I moved it to front porch and forgot to water for a few weeks this summer. 4 yrs old. Always really green. Watering now as soon as soil feels dry to touch.. 1..2 times a week. Do I prune, repot, trim roots..? Or water and wait? Is gardening fertilizer an option to help recovery? Help! I feel so bad.. thank you!

brown = dead.

Can't tell much more without pictures.

... you moved it to the front porch, where from? Inside?

From back porch. Was getting a lot of mid day and evening sun. Never kept inside.

These plants are not grown the way real Bonsai are and usually live just long enough for you to think you did something wrong instead of understanding you just bought a bad product.

Auk wrote: These plants are not grown the way real Bonsai are and usually live just long enough for you to think you did something wrong instead of understanding you just bought a bad product.

That's the catch.
Guilt.
When bought, you never know if it was just repotted, if it was a greenhouse plant, if it was originally in the ground.
It's already doomed when bought.
Then, after a while it turns brown and dries up.
Not your fault. It's the vendor's trick to keep selling more plants.

You all are missing the part where he said he "forgot to water it for a few weeks". He killed his plant.

Grats.

Shephered wrote: You all are missing the part where he said he "forgot to water it for a few weeks". He killed his plant.

True.

Shephered wrote: You all are missing the part where he said he "forgot to water it for a few weeks". He killed his plant.

Grats.

No. I didnt

No. I didnt

Leatherback, clearly you didn't, so clearly that comment really wasn't pointed at you. You just said that brown = dead, which is spot on.
Take a chill pill brah.