名媛直播

Kia Ora,
I am in New Zealand and Have a 名媛直播 i was gifted and it is dying and i have no idea the cause.
I did report it into a slightly larger pot after the last one was damaged from the gardener that tends the grass.
I am not sure however if it is that, to much water or to little. I also have started giving it liquid fertilizer to try and help it (Organic Garden Booster) every couple of months.
It was in relative sheltered spot as the sun has been strong and read it likes lot light so have moved it to more sunny spot now as per the picture.

Would appreciate any help you can give as it has a lot of sentimental value.

Best Regards,
Alex

Hello and welcome
Sorry to say but that is a dead tree.

I'm sorry, but that bonsais dead, but if you ever get another one here are corrections of everything you have done wrong.
1. You must use specialist bonsai fertilizer, you can't use any other fertilizer besides bonsai fertilizer.
2. When watering make sure you water thoroughly so that the water is going out of the bottom of the drainage holes, by this I mean drench the thing. Look up some videos on YouTube on how to water it.
3. Even though you have not mentioned it, ill just say it anyway: don't over trim, only trim the bonsai twice a year.

Don't worry, when I got my 1st bonsai I made ALL of those mistakes, than a few months later I bought another and it went great, I now have multiple. If you want buy another defientlydo it, but do at least 2 months worth of research. Here are some youtubers I would recommend:
名媛直播 empire
Herons bonsai
Eastern leaf
Check out those YouTube channels, I learnt the majority of bonsai knowledge from these people.

First yes it is dead. You should never re pot a stressed tree, next whilst you can use any fertiliser, you should not fertilise a stressed tree. This plant has been dead for a long time. When watering always water when needed, not to a schedule.

Your point nr 1 is just not true. Special fertilizer is just a scam no matter what it is specialiced for. All plants have the same basic needs when it comes to fertilizer.

The only thing I am careful with is unorganic fertilizer with a lot of ammonium nitrate. Not harmful in small doses, but can burn the roots if overused.

Besides that you should never fertilize an unhealthy tree. This one seems like it havent had any needs for fertilizer during the time beeing in OPs care.

Yes, you can use any fertalizer but for a begginer I would recommend bonsai fertilizer, because some normal fertalizer can have bad stuff in it, or not enough of something. To keep it some just get bonsai fertilizer.

"Bad stuff" . Sorry, but fertilizers with "bad stuff" in it dont live long on the markets. The needs of bonsai is not at all different from other plants. The "bad stuff" that kills bonsai will kill any other plant as well.

How can we guaratee that there are no "bad stuff" in branded bonsai fertilizer? Who is certifying them?

Just save your money on special fertilizer and spend them on decent starter materials instead. Buy any fertilizer. Just read the label making sure there are no high levels of ammonium nitrate in it.

And as said: absolutelly no fertilizer for unhealth trees.

There are at least as many opinions about fertilizer as there are people on the site. I use biogold mostly, but that is partly because it comes in a pretty big bag with a year's worth or more. Another reason is that the pellets are automatically slow release. If you use a liquid fertilizer and water every day you probably wash most of it out. I use Miracle Gro acid loving for the azaleas but cut it about 1 to 3 and fertilize every week.

If you get something labeled bonsai fertilizer it probably won't put you in bankruptcy, but it will be more expensive than necessary.

Tropfrog wrote:

Buy any fertilizer. Just read the label making sure there are no high levels of ammonium nitrate in it.

How high would you say is to high, when to check the ammonium nitrate levels in firtilizer?
To my knowlage, in the EU, the EU banned selling firtilizers with high ammonium nitrate (tought 60% or more) to private persons.

Like Ivan, i do also use diffrent kind of firtilizers depending on conditions of the tree and the weather. (Wet periodes, will get pellets or teabags).
When i water by hand, i use an unorganic firtilizer named Kristalon 18-18-18 +3(Mgo), 8(SO3) + all micronutrision soludable in water (1/4th of a dose recommend). Nitrogen is in 3 parts, 4,9% Nitrate Nitrogen, 3,3% ammonium Nitrogen, 9.8% Ureum Nitrogen. This firtilizer is also used as leaf fertilizer, for spraying on the leaves. Can also be used for hydroponics.

I dont use any fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate so cannot comment on exact levels. Just know that it is harch on the root tips if overused.