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Hello all,
I am somewhat new to the art of bonsai and have a few questions regarding the care for my brand new tree.

About 2 years ago I bought my very first juniper bonsai tree. Unfortunately my inexperience at the time led to its death roughly 6 months after bringing it home.
I had since given up the hobby all together. But within the past 3-4 months I have begun to involve myself with tedious research. I have recently reached a point where I feel educated enough to purchase another tree.

My new tree is a juniper that is supposedly 3-5 years old. I intend on keeping it outside as it is the healthiest choice for junipers. However, I live in south Texas near the coast where the mid-summer temperatures can climb close to 100 degrees. I live on the second story of an apartment complex and my patio gets direct sunlight throughout most of the day. As you can imagine it can get quite toasty.
My concern arises from my very first tree. I kept it in the sunlight and the soil seemed to dry out daily. This in turn led me to water the tree fairly frequently (which I feel could have caused it to die).

So my questions for you are..
What kind of conditions should I be looking to place the juniper? Direct sunlight all day? Shade? Since the sun can be so punishing where I live should I relocate the tree to a more shady area during the hot afternoon?
When purchasing a new tree is re-potting with higher quality/faster draining soil almost always a necessity?
Are there any other tips on how to care for a juni in the heat?

Thanks in advance!
Live long and prosper

Sound like to me that you probably starved your first tree of not enough water, not drowning it. As a general rule damper (not soaking) is better than drier. If its dry on the top of the soil, give it a water. Good luck

well dealing with a balcony you may need to put up some screening to filter the sun during mid summer,but junis do best in full sun. with faster draining soil you will need to water more adding peat to a regular bonsia mix will help retain water a little more but you do not want it to hold too much water this leads to root rot and will easily kill trees. if it is in regular potting soil the top of the soil may be dry ,but the rest may still be damp.use your finger or a chopstick to check lower in the soil for moisture before watering

as far as i know junipers of all kinds need t go through a winter dormancy (held at 40F or lower for 40 to 60 days) if you are not in a winter zone this may be your problem with junis

manofthetrees wrote: well dealing with a balcony you may need to put up some screening to filter the sun during mid summer,but junis do best in full sun. with faster draining soil you will need to water more adding peat to a regular bonsia mix will help retain water a little more but you do not want it to hold too much water this leads to root rot and will easily kill trees. if it is in regular potting soil the top of the soil may be dry ,but the rest may still be damp.use your finger or a chopstick to check lower in the soil for moisture before watering

as far as i know junipers of all kinds need t go through a winter dormancy (held at 40F or lower for 40 to 60 days) if you are not in a winter zone this may be your problem with junis

Yup, screening might be a good idea to reduce sun. But you will also reduce air circulation; Trial and error here I would say.

As for water.. In hot climates one can add a lot more organics in the micture; As it is so hot & dry, the risk of root-rot is nearly non existent. Root rot mainly occurs when the soil is moist & cold. Warm soil can be very moist without big problems; Especially the climate under discussion here will let the soil dry out, even if you use pure potting soil (My ficus used to stand in a tray of water so it had access to water continuously; This is not suitable for juniper though).

Winter dormancy: I never know whether it is an absolute temp or whether greatly reduced temps are enough. Apples, pears etc clearly need temps below 50F in winter for flowering. Maybe indeed junipers too.

Root rot mainly occurs when the soil is moist & cold.

nice info there i did not know that one. thanks jelle that one's getting stored in the grey matter database

What happens is that when it is warm enough to have active growth, the tree can defend itself much more easily than when the tree goes dormant. So as long as there is good growth on the tree, and the soildd is therefor warm, the roots are active and a lot less prone to root rot.