How to Tell If A Juniper Is Dying?
For most beginners in bonsai that phrase above comes to mind so often. Is my juniper dying? how can i tell if its healthy? Well we are here to try and give you some answers.
Junipers are funny when it comes to their health, they can look alive and well for up to 8 weeks after they die which can sometimes make it hard to pin point what went wrong, they are also do something natural that can be confused with signs of ill health.
Our video below will take you through some ways to check your juniper and will also give you some common things to look our for when trying to diagnose the health of your juniper.
Here are a few tips for junipers to help keep the tree healthy
Watering : While a juniper will need to be well watered especially through the growing season you wont want to keep its soil drenched. having some moisture present is always a must because if the root tips dry out the tree will die. But having too much water in the pot at all times can cause the roots to rot. having a proper soil mix will help with this balance.
Sunlight : Juniper require plenty of direct sunlight, i usually tell people to give the tree as much sun as they can if they can keep up with the watering requirements. This will make the tree strong and also make the growth more compact. Junipers Can Not live indoors, even with grow lights. Juniper require direct un filtered sunlight to turn uv rays into sugars through the process of transpiration. They also benefit from the wind flow through their dense foliage to help with avoiding fungal issues.
Correct Pruning : When pruning a juniper both on the top growth and in the root system you wont want to over do it, never take more then 50% of the foliage off in 1 hit unless you truley know what you are doing and fully understand the trees current health. Junipers store energy in their foliage so the more foliage the more energy and health the tree has. It is a similar story in the roots system, you shouldn't remove more then 50% of the root system in a repotting otherwise you run the risk of the tree becoming sick.
These are just a few of the main points to juniper bonsai care, we have a further in depth guide here you can read.
