My first bonsai - ID and overwatering?

[bonsaitim]

Hi everyone,
My wife and I got two bonsai plants as a wedding gift and sadly it hasn't gone so well. One of them died from what I believe to be underwatering. I never got an ID on it but it had similar characteristics to a ficus although the leaves didn't look as big to me. It would dry out and droop if you didn't water it every 3 days and unfortunately I wasn't around during the week to do so and my wife was away so it got neglected.

The other bonsai tree was looking great but lately I have noticed some yellowing leaves. With my wife home now I believe we are watering this one too much. Before it actually was doing great and had new growth now it looks stunted/yellow. When it was doing good I was watering it about once a week now we are probably doing twice a week (maybe more). Initially when I looked at the yellowing leaves I thought maybe a nitrogen deficiency so I bought some "bonsai fertilizer" and fertilized it while watering last weekend but I believe it is more an overwatering problem.

Does this plant look overwatered? Can anyone ID it for me is it a Juniper?

I know this is an outdoor tree and sadly we live in an apartment in Minnesota so we will have to figure out a way to get this plant a doramncy period...

 

[JudyB]

Hello Tim, welcome to the forum.
Sadly, you won't need to figure out dormancy for this tree as it is most likely not going to live. It is a juniper, and as you already know it's an outdoor tree, and they can't be kept inside. You are probably watering it too much, you can use the stick method to know when it needs water. Push a wooden skewer into the soil and leave it in, check it daily, when it's almost dry, time to water again.
If you have caught the bonsai bug, you should look into getting a ficus or jade, something that can live inside with much better chance of success.
Congrats on the marriage!

 

[bonsaitim]

Hello Tim, welcome to the forum.
Sadly, you won't need to figure out dormancy for this tree as it is most likely not going to live. It is a juniper, and as you already know it's an outdoor tree, and they can't be kept inside. You are probably watering it too much, you can use the stick method to know when it needs water. Push a wooden skewer into the soil and leave it in, check it daily, when it's almost dry, time to water again.
If you have caught the bonsai bug, you should look into getting a ficus or jade, something that can live inside with much better chance of success.
Congrats on the marriage!

Thanks for the reply Judy. Yeah I know the odds are against us on this one. I will try to scale back on the watering to see if it can rebound. It's sad because it was actually doing quite well and had good new growth that I had to trim back. Hopefully I can get it to rebound some I am stubborn .

I will try to keep this thread updated with my progress thanks!

 

[GrimLore]

I know this is an outdoor tree and sadly we live in an apartment in Minnesota so we will have to figure out a way to get this plant a doramncy period...

I have seen people apartment bound have good success with smaller outdoor plants simply place them in a window box outside a sunny window... Please add you basic location and zone to your profile so we help you in the future. For now is it possible to put it out on a balcony, porch, stairwell, or similar?

Grimmy

 

[bonsaitim]

I have seen people apartment bound have good success with smaller outdoor plants simply place them in a window box outside a sunny window... Please add you basic location and zone to your profile so we help you in the future. For now is it possible to put it out on a balcony, porch, stairwell, or similar?

Grimmy

I sure could. It has been raining a ton here lately so once it's drier out I will do exactly that. It would be nice to find a 3 season porch or something to put it out on to get it the requisite cold/dormancy when/if it bounces back on me.

 

[GrimLore]

I sure could. It has been raining a ton here lately so once it's drier out I will do exactly that. It would be nice to find a 3 season porch or something to put it out on to get it the requisite cold/dormancy when/if it bounces back on me.

If the soil drains ok the sooner you put it out the better - just don't water it unless needed... Serious if you want it to have a chance it needs to go into Winter far healthier then it appears right now.

Grimmy