Bonsais are browning

Chicagorob

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My bonsais just recently started browning. I repotted them a few weeks ago (end of November) but I live in central Florida and the temps are still in the 80s. I planted them in a 1-1-1 mix of Akadama, lava rock and pumice. I moved the trees to the front yard since my backyard doesn’t get much direct sunlight cause of a huge tree covering the yard. Now they get about 4 hours of direct sunlight (best I can do). I also had a spider mite problem and I tried everything from neem oil to soapy water to hosing them down and nothing worked until I just sprayed Bifenthrin on them and in my whole yard and the problem with mites seems good for now however the trees are not healthy and don’t want it to be to late to save them. One is a Japanese garden juniper and the other one I’m not sure but possibly a green mound or common juniper. E3496765-F128-4E0C-8089-C874DCC8FE73.jpeg
 

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I think some of the brown branches have been damaged. Probably while wiring and bending or maybe when you repotted.
It sometimes takes a few weeks for damaged juniper branches to turn brown.

Overall the green parts look healthy so fingers crossed the trees will probably be OK.

How much of the roots did you remove while repotting?
 
Welcome to Crazy!

Though it seems you have also escaped it!

I never wanted to go to Florida before for, kinda foolishly based reasons, now there's no place I'd rather be! I'll still never go to Disneyland!

Wrestling Gators though ....there's something I can get behind!

Cheers!

Sorce
 
Welcome to Crazy!

Though it seems you have also escaped it!

I never wanted to go to Florida before for, kinda foolishly based reasons, now there's no place I'd rather be! I'll still never go to Disneyland!

Wrestling Gators though ....there's something I can get behind!

Cheers!

Sorce
I believe you'd make a great Florida Man!
 
I think some of the brown branches have been damaged. Probably while wiring and bending or maybe when you repotted.
It sometimes takes a few weeks for damaged juniper branches to turn brown.

Overall the green parts look healthy so fingers crossed the trees will probably be OK.

How much of the roots did you remove while repotting?
Thank you for the reply. I actually haven’t cut any of the roots as I repotted them in slightly larger pots. Can it be an overwatering issue? I can’t seem to figure out this Akadama soil yet it always seems dry on the top but underneath the top layer it seems moist. (I ordered a soil moisture meter) to help me till I master this soil and the plants watering needs.Also would you fertilize junipers with zero nitrogen fertilizer or regular fertilizer here in Florida since I don’t think these trees go into a state of dormancy since it’s always warm during the day.
 
Did you remove the old soil or tease out the roots when potting into the larger pots?
One problem with 'slip potting' is that there can be a big difference between the old soil with roots and the new soil around. When you water it is hard for water to move from the open new soil into harder old soil and most water runs out instead of wetting the root zone. Roots still take water out of the old soil so the inner soil gets drier and drier until the tree dehydrates even though the outer new soil is wet.
Other times the new outer soil is free draining so dries out quicker and we water too much to keep it damp which makes the inner root ball too wet.

Hopefully your new meter can tell you what is actually happening.

All my evergreen trees get regular fert all through winter but at a reduced rate - every 3-4 weeks. Roots are definitely still active here through winter and the trees have grown much better since winter fert here. My guess is that Florida will be even warmer than here so winter fert will give your evergreen trees a good boost.
 
I actually removed all the old soil from the trees when I repotted. I only learned after I did that, that you are still suppose to keep some of the old soil but I also heard different opinions. Some people say to leave some old soil when repotting and some told me to remove all the soil. But that definitely makes sense what you are saying and will keep that in mind for my future repots. Btw Australia is one of my favorite countries I have family in Perth so on the opposite side but I’ve always wanted to visit so hopefully soon I will be able too. Do you know anything about the Globe Brush Cherry Bonsai? I just recently purchased one and found out it’s native to eastern Australia. As far as the sun and temperatures do you do anything to protect your bonsais from the summer heat. I wish I could give my trees more than 4 hours of direct sun in the winter but in the summer hopefully I can add more time.
 
