Purchased from Cedar Rose Bonsai Nursery in Placerville. Ground grown and harvested in early November. Sick and twisted trunk with lots of opportunity and very healthy.

Jun 2, 2026 Brown Needle Concern

Possibly too much watering (daily) and not a repotting issue (poor drainage)
Unknown reason for browning needles. Not shaded out and not very old needles dropping
Moved out of direct sun and will let soil dry out more between watering
Very concerned that it recovers
Cut brown needles shorter, removed any fertilizer, put in a greenhouse and will let soil dry out before watering.
Covered soil to allow it to dry out in the greenhouse.

Bonsai Today—issue 9 [Val]

So his situation a bit different in that the freeze browned the foliage (and I’m assuming damaged roots). He then emergency transplanted and put in greenhouse. New buds formed in May, and had elongated by July. He was able to resume normal maintenance the following year. He lost one year for recovery.

So yours was new from nursery in late 2025. Repotted in February 2026. Full sun normal care. Fertilized organic 1st of the month and fish every other week.

How did I notice the problem? Brown needles? No growth?

I think since your roots are so sparse, the drying out of soil and greenhouse environment is best course. Since you had some unused water issues you can do a fungicide dip like subdue max or similar. Basically treat soil for possible fungus.

Don’t do any trim or cutback on growth til it shows whether it will live or not.

Have patience!! When a tree declines so far, it takes quite a while to come back. Slow and steady wins the race!

Feb 21, 2026 Repot

#7 Training pot.
Many possible fronts, good tree with lots of potential.
In the pond basket, the bottom had root aphids. Said to be of a cooler purple hue (I could not see); whereas Mycorrhizae is beige.
Adam shared Mycorrhizae soil to break up and place against the roots to stimulate more Mycorrhizae. So during repotting if found, then save it for the next repotting.
Was aggressive in root pruning, which Adam tends to practice. We’ll see how well it recovers, but does not recommend two major stresses on a tree in one year, so we may not decandle in summer.