It's too cold for it to go out now without having gotten used to the cold earlier. If it's going brittle it's not so much from being indoors (yet) but probably has been watered way too often - the usual cause of newbie juniper death (sorry!). They need more of the soil than less to be dry between waterings, and together with the slow draining stuff they usually come planted in, it doesn't take long for them to expire. Be prepared for rust colored foliage any day now. The thing is, they can look great for the longest time before showing anything wrong, but brittleness is a bad sign... you think they're drying out, so you water them, but it has the opposite effect.

Thanks for the reply Lucy first of all. The rust color foilage is starting to show some now but all of the plant isn't brittle just a few small parts. Am I correct thinking that there is nothing more I can do for this plant? Should I just let it dry out some? Place it under a light or in a window or something? Or is it just a newbie mistake and chalk it up as a goner? Thanks again....Guess I learned my first lesson the hard way. If it makes a difference it is in a pretty good size base (About 8" x 16" marble pot.)

Well, there's no reason (your business after all) not to keep it on a sill for a while and sees what happens, water in a week to 10 days and if it doesn't improve (new growth) within a few wks after that... it's your call.

I like one of the others advice - I would try puting your juniper on your window sill to get it used to the cold......and keep the foliage misted, and also don't let the pot/roots completely dry out.

But my advice after that? After your juniper has been in the cool windowsill for 10 days or so, put it in your refridgerator until spring.

The only problem with the fridge is that the air is very dry, stale, and recycled. You'd have to open the fridge door here and there every day to let fresh air in. Keep it misted with water -

I did this a few winters ago, and had a store bought juniper bonsai from Home Depot (that someone gave me in November of 2003)....... and I ended up keeping the Juniper in my fridge til spring. I kept it misted it with fresh water so it wouldn't dry out. It did real well and survived.

Good luck.

David
zone 5b NH

i have a juniper that is 2 years old. It is in the hight of summer in australia and i have it in a patio enclosure which gets a lot of sun. my brother put some yaccuas in front of it for a week (Ii was out) and it went a pale green and bristley. Wat do i do??

Kayzar

yes lucy, it is me from the intro to bonsai forum

Kayzar - put the Yucca blocked plants back in better light.. it's not rocket science!

If it's pale green and brittle, toss it, it's dead.

randy

Put it outside and bury the pot in mulch. If it isn't dead now it will be shortly!!!