名媛直播

Hello,
I am a new bonsai owner. My girlfriend bought me it for my birthday. I would really like this tree to thrive. She bought the tree from a chinese women and was too mindless to ask any information about it.

From the looks of it I believe it may be a juniper but Im so unsure... Any thoughts or advice for future care would be appreciated.

I am new myself. Welcome to the forum. It does looks like a juniper. A better pic of the needles would help. When I bring that one up - it is a little fuzzy.

Hope someone with a little more tree experience can confirm the tree type.

I have the worst camera . Thanks for taking a look, if it is a juniper that means it should be kept outdoors? I water it around once a week right now with about a 1/2 cup of water. The soil seems to stay damp a while and over the last two months my tree has made very little changes. Noticed a slight browining of some of the leaves so I wanted to get serious about its care.

Here are a few juniper pics I found on the web that might help.





This is a clearer pic of the tree.

Are you using water from the tap on the tree, Junipers don't react well to hard water. Try using bottled water. Make sure the pot is draining well - Junipers don't like too much water.

Have you fertilized the tree since you got it?
Is the tree outside or inside - is it getting enough sun?
I have a grow light for mine.

These are some of the questions I ask myself when I take care of my trees.

Hi Patckoch,

Welcome to the forum and to the art of 名媛直播...so glad you could join us!

Yes, the Juniper is an outdoor plant. I would say the most important first lesson in 名媛直播 is to correctly identify your tree then to research it thoroughly by learning it's origin, climate, growing habits and specific needs (every tree will have it's own unique needs). Here is a link to Wikipedia listing many varieties of the Juniper. Hope this helps!

If you have any more questions or concerns, just ask, ok? That's what this forum is all about.

When You have a couple of spare minutes, pop over to the *名媛直播 Cafe* section of the forum, scroll down to find the topic "Introduce Yourself" and please share a bit about yourself, where you are from, etc. I look forward to sharing with you on the forum.

hm.. This is indeed most likely a Juniper, and with that, an outdoor plant. The pot it is in looks very nice. However, unless it has a very nice big hole in the bottom, not suitable to have it in. I cannot see the soil, but I suspect it is nice brown organic soil. If you place this plant indoors, water half a cup a week and there are not drainage holes and/or it is standing in 'normal' organic potting soil you should take action. Otherwise it will not survive the winter.

Ok, that little bit of drama having passed.. In order to identify it for certain, better pictures are needed.It is not *just* the camera: You need to place the plant in a bright position, and hold the camera steady when pressing the shutter button. At least one of the pictures is just blurred, not unfocussed. You probably took the picture indoors, somewhere on a table far away from the window.

On the assumption it is indeed a juniper.. Junipers hate wet feet. A coarse medium (Such as 30% sand, 30% grit/gravel and 30% organic soild would be good. All the water needs to be able to leave the pot, so eiher drill a hole in it (This may cause the pot to break if you have no experience drilling ceramics!) or transplant in a new pot. Finally place the plant outdoors. I do not know what teh weather is in your location. Naturally, putting a plant in a location that is 20 degres colder is not a good idea: Slowly move it to an unheated room, then to a garage, then outside, over a period of say 4 weeks. This will allow the plant to get adjusted.

Hey kids...I'm back
I don't want to be a bummer but if you live "north", it might be too late to put the tree outside.It's winter here. trees that haven't spent all their time outside (from early fall) will go in to shock and die if put outside now. It takes months to acclimate a tree.
If you lives "south" You can put the tree outside in a shaded spot for a few weeks then increase the amount of sun it gets a little each day. Junipers like sun. Keep an eye on the watering. They don't like to be wet, and don't like being too dry. Poke a chopstick in the soil for a few minutes. When you pull it out, if it's damp..don't water. If it is dry, water it.
Good luck.
Lance

Thnx Pinkham, I never thought of the chopstick method .. I have been using my finger. Guess I will buy a chopstick next time I am shopping.

No problem. I have a lot of information on junipers. I keep a journal of all my trees with information about them and what I have done to them. It's pretty nice to look back in winter and read what I did to my trees...great memories.