Watering conifers - input needed

[Steinar]

Hello helpful people!

I am about 8 months into bonsai, and I've already lost several conifers. Two junipers and two chamaecyparis have gone, one left of each. My broadleaves are all doing great though...

I have read that conifers should dry out more in general, so I am trying not to overwater. But it's hard to tell the difference between over- and underwatering, and thus to learn, and apparently you don't know until it's about a month too late, if I understand correctly?

Anyway, now my last juniper is struggling. It gets lots of sunlight, and it has been very windy lately. Any tips for increasing its chances of survival? It's a cascade, in a cascade pot, and as you can see there is a lack of soil towards the bottom of the pot. I watered it yesterday, after maybe 4 days since the last time.

Any help appreciated!

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Well, the grey brownish brittle stuff is dead.
Get a wooden chopstick and jam it in the soil. If the stick is wet, don't water. If the stick is damp, water if you want, if the stick is dry you should have watered yesterday.
This is a technique many of us use and it's fool proof. After a couple weeks you can water by assumption; you develop a feel for it.

Overwatering can be problematic, but it usually is a process of decline that takes a couple weeks and can revert somewhat. Underwatering is a process of 'one day too hot and dry and it's done for'. So I go with what the chopstick tells me and stay on the wetter side.

 

[leatherback]

to be honest, in an open coarse, well-draining substrate it is really hard to overwater.
I dare vernture that more junipers die from drying out than from overwatering. Only very few species like to have a dry rootball.

 

[Shibui]

In my experience, junipers do not like to get dry. They certainly don't like constantly wet feet but dry roots will certainly set them back and potentially kill.
Mention of trying not to overwater combined with lots of sun and windy weather always rings alarm bells for me. As @leatherback has just posted, it is quite difficult to overwater when using modern, open soil mix. Overwatering takes many weeks to affect the roots. Drying out is almost instant death and, like Leatherback, I'm confident that many more trees die from lack of water than from overwatering.

Cascade pots seem to add another degree of difficulty for some reason.
Dry soil is notoriously difficult to re-wet. Most of the water you apply to dry soil just runs right through without actually wetting the soil particles. That means the pot starts the following day partly dry. It doesn't take many days of such a cycle for the tree to be well into water deficit. Make sure you water thoroughly whenever you water. That may mean several passes with the hose with a break between each application to allow some water to penetrate. Soaking a dry pot in a bucket or tub of water is the most effective way to water when the soil has become dry.

Good luck with the trees.

 

[Steinar]

Thanks for all your advice!

Chopstick applied.

Now, what do I do short-term - less sun, less wind? Or not?

And I know it should have been repotted, but I assume not now?

 

[leatherback]

Thanks for all your advice!

Chopstick applied.

Now, what do I do short-term - less sun, less wind? Or not?

And I know it should have been repotted, but I assume not now?

Given you are in Oslo, I am suspecting you are in moderate cool weather. No sweltering 30+C days for the time being. Then if you ensure you do not allow the roots to fully dry out again, just place it in the sun. No repotting. The roots do not look too bad tbh.