortly.

Hope this Helps

-Matt-

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kala83

I will go check on the juniper now to see if it is still alive or not, if it is still alive would you have any advise for how to best take care of it....so it can make it for a lil longer. I feel bad that I possibly planted the tree at the wrong time of the year, I wanted to wait to do everything until later, when I went to one of my local Bonsai club meetings but no one had put up any current dates for when meetings were going to be, so I tried to do what I thought might be best.
hopefully I can still save this tree but if not I will try to look into getting another tree from the Botanical Garden's store in St.louis....see if I may have better luck. After I come back in from checking the tree I will let you all know if it looks a live or not.

kala83

I just got through checking the bark, it looks pretty green still and moist even, it looked fairly light even bright green but around the edges it was a lil darker. I am un sure if thats good or bad but I remembered you asking about that before. So I am kind of un sue as to what to do now. I think I should check and see just how big the pot its in actually is and if i need to move it up to something larger, and also if I can find any online tips on how to bind the tree down like you were talking about that might be a good idea.

but again I am un sure, lol I know it sounds lame but I am kind of embrassed I am making newbie mistakes like this straight off the back but hopefully since the tree looks still alive I can help it out some. Or at least I would really like to.

Thanks for all of your wonderful help you might be helping me actually save my lil juniper which I am very appreciative of....hopefully i can bring that lil one up to good health again.

Mattbonsai

Hiya,

It sounds like the tree is still alive, although this is still not a guarantee.

When you wire trees in the pots, theres two methods, through the drainage holes - up inbetween the roots and over the surface roots, then twist it off. Or, on some bonsai pots theres small holes around the edge, these are for wire to come up through to tie the tree in the pot.

The pot should be larger than the intended 'Final' pot for the tree, this is to allow the tree to grow unhindered allowing it to develop, let's say, about the size of twice the size of the root ball as it is currently.

If you're going to take the tree out and pot it again, i'd suggest waiting until the correct time, and for now, just tie string or wire around the pot and tree.

-Matt-

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kala83

okay I can do that, I will keep you informed if I have any more questions

centaura

So you were unable to find out the time and place of your local bonsai club meetings? That is the best place to find out information - since you can bring your trees and get direct advice on them. I haven't been to a bonsai club meeting were the folks were not friendly to newbies.

Don't feel bad about making beginner mistakes - every bonsai person will tell you how many trees they have, but not how many they've killed. Its the price of admission as it were. You are at least taking the steps to try to correct the gaps in your knowledge instead of just giving up, which is really positive.

If you can't find your local club, I recommend getting the book Bonsai by Harry Tomlinson. You are asking a lot of good questions - but to answer them I'd have to spend the rest of the day typing, which I unfortunately can't do.

-Centaura

kala83

well I managed to get the bonsai tied down for now, I am wondering if I should keep the plum and bougain in the orignal holders they are in and wait to plant them in pots, hmm I wonder if either of them I can pot in the winter like Mattbonsai mentioned earlier about the juniper. What I really need to do right now before its too late is find out what steps I need to take to winterize my trees or which ones need to be winterized and which ones need to come in. I have a good idea which ones need to do what but I have never done winterzing before.

Centaura I think you misunderstand me I know very well where my local Bonsai Club is, just at the time I had posted this they had not put up any current dates as to when their meetings would be taking place. Since then they have posted up several different dates for meetings. Though sadly I will not be able to make the october meeting since I am going to be heading out of town in less then a week to go on a trip to New Orleans. I am a little concerned about my trees and their care while I am going to be away I don't mean to sound mean to my neighbor but she is not really the type that is used to taking care of exotic types of plants like bonsais and I want them to be taken care of as best as possible while I am gone. Which is why I am thinking if any need to winterized I should do it asap cuz even though its only October here its pretty cold out already. The next meeting is going to be Nov.16th which I do plan on attending hopefully can get some helpful advise on the trees and how to best do things with them. For now, I am actually currently reading two books on Bonsai now : Bonsai Basics by Colin Lewis and The Bonsai Specialist by David Squire I got them both from my local library. Maybe I can see if they have the books you recommended as well. Anyway if you all have any advise on the subject of winterizing my trees that would be wonderful.
As I said before I want to keep them in good shape even when I am gone on vaction, if you all have any tips for the care of bonsai when gone traveling that could serve to be helpful too!