When a Collected Juniper Dies in February and You Have No Record of Why
It overwintered in the same spot for six years. Then it didn't make it through year seven. You look back and realize you changed nothing that you can recall — but you also have no record of when you last repotted, what the soil mix was, whether last summer's fertilizer schedule ran long into fall and pushed tender growth that never hardened before the cold came. The tree is gone and you don't know what killed it. The Demise field, labeled "Autopsy Notes," is the most underused field in any bonsai database — and it's the one that actually makes you a better grower.
The difference between an enthusiast who loses trees and one who stops losing them is documentation.
The Anatomy of a Tree Record Worth Keeping
Species and Latin Name together cover both the practical and the formal identity of the tree. Common names vary by region and seller; Latin names don't. A Juniperus chinensis labeled "Shimpaku" at one nursery and "Chinese Juniper" at another is the same species, and the Latin name is what you use when looking up species-specific horticultural guidance. The ID field — a Tag ID — ties the digital record to a physical tag on the tree, which matters when your collection hits twenty or thirty specimens and looking up a tree requires something more reliable than memory and visual identification.
Stage classifies where each tree sits in its development: Sentimental (for trees kept for personal reasons regardless of horticultural value), Project (raw material under development), PreBonsai (established structure, being refined), and Specimen (exhibition-ready). This classification changes what the next work session looks like. You approach a Project tree with structural development in mind — major pruning, wiring primary branches, establishing ramification. A Specimen gets maintenance work and show preparation. Conflating the two leads to either overworking a finished tree or underworking raw material.
Style covers thirteen classifications from Formal Upright through Cascade, Root over Rock, and Forest. Logging the style per tree lets you filter your collection for exhibitions where a specific style category is requested, or identify gaps in a collection being developed for a particular aesthetic.
Size uses the Japanese classification system: Keishi (<1"), Shito (<3"), Mame (<6"), Shohin (<8"), Kifu Sho (<16"), Chu (<24"), Dai (<40"). These are height-based categories, and they matter at shows where class entry is by size, and in practice when determining display stand requirements, pot selections, and winter storage space.
The Cultivation Calendar That Prevents Losses
Repot Date and Fertilizer Date are the two maintenance timestamps that, when tracked consistently across a collection, show you the full annual care schedule at a glance. Repotting timing is species-specific — junipers in late winter before bud break, maples just as buds swell, tropical species during active growth — and the record tells you both when it was last done and implicitly when it's due again. Most species need repotting every two to five years depending on vigor; without the date, you're guessing.
Winter Care — greenhouse, mulch, cold frame — documents the overwintering protocol per tree. This is the field the Demise notes reference when something goes wrong. A tropical fig that needed greenhouse temperatures left on an unheated porch for one winter has a known failure mode. A hardy juniper that died despite adequate protection may point to root rot from poor drainage or a soil mix that held too much moisture through freeze-thaw cycles.
Sun Required covers the light placement logic. As a collection grows and benches fill, trees get moved to accommodate space rather than light requirements. This field is the reminder that the Trident Maple in the shade corner was supposed to be getting full sun.
Collection Provenance and Financial Tracking
Source, Date Acquired, and Amount Paid together constitute the provenance record for every tree. At the serious end of the hobby, provenance matters: a collected tanuki from a known grower's bench is worth more at sale or auction than the same tree with no history. Value is the current estimated value — updated as the tree develops — and Sale Price and Auction Reserve close the loop when a tree leaves the collection.
Collection tracks ownership within a shared or family collection, with Sold and Deceased as terminal states. The Tracker field — AirTag ID, Tile ID — addresses the practical problem of high-value specimens at shows or in transit.
The Planned Changes field is where the next work session's intent lives: "apex needs reduction, left secondary needs repositioning, front angle may need to shift 15 degrees at next repot." When you return to a tree three months later, this field is the brief you wrote yourