beginner with an alligator juniper

[zoe22]

I have an alligator juniper and it is my first bonsai. I unknowingly started to kill it off by having it inside and im trying to bring it back to life. It began to go brown so i have trimmed it and it has some new growth but is still brown. I did some research and i have it sitting in full sun now. I nees some styling advice for it and im not sure if i should trim off all of the dead foliage? I live in australia and it is the end of spring. Could somebody please give me some direction on how to care for it i have no idea and im unable to find any information about it please help!! I will post some pics

 

[Vance Wood]

Removing dead foliage will not harm the tree as long as the foliage removed is actually dead. Don't be in a hurry to do anything more than removing the dead stuff. The tree is now in extreme stress and will need a year or so to recover and become strong enough to endure the rigors of bonsai training, if done now will probably kill the tree leaving you to purchase another tree as your only option. So what to do? Leave this tree alone and go out and get another tree to work on; you're probably going to be forced into doing it anyway.

It has been said that the price of learning bonsai is a trail of dead trees. That may be true but the fact is; the real cause is beginner mistakes founded in fantasy and ideas that are not based in fact. Once you understand some of the essential do's and don't's bonsai is not too difficult. It is the artistic attributes that to some extent cannot be taught which become the flys in the ointment.