Hi - If you're doing a report, you should have learned that a) junipers do not belong inside, b) it'll do much, much better planted straight into the ground outside for a couple of years while the trunk fattens up and it gets proper drainage in the gritty soil, and c) the soil those little things comes in is full of peat, which holds onto water forever and rots roots (never mind encourages bugs). It needs to be trashed. If you have nowhere to plant your tree outside, at least get it out of that awful goop it's in and instead make a mix of aquarium gravel (50%), Perlite (20%) and the rest small bark bits (or mulch chopped up so shreds don't create their own flat blockages. Water should run straight through that mix - forget conventional soil - and don't ever let the pot sit in drain water either. Don't spray your tree and do give it all the sun you have. Water only when the mix is dry about halfway down. Good luck!

so, i repot it in the mix u told me 2 make?

Yes, but don't expect it to do well indoors, because it won't.

ok, thx- wut about the worms and flys?

Tbey should disappear along with the wet mix you have now - rinse the roots once most of the soil's been crumbled off and keep the pot in a well ventilated (and bright) area.

Should i trim the dead roots? and should i add a little soil? thx for your time lucy

what should i do for dormacy? i live in san diego CA and its always 60' to 70' degrees out here?

can i repot it in a week or 2? since im only 13, where can i get good, cheap perlite? home depot?

Have a parent/guardian/older sibling take you to any place with a garden section. Perlite is pretty cheap - you only need a small bag at the moment (although buying in bulk is usually more cost effective). Anyhow, you'll probably spend in the neighborhood of $5 - or less. More importantly, buy larger grained Perlite - DO NOT buy the fine, powdery looking Perlite. Get a bag with particles that are approximately 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch.

As to your other questions, Lucy has provided many, many detailed posts on caring for Junipers. At the bottom of the Bonsai forum page, enter "juniper how to care for" or "juniper lucy help!" into the Search box - you'll have hours of reading.

Good luck! And, please, post pictures if you are able.

Josh

Honey, the real answer of course is that getting a juniper was not a great idea. It's always best to consider which plant needs what conditions before you get it, just as you wouldn't buy a tropical plant and expect it to live outside in Minnesota all winter! Now that you have it, if you take good care of it - which means NOT watering it all the time, but getting it into a fast draining mix of the gritty things I listed, waiting until a lot of the mix (stick your finger in) is more dry than anything, then water well (but slowly) til water comes out the drain hole. And of course keep it in the best light you have with good ventilation. You can't do anything about dormancy - while some people say to use the fridge, there are more problems associated with that and I don't recommended for your tree now, but you may get lucky and your tree might do ok IF you relax, try to follow these tips and if your tree doesn't do well, call it a learning experience and hope to do better next time (we ALL kill some at the beginning, and even later on). DO read everything you can about bonsai starting with www.bonsai4me.com - after you've done your homework :-)!

Good call Lucy, Bonsai4me.com is probably the most informative bonsai site.

Just another small issue with what is probably a Malsai. The pots they are usually in tend to be built in a mould, and with the larger ones the mould extends to the feet, hence the feet are hollow. I've also noticed that the base of the pots appear to be convex i.e. the centre is higher than the surrounding area and, since there will probably only be one drainage hole in the centre, water just collects all around it with no chance of draining away. I used one as a training pot for a Berberis, which I would have expected to be indestrucable, yet the roots rotted away, and Junipers have a tendency to be susceptible to root rot. The only way round this really is to carefully drill additional drainage holes, although for a 13 year old this might be a bit of a challenge or a no-go area. What you could do Bonsai Demon is to use the lessons learnt as part of your bring and tell!!

i got the tree from an asian know it all, not wall-mart. I get what youÂre saying, but the pots slightly concave with two drainage holes. I might be 13 but I've done a lot of stuff. Drilling is not new to me. Besides, I did what Lucy told me to do-relax and put my juniper outside with less water and a new mix. ItÂs getting a lot better.

Very good, keep us updated on the juniper!
It'll be cool to see how it progresses.

At thirteen, I was making my own knives and hunting deer and boar....but, I wouldn't want to assume that my experience was typical...

Josh

post a pic so we can see how bad it is please im only thirteen too but i know alot about bonsai good luck

how u post pics

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this is one of my pictures and so is the one on top of it do you thik i over watered it and should cahnge the soil

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and this is how it lokked before

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what should i do

Hi, I can't tell (in the last picture) if those stones are loose, or glued down. If they're glued down - if the tree came that way - you need to very carefully get them off. Use a butter knife (the kind with a round end, not too sharp) to get under the stones near the tree, then peel them off in pieces. Don't worry if a little bit is still stuck near the edges - it'll come off eventually with a little water. Now you can see the soil, and learn when it's dry or not, though again you should really repot into a better bonsai mix as I explained to Bonsai Demon above. The picture doesn't tell me if the foliage (green part) is still soft or not, because if it is not - in most places - then it's probably too late.

i wouldnt say they are soft but if the leaves still grow back is thhere still a chance

If there continues to be new growth, there is obviously a chance the whole tree can survive, even if it loses a lot between now and when new growth emerges, but only time will tell how much new growth there will be and where it will be on the tree - you wouldn't necessarily want a bonsai with only a few twigs of foliage in random places on a few branches, even if you can take satisfaction from having kept it alive.

Your juniper looks healthy in those pictures. It has new growth which is a very good sign. I think not all is lost with your tree. Keep at it!!

lUCY--i JUS WANT TO COMMEND YOU ON THE TIME YOU PUT INTO THE ADVICE YOU GIVE EVERYONE ON THIS FORUM. YOU ARE A GREAT SOURCE OF ADVICE AND KNOWLEDGE AND I wish there were more people in the world who would be willing to be as patient and eager to share their passions with others! I APPLAUD YOU!!!

hi my name is mery and i need help asp on my juniper tree i have about 4 months with it and it was beautifull in the beginning after a month it started to get bugs so i followed up with the care instructions it came with and said to submerge tree in a bucket of water for 2 days so i did a couple of times the third time it started to dry and now i cant even touch it because its falling apart new leafs are coming out but they fall if i touch them and there really spike PLEASE HELP ME SAVE IT ITS A PRESENT AND I AM DESPERATE ......

Oh dear... make yourself a promise first, to never go by tags stuck on plants because they're usually one size fits all, which means your tree's tag applied to lots of trees but not yours! Junipers do NOT like getting watered often at all, and submersion for 2 days drowned it. When junipers get hard and break off, they're gone... but it may have been on its way long before you came along anyway as they go on looking green for ages after death. Next time you think a bonsai is cute, come here or to books, etc. first and find out if you have the right growing conditions for that tree, and what you need to do from the day it goes home with you. As far as bugs go, Safer's Insecticidal Soap Spray may have helped, but you can't know that for sure now. And don't fuss because we've all been there many times - it takes a while before you know what to do.

Hi so theirs nothing i can do to save it even if i re plant it and change solid or dirt?

No, and repotting in midsummer would not benefit even a healthy tree. Yours is no longer in this world, but evergreen heaven... RIP. Btw, if that green plastic thing is a water meter (meant for houseplants) throw it away and learn how to water - it can take a long time to get it right, but that's part of leaving things to nature by keeping trees outdoors in summer... and most of them in winter as well.