每日吃瓜

Hello, I've just started 每日吃瓜 and I have 6 junipers to learn and chat about in the coming years, but first I'm wondering if anyone can advise me about the gorgeous live Christmas tree I'm trying to keep alive.

I've searched? for help about this but most advice is about how to take care of potted trees when indoors, not outdoors.?

I bought it this past December, so it hasn't been long out of the ground. I was very careful with it during Christmas. No heat in its room, regular watering, and only kept inside for two weeks.?
Then I put it in a shed for a week so it wouldn't get shocked by the transition and since being outside it's in a sheltered place that gets only east sun.?
It was doing very fine from January-April, supple needles, completely green. Until three weeks ago. I repotted it to a bigger pot, with "universal" potting soil because I couldn't find anything special for conifers.
I've been keeping it watered twice a week - maybe overwatering??
We moved it to get a bit more sun and it seemed to get a sunburn within a few days. The portion of the branches getting most sun got brown and needles fell off.
Moved it back a few meters into the protected area to get less sun, but it's now dropping GREEN needles on all sides .??
I think the original plant was grown in clay and the rootball is heavy clay. I didn't break this up when repotting. It did not seem rootbound on repotting
Any ideas what to do??
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Thank you so much!?
Violet?

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Keeping this species inside for that long was not good. Then repotting made it worse. It is stressed and suffering from being moved as well. Watering to a schedule is not how to water, you should check every day and water when needed, that is when it is starting to dry out.? I think you should leave it in a shady spot, and do nothing other than water for the rest of this year. It is a hardy species and needs cold do not put it in a shed leave it outside. It should recover with luck.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??

My experience with this kind of materials is that they just do not survive. They are grown on clay fields which make them spread very shalow and big root systems. They are dug up before christmas which is totally wrong time of the year. The digger leave most of the fine fibrous roots in the ground. And then they are put indoors for a few weeks breaking dormancy.

In short: these trees are not produced to survive. They are produced to be a few weeks decoration in your home. The market have no more expectations on the product and the producers have no reason to achieve more than that with their products.

Geoff and Topfrog are completely correct.

Go down to a big box garden store and go through the trees they have to sell. Find a spruce or fir that would look right,? bring it home, and plant it in a planter box about the same size as the root ball. Don't trim roots off or do anything to disturb the root ball. Then when Christmas comes along put lights, etc., on it.

I would guess that you can bring it inside on the 24th and then back out side the 26th without harm. Maybe the evening of the 25th would be better.

You could train it too be a bonsai, but that might conflict with lights, etc.

Oh, and use outdoor waterproof lights and decorations.?

?Another better option is the dwarf alberta spruce sold in every IKEA store around chrstmas. They are a pain to style, but good training, very afordable and always produced in the pot they come in.

This is one of my first IKEA spruces bought after christmas, discounted to 3 EUR. 9 years in training.