Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a buddhist pine bonsai tree which looks nice and healthy (at least to my untrained eye as I'm quite new to this!).

However, today while looking at it I noticed that an area of bark near the bottom had peeled off and that in fact a lot of the trees bark was cracked or looked like it was peeling.

I'll attach images but if anyone could advise me on what this could be or if I should be concerned, that would be great!

Please add your photos

Here you go

There is a lot of moss on the trunk, possibly someone has been trying to remove it. Moss on the trunk is not good, shows that the plant has been kept in damp conditions for some time.

Ah okay, I noticed the moss too while inspecting the tree and thought it was abnormal since I Hadn't seen it on my other bonsai trees in the past. What would you recommend to do in this case?

I would gently brush it off with a soft brush. Some more bark may go off with the moss, but it really needs to be done. If you are in the nortern hemisphere, it will be at least six months until you see any sign of recovery.

Ah that's unfortunate, but thank you so much for your help I'll do that carefully and then just hope for a smooth recovery over the next year. Thanks again