• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Signs of overwatering black pine bonsai

August 3, 2018 by Jonas Dupuich

About a month ago, I noticed some of my pines turning yellow near the base of the needles.

Yellowing pine needles

I rarely see this in my older pines, but it sometimes shows up in the younger trees in my garden. It’s a common sign that the trees are staying too wet between waterings.

After a warm spring, the weather turned cool where I live. The morning fog is burning off later in the day and it’s returning earlier in the evening. As a result, my trees need less water.

When the temperatures were warmer, watering was simple – one time per day was perfect for most trees. Now that it’s cooler, I have to pay more attention to the needs of each tree.

In general, the yellowing shows up in trees that were repotted this year, typically young trees that were planted in significantly larger containers. Pines with more mature root systems and younger pines that are more root-bound dry out faster and appreciate the extra water.

Healthy pine foliage

One approach to simplifying care for trees with yellowing needles is to group them together. This can increase the odds that the trees with yellow needles stay dry when needed and the green trees receive the water they need.

Have other tricks for providing trees with the right amount of water? Share them in the comments below!

Related Posts

Spring watering tips

How to evaluate bonsai water needs

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Black Pine, Watering

Previous Post: « When to graft and when to bend: evaluating branch structure
Next Post: Carving tips for beginners »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Alessandro says

    August 3, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Ciao Jonas! I have only three pine so it’s very easy for me to weight the trees to understand if they need water or not!😊
    In winter (I live in Venezia) sometimes the trees takes 7 to 10 days to dry the soil. In summer sometimes (like the last few weeks) I water the trees 2 times per day!

  2. Irina says

    August 15, 2018 at 12:47 am

    Thank you for the information you give us. You have a good experience of keeping the pines. Maybe you can help me.

    I had problems with pine sylvestris this summer. The tree was excavated in the forest in 2015
     
     Needles in this season grew too big and thick. A week ago I discovered that it easily detaches itself and falls off at the slightest touch. In appearance the tree is absolutely healthy. Many new kidneys, needles have a green color. During the summer, watering is daily. The soil did not dry completely. Can watering or excessive fertilizers be the reason?
    I live in Ukraine.

    • Jonas Dupuich says

      August 15, 2018 at 6:57 am

      Hi Irina! I don’t know of a disease that detaches healthy-looking needles. Is it possible that the needles aren’t completely mature? When pine needles reach full length there is a brief period when the needles can break away easily. Over several weeks the needle strengthens the connection to the branch. Excessive fertilizer or water can cause problems, but I’d expect the needles to discolor before they fall off if that were the case.

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2025 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT