Buxus 'Green Velvet' has a dry-ish branch?

[Wood]

I picked up this boxwood at the end of last October for super cheap, and pruned and wired it then. Since then, I've got two branches that seem to be drying out, but not clearly dead. My biggest concern is the one in the middle of the tree, but there's another small branch on the right. It's still in the nursery soil. My plan was to repot into a 5" pot this spring. The fourth picture is the boxwood before I pruned it. If I recall correctly, this branch lead up to the bronze patch in the pre-pruned bush



Any ideas what's happening here? These are my possible theories:

• I've underwatered it over the winter, and these branches are drying out and dying. It's just dying really slowly because it's winter
• I've been watering it appropriately, but this is terrible soil and there's dry pockets or root rot
• I damaged the branches while wiring them, and it's finally showing
• This is typical bronzing that happens during the winter and I'm freaking out over nothing (one can always hope)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Shibui]

Looks like the branch with dead leaves has been wired and bent. This is typical response to cambium damage from inappropriate bending and often takes several weeks to show up. October should have been a good time to bend but we don't know how you went about it so maybe just too much bend or bend back and forth a few times to get the placement??
Root damage is possible but unlikely to be confined to just a couple of branches. Definitely repot at the first opportunity to see what soil and roots are like.
Underwatering is possible but again unlikely to affect just one area.
Very unlikely to be winter bronzing.

Manage water and light levels as well as possible until repot in spring. If it does die you will not be the first to have chalked up a loss early in bonsai. keep trying.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!
You slipped through in October like a ghost through a wall!

That's a late time to prune a box. They tend to want to be a certain shape, size, and energy level at dormancy, and they'll die getting there.

If it wasn't broken branches, it could be they didn't go dormant and succumbed that way.

I like the final tree with just that first branch. The length is a bit out of proportion, but I think that can be bettered with time.

Sorce

 

[Wood]

Thanks for the welcome!

Both of these explanations make a lot of sense. I had just started the hobby in October and was really itching for something to do. If this is my first loss in Bonsai, I'd like to at least learn from it!

I had found a couple of people claiming to have pruned as late as November with no issues, so I went ahead with it. I also knew how stiff the branches were going to get, so I wanted to get some baby-bending in before they all lignified.

@sorce Is this the prune you mean by just the first branch? I added an old photo with a ruler for more perspective

 

[sorce]

I had found a couple of people claiming to have pruned as late as November with no issues

You may have leaned into the "fall" season where pruning won't trigger new growth. That's safer, but then at that point, usually while that....you....is still putting on antifreeze, removing it can lessen the amount of "get through winter" the tree is able to create.

Can't scold newb hands, but it is safest to do this regularly in the spring when buds start moving, or mid summer, while the fall growth can heal it up before winter.

I guess the hardest "lesson" to learn, which can come down to backyard microclimate and luck, is don't take "claims of no issues" as true without verifying the "claim" and checking the definition of "issues".

Some "claims" will have greenhouses, and some "definitions" will be "it didn't die".

Yeah that's the cut....but in the far future!

Sorce