Bristlecone needles can last for decades, so I think something is wrong with this 4-5 year old tree. Here are the details of its very short time in my care:
I got this it bristlecone off of 99 cent bonsai around Sept. 1 and it was green and bushy when it arrived. I put it on my bench exactly as I received it, no change in pot. It receives sun from late morning to late afternoon, and it is watered regularly, either daily or every other day.
We have had a LOT of rain. I’m guessing this is the culprit: overwatering. We had a historic unnamed storm here in coastal NC about 2 weeks ago which dumped a metric shit ton of rain on us. We’ve had winds along with that, but this guy is up against a fence that would block a lot of that wind.
The temperatures have been moderate in the high 70s to low 90s throughout its time here.
I haven’t fertilized it, but I did do a foliar application of copper fungicide to most my trees at one point… though looking at the dates of when I did that application it was only 3 days after I got the tree so I probably didn’t.
Do you agree overwatering is the likely cause? My climate may not be great for the tree but I doubt it would fail at this point on that basis alone.
If that is the cause, is it too late, or can this be resolved by letting it dry out a bit?
Or is this just stress from the shipping?
by VMey