I wouldn't worry about these branches as long as the majority are moving forward and producing tip growth (at this time of year, it'll be slower, but at 80F probably noticeable if you pick a vigorous branch to monitor week-to-week and compare pictures). I would worry about your soil setup though, and have some recommendations (more on this below).

First, something to know about many Juniper species: If you live in a juniper-rooting-friendly environment (sun, heat, humidity -- Florida will do) or construct such an environment in a greenhouse, you can chop a random small branch off a rooted mother plant, shove that unrooted branch into a basket of akadama/pumice/lava, and have it root within several weeks or a couple months (depending on conditions). I've had rootless juniper branches fire roots into straight air while sitting in a moist garbage bag on my garage floor. When you root rootless juniper branches (or juniper cuttings in general), you often lose a random distribution of branchlets / foliage across the rooted branch, but the rest survives.

Why am I talking about rooting cuttings? If you barerooted your juniper but kept the majority of the root architecture while doing so, then at the very worst, you're doing very well at the "shove a rootless branch into a basket" game, which is a game you can win. Junipers aren't as fragile as the internet makes them out to be. Also, if your juniper is still kickin' next summer, then you can take comfort in the fact that you don't have to go back in to do a followup and remove the oldest soil -- your barerooting reset you to have all-good soil, at least.

I don't know when you repotted, but if it was in the last couple months (as opposed to early summer or late spring 2021), then some branch loss could/should be expected just from the repot, because recovery should be slower at this time of year, even in central Florida. But stay the course.

Soil comments: You used akadama, pumice, and lava for your repot, so you already know the importance of using well-draining, durable, bonsai-appropriate soil. At the same time however, the decorative stones and moss that sit on top of your soil really need to go. These are directly impeding the flow of oxygen and creating imbalances in moisture and likely increasing moisture retention time, which is the opposite of what you want when you are recovering / colonizing a root system into a fresh soil mass. Remove all of that stuff, and going forward, monitor the surface and occasionally go in and remove cruft/junk/dust/invasive grass/etc. Ideally you want the soil surface to just be a nice even distribution of pumice/lava/akadama particles through which water and air can flow without impedance. A rapid cycle of dry / moist / dry / moist will get your roots back at full capacity the quickest, after which the canopy should begin to push growth much faster, allowing you to resume work on design goals. Do allow some drying to happen in the top 1 or 2 inches of soil before you water, water very thoroughly until it begins to escape out the bottom of the pot, hold the container up with your hands and tip it / bob it to wring out excess moisture (as if straining rice), then set it down in the sun. Repeat that ritual and keep the soil surface clean.
 
Do you know anything about the Globe Brush Cherry Bonsai? I just recently purchased one and found out it’s native to eastern Australia. As far as the sun and temperatures do you do anything to protect your bonsais from the summer heat. I wish I could give my trees more than 4 hours of direct sun in the winter but in the summer hopefully I can add more time.
There are a number of different species called Brush cherry. I grow a couple of species here but winter is just on the verge of being too cold so they go backwards a bit each winter. None I would call bonsai at this stage.
When temps get close to 40C I put 30% shade cloth over parts of the nursery. Most Aust natives and pines are in the unshaded areas so they get full sun nearly all day.
 
Thank you for the reply. I actually haven’t cut any of the roots as I repotted them in slightly larger pots. Can it be an overwatering issue? I can’t seem to figure out this Akadama soil yet it always seems dry on the top but underneath the top layer it seems moist. (I ordered a soil moisture meter) to help me till I master this soil and the plants watering needs.Also would you fertilize junipers with zero nitrogen fertilizer or regular fertilizer here in Florida since I don’t think these trees go into a state of dormancy since it’s always warm during the day.
Beware of moisture meters for bonsai. They can give really inaccurate readings since they measure moisture between soil particles. Since bonsai soil has larger particles, meters can give false "too dry" measurements. Additionally, if you're watering by submersion, the interior root mass is probably staying very wet.
 
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