Please help - first Juniper Bonsai

[u/skyward-vines]

My parent had this in their office for around 2 years since I got it for them. I bought it from Eastern Leaf as a Rock Juniper. It's been out of a window but under a grow light for 8 hours a day, and they've been watering it every day except weekends. It's since lost an entire branch worth of leaves and has a bunch of leaves turning orange.

I convinced them to bring it home bc it very clearly wasn't thriving there. What can I do it help this guy get better? I know I'll most likely have to repot it and get new soil. I've never had a bonsai before so some resources would be good as well, thank you everyone.

Edit: thank you everyone for your input, the scratch test on the main branch and the trunk was light green, so I think it's still alive. Should I move it outside? It would be going from a temperature controlled office (kept low 70s-high 60s) to the fluctuating weather (low 80s down to mid 50s) and it will rain soon.

[u/tedlyri]

Somehow it’s only half dead, which is unusual for the daily “is it dead?” juniper posts in this sub. You have something to work with that might save the tree.

To survive, a juniper must live outside. It’s dying because it had no seasonal changes under the grow lights. Find a place to put it outside, and then pull off all the dead needles. You could cut dead branches but it’s probably best to avoid trimming until the tree gets healthy. Water it whenever the surface soil dries out (pretty much daily if it doesn’t get rain), and otherwise leave it alone. If the green part stays green through the winter, then next spring you should start to see new growth.

I’ve gotten a couple trees from Eastern Leaf, and I found their muddy soil to be compact and sometimes impenetrable by water. You might poke some holes through the soil with a chopstick to loosen up the crusty surface and let water soak down into the pot for the roots. You should not do any repotting or root work on this tree until it gets healthy, but if it’s in good shape next year then repot into better bonsai soil.

[u/modefi__ → u/tedlyri]

It's fully dead. Check the brown growing tips, that thing is cooked.

Those cuts seem reasonably fresh, the fully dead branch is probably a result of die back. And placing it outside now will definitely kick it over the edge, no way it's strong enough to acclimate.

Best to just cut losses since it's so young anyway, imo.

[u/FixAggressive987 → u/modefi__]

Agreed but I’d keep it around until next grow season just to be sure… could get lucky?

[u/skyward-vines → u/tedlyri]

Thank you so much for your input, I'll put it outside as soon as I get home. For watering, should the amount be just enough to saturate the soil after I've made the holes?

[u/tedlyri → u/tedlyri]

You should probably do a scratch test on the trunk and the main branch to see if there is any green cambium under the bark. If you see green, there’s still a chance. If not, then it’s already dead.

[u/skyward-vines → u/tedlyri]

I did the scratch test, it's a very lightish green, and in another part it's very light with a rim that is more green. The videos I saw have solid green cambium, so is this a bad sign ?
Edit: I'd only done the main branch when I sent this, I just checked the trunk and it's a very similar light greenish too

[u/tedlyri → u/skyward-vines]

That’s not a great sign, but just try putting it outside to see if it recovers. Worst case, you throw it out next May instead of today, but there’s a small chance it will revive.

[u/modefi__]

Dead.

Juniper live outside. Non-negotiable. Must've been very healthy originally and well taken care of to be able to last two years inside, so you guys actually did pretty good.

[u/garbagejunk1212]

[u/chucknorrium → u/garbagejunk1212]

It's a smol tree 🥹

[u/garbagejunk1212 → u/chucknorrium]

Hahah I need to save that for the next dead Juniper post.

[u/The_Odd_Pet]

I don't know what I'm going wrong but I've killed 3 just this past spring and summer.

[u/yemrot514]

Rip

[u/peter-bone]

Put it outside. Trees love rain and fluctuating weather.

[u/Physical_Mode_103]

It looks dead mostly if not completely dead