That tree was already on it's last legs. Lesson learnt and all that... This is a reality that most people into bonsai will face at some point. Well done for posting this as most would not. 👍

If a bonsai channel doesn't show the flip side... it's not worth following. Thank you for the honesty.

A tough tree to deal with for sure.

Just started my bonsai journey a few weeks ago with a couple of western redcedar I had growing in pots because I had no room in my yard for a big tree. I pretty much just started experimenting and having fun with it. I wanted to get into it more so I bought a few cheap plants. I subscribed to your channel after watching one or two of your videos. I've learned a lot and wanted to thank you for sharing these lessons. Sometimes the lessons come from success or failure. Either way, I am encouraged by you to venture forth unto my own successes and failures. Cheers from the Pacific Northwest!

So glad that you post even when the results are not favourable. These are powerful lessons for us, your followers. It's a shame to lose a nice tree like that but I think you played it right. I would have slip-potted as well.

fMy Guess ~The fertiliser is what killed it. I experimented last year over fertilising Junipers and the “shimpaku” died where the “procumbens” survived well. My conclusion is stressed junipers don’t like being fertilised. My Junipers were stressed just trying to survive an Australian Summer. Good Luck great videos.

Big thanks for sharing this expierience with us. We learn more from mistakes than from succeses. It takes big man to admit his fault even when the excuse is so handidly in front of you. Keep growing Jelle your content is very good :)

Looked like one that was on its way out anyways! Definitely something we can all learn from too, thank you for sharing this!

Sad it’s a goner, but man, at least I don’t feel alone! Thanks for sharing bonsai ups and downs which most will never show.

Never fertilize a weak or diseased tree.

What a really tough position to be put in. The tree was technically alive but in a seriously desperate situation where you only had enough time to just try one thing to save it. It's also nearly impossible to tell if a different approach would have worked out much different. Top praise and admiration for posting because now many other people have an opportunity to learn what might happen to root-bound juniper, the importance of regular root ball maintenance, etc. I have a love-hate relationship with evergreen bonsai because they are so slow to respond to changes and can look deceptively alive even when they are at a point beyond saving.

Like another commenter said: "Evergreens can be dying long before they show the signs of being dead." This was a particularly tough call because your only chance at success involved risky repotting at the worst time of the year. In hind sight, doing that would have just confirmed it was a goner already, but at least it's a promising tanuki! Also, as other commenters noted, thanks for posting something like this. Trees die despite our best efforts, and we need to be reminded of that on occasion.

Guessing we all had a failure similar to this tree. My experience taught me to “really” tease/loosen the brick of roots. I even drilled through whole base block. I was able to save a small, but viable section, about a third. We got to try and learn my friend.

Definite bummer! Tree was certainly workable had it lived but we can't win them all. Onward to the tanuki!

you win some, you lose some. For this tree, it's a rather big loss. Good luck on the next buy.

The good and the bad. Great try! Appreciate the realism on this one. Thank you Jelle 😊

Thank you so much for showing this video. Junipers are by far the worst for giving us glimmers of hope and then giving up the ghost. Even when we are positive we are doing the right thing, they always have us second guessing ourselves - just maddening! Definitely looking forward to a good tanuki project.

Oh yeah, that could be nice as semicascade tanuki if the living stem matches and extends the shape of the jin. Good on you for seeing the possibilities in this disappointing situation.

guess this happens to all of us sometimes. Will be a great tanuki base

I think it was the wet winter we had here in The Netherlands (the wettest winter since records started). I lost a few trees this winter due to the incredibly heavy rain. The combination of plastic pots and poor soil was probably the death sentence. I've moved many plants into wood boxes with more drainage, inorganic soil and larger particle size.

Loved your honesty, my friend! I did the same to my first juniper! 👍

I really enjoyed watching this - despite the bad ending. The Tanuki could be fun though :)

Oh Jelle, I see what you meant. I wonder how long ago the tree was last repotted, it looked like a compacted block of coir when you finally got the pot off. I'm not sure you could have saved it, but you did try xx

Junipers are a finicky beast - I've had them die for no reason , but just gave up the gas. Junipers happen

Looking at the root ball, the tree may not have known it was already dead. I wonder if less fertilizer and maybe drilling 3 or 4 holes through the root ball would have helped when you first received the tree?

Not that it would have mattered, but never work on a unhealthy tree, been there done that, airlayering will only stress it more. I think the tree was already unrecoverable when you got it. Sad that the previous owner neglected it, was a nice juniper.

Evergreens can be dying long before they show the signs of being dead. I don't think it is your fault.

perfect for a Tanuki project :)

I think the tree was already past the point of no return when you got it. The roots were already dead and rotten from lack of drainage. Don't blame yourself.

Thanks for sharing! We all kill trees but sucks especially if it's an oldie like this one. I hope the resurrection goes well. Did the air layer do anything?

8.29 killed all my doubt whether you lived in Germany or the Netherlands lol

Marcotteren enkel op erg vitale bomen. Voor deze boom maakte het niets uit, maar sowieso was marcotteren niet aangewezen.

I took mine out of the cellar when it got warmer, and put them in the greenhouse. But it got a bit too warm and some of them dried up. Looks like a lot of them are no more

Lose that tree is part of the life, accept it as it is, even if i know that feeling especially if you had put effort in it. my itoigawa are fine, my sergentii (or kishu) are fine. except one that is in terracotta pot. still green but tips are brown and dry, i think i will repot in this week, i hope it survives because in past i lost one in this way. this year for the first time I put manure fertilizer in the pots (only a few grains) and it dried out the tips of the deciduous trees, which however recovered. The conifers seem to be doing well.

Hi Jelle, what fertiliser are you using there? Killing trees unfortunately is something that happens now and then. Keep going so that its death will be a lesson on how to better handle the trees I still have and will have - this is how I look at it. I really appreciate you posting a ‘failure’. If other growers had your courage probably 1/10 bonsai videos on youtube would be about dead trees. This is part of educating growers. Owning one comes with the responsability that it fully depends on the owner and the wellbeing of the plant comes before it looking ‘aesthetically pleasing’.

Hi, what fertiliser do you use for juniperus Itoigawa?

Tuyệt vời 👍

Cela arrive aux meilleurs, la preuve!

Bloody stings when that happens 👀 Next time better Jelle 👍

Inaction kills, in every aspect of life

Awe...😢 Honestly, I don't think you killed it. How sad though...

👍👌🙂

I'm sorry It happens

Jelle, das ist echt schade.....keiner mag einen Baum verlieren😢

That soil looked finished tbh

Some sphagnum moss 😢

Tja... die was mss al vertrokken...

That's a real shame.