I greatly apologize if this has been asked before. I have been keeping saltwater fish tanks for 15 years and I'm now starting in to bonsai trees which I've wanted to do for years but I don't know a lot. I've had my first Bonsai Juniper about 3 months. When I first got it I would have to water it every four days or so in the soil got dry. As the soil would wash off I replaced it with lava rock. Eventually I will repot it. Anyway, I bought a humidity tray and since then it's been almost eight days in the soil is still wet is this going to be okay or is this going to rot the roots of my tree? Here's some pictures to help with what I'm working with looks like a very beginner tree. I can't believe how much the humidity tray keeps the soil consistently moist but I know these type of Juniper's like to dry out a bit so I don't know if I should continue using it or not?

Tdalessa01 wrote:

I greatly apologize if this has been asked before.

Countless times. Same answers:

That's a very young juniper and not a bonsai.
It must be outdoors.
You don't need a humidity tray.

If the soil stays wet constantly, the plant will die.
If you keep it indoors, the plant will die.

If you have ants crawling up the tree a tray with water will keep them from getting to the pot, but you have to keep the pot way out of the water. Trees live by absorbing oxygen out of the air in the soil around the roots. They also absorb water out of the air around the roots, and if the roots are soaked in water constantly there isn't air so the tree suffocates. If you don't have a reason like ants, the humidity tree does little except supply a home for mosquito larvae.

I didn't believe that when I read it so I asked my friendly biologist at the university. That is correct - the roots need oxygen.