Help. Went away for two weeks and left my healthy bonsai to be watered by a neighbour. I returned to find top canopy dried out and leaves dropping. Middle canopies mixed. Bottom canopies seem healthy. Had told her to water every 3/4 days. Soil was saturated on my return. My other 3 trees of different species were fine, all with damp soil.

Any advice on how to rescue? Do I cut trunk back below dead leaves? Do I feed?

Thanks in advance

M

You don’t mention species or location so the answers will be very general.

Dead leafs do drop sooner or later. If you want to tidy up the tree, just cut them off.

In order to get it back to health just focus on watering. Stop fertilize until you see the tree is growing again.

If you are in the northern hemisphere and it is peak of summer now, watering every 3-4 days is just not enough for most trees. Don’t be too hard on your neighbour.

There are so many problem stories that include the word neighbor. Or neighbour.

Put ot outside, water it regularly, wait until spring, see what branches are dead, and trim accordingly.

Thank your neighbor and find a different solution for next vacation. There might be a bonsai club locally that has a friendly member who would take care of it.

Ahh, the picture didn't load for me. Nov it did.

It looks like the tree is indoors and behind a covered outdoor room. That is filtering the light two times. Not enough light for the tree and may explain why it takes 3-4 days to dry up. I would recomend to mowe it to the other side of the window until it shows new growth. And after that mowe it fully outdoors.

I Second that. Also seems to me that the top branch there is dead.