sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Lol!
King of his bunch....
But against pumice and lava yeah....
8822 will remain some kind of bastard Prince!
Hey...I'm just happy you didn't have to tell me I was talking about the wrong type juniper again!
Sorce
Need some help with juniper
- Thread starter jordystokes
- Start date
Lol!
King of his bunch....
But against pumice and lava yeah....
8822 will remain some kind of bastard Prince!
Hey...I'm just happy you didn't have to tell me I was talking about the wrong type juniper again!
Sorce
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
You know I got your back always.
jordystokes
Yamadori
Update: unfortunately the tree has died. I followed care instructions best as I could but the tree turned crispy. Final diagnosis?
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Crispy tree usually means either underwatering or root problems.
Here's the challenge with some of these nursery trees. You have to make sure they aren't rootbound in a bad soil mix. If this is the case, the majority (if not all) of the fine roots on the interior of the rootball will be dead. The only live roots will be on the exterior of the rootball. When you repot, by "removing only a little bit" of the rootball, if you aren't careful you may be removing almost all of the live fine roots, even though you only removed 10% of the rootball.
If you do this in the Spring, when the tree is at its strongest, the tree may be able to recover from the shock. However if you do it in the late Summer or early Fall, when the tree is slowing down and going dormant, it may simply not have the energy to throw out a new flush of fine roots. It will slowly dry up and die over the course of several months. Because of the slowness, you may even think that the death was caused by something other than the root damage you did several months in the past, but with junipers (particularly in a down season) things happen very slowly... however inevitably.
jordystokes
Yamadori
augustine
Chumono
When did you repot?
jordystokes
Yamadori
Beginning of August
herzausstahl
Chumono
Mike can I ask what source you found for Lava & the composted pine bark as we are both in the upper Midwest. Guessing you have to have the lava shipped in & is there a particular brand for the bark you found that I might be able to find here? Usually any source of it is in a larger nursery soil mix for me. Thanks for your help in advance & love your avatar!
nover18
Mame
Grimmy,The only thing I would caution you on is watering. I keep all my junipers including the rug types in what I call my Nursery mix. It consists of 1/3 each Farfard premium topsoil, Coarse Sand, and Horticultural Perlite. The reason is I never let them dry out, keeping them damp not wet and that mix allows it retaining just enough moisture and drainage. What I do find is if I get any brown tipping at all it is because I need to rake the surface and make sure the surface roots are covered. It happened a few times in the past until I discovered what to do but it works for me.
Your slight tipping does not seem to suggest insects but perhaps a water problem. It seems you have plenty of sun which they like a lot but perhaps you may try rotating the plant every few days insuring the whole plant gets full light. If your interior and weak foliage is trimmed back you should stop seeing those tips with proper water.
I am not certain what you do with fertilizer but I find all of my junipers so far do just fine and grow good with a normal weekly dose of Jack's Professional 20-20-20 with micronutrients. I skip fertilizer when the plants hit what I call Summer dormancy during extreme heat periods as that causes brown tips as well.
That's what I do with good results and feel your plant will be fine with very slightly different care
Grimmy
Where do you find Farfard premium topsoil? I can't seem to find it locally. Also what sort of sand do you use and do you do any sifting of these materials? Thanks.
GrimLore
Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
I get all three components at the Agway in Dublin, PA. I use any multi-purpose coarse sand usually at 4-5.00USD for 50 pounds, and specify silica sand. The Fafard goes for 4.99USD there per bag and comes fairly dry compared to the wet cheap clay base for 2 dollars. Horticultural Perlite is the most expensive and goes foe 16.99-18.99 a bag.
I don't sift any of it as the soil and sand contain almost no crap that I just remove by hand such as a stick or a pebble. The perlite I rinse with a hose in a DB colander and soak for an hour or so before mixing in water and it floats up a lot less then if added dry.
They also sell fine ground Pine Bark Mulch in a 3 cubic foot bag for 5 dollars if I remember correct. I am adding that this Spring and using each of the four products in quarter measures. Using the 3 components works good but I am seeing that sometimes it compacts a bit more then I would like in two years, almost always in plants that require frequent water. I am pretty certain the fine mulch will help and that the conifers and some of the other trees will do fine in it for extended periods. Conifers in particular I do not like to repot while growing as it tends to set them back a bit.
If you are going there PM me and we could probably meet as I can see the entrance from my place.
Grimmy
SlayingCondors
Seedling
Sorry to hear it died.
At least you've learned your lesson about repotting in season for junipers.
As a beginner, soil mix is one of the hardest aspects of the hobby to understand. It's interesting to read everything on the subject.
I live in the UK so in March I'm going to try repotting my juniper in the Tesco cat litter people sometimes use, so I can water it heavily without worry.
At least you've learned your lesson about repotting in season for junipers.
As a beginner, soil mix is one of the hardest aspects of the hobby to understand. It's interesting to read everything on the subject.
I live in the UK so in March I'm going to try repotting my juniper in the Tesco cat litter people sometimes use, so I can water it heavily without worry.
