I Think My First Bonsai Died - Hinoki Cypress

[mixnstir]

Just like the title says, I think I may have killed my first bonsai. I left on vacation for a month and had someone come to water it but their schedule ended up not allowing for more than about 5 waterings in 4 weeks during our sweltering July heat.

I read that conifers generally require their foliage to stay alive for the tree to live. I also read that a great “dead or alive” test is to cut back a little bark to reveal the bare branch (the “cambium” layer I believe?) and if this is green the tree is still alive for the time being.

All of my foliage appears dead. My cambium layer is brown in several test spots. I would just like a more experienced eye to take a look at my attached photos to get a real confirmation that my first baby died I don’t want to quit on it if there’s even a modicum of bounce-back potential.

 

[Hartinez]

that tree is dead dead. Probably been dead for weeks with the amount the foliage browned up. Substrate looks good and is probably why it died so quickly. That tree, with its coarse substrate needed watering every day of that 4 weeks to still be alive. But it very well may have died sooner than later anyways if its living inside full time.

 

[mixnstir]

that tree is dead dead. Probably been dead for weeks with the amount the foliage browned up. Substrate looks good and is probably why it died so quickly. That tree, with its coarse substrate needed watering every day of that 4 weeks to still be alive. But it very well may have died sooner than later anyways if its living inside full time.

Thank you for the reply. Noted on it being “dead dead” I just needed to hear it from someone else.

I would like to clear up some details since I forgot to add them in the initial post. The substrate is similar to a succulent mix of potting soil, sand & perlite - what you see on top is decorative lava rock pebble that looks like proper bonsai substrate. So I think it maybe could have gone every 2-3 days max without watering - but agreed it needed it much more. My friend who was responsible for watering got caught up in 60h weeks at work and it’s my responsibility so no blame there but my own. Also, the tree has been outdoors on my apartment balcony the entire time I’ve owned it and was grown outside its entire life prior to that.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Toasty. Looks like just a mishap with the watering. Try again!

 

[Dogestoevsky]

 

[zeejet]

My friend who was responsible for watering got caught up in 60h weeks at work and it’s my responsibility so no blame there but my own.

It's hard lesson learned, but you cannot rely on a non-bonsai person to keep your trees alive, especially if you know they are busy and not invested. It's much better in this case to setup automated irrigation for temporary situations where you cannot be present.

Hinoki prefers partial shade in the height of summer so that may have contributed to the quick death - in organic soil, 2 days without water is usually fine, even outdoors if it's partially shaded. How many hours of direct sun did it get on that balcony? Was it south or west facing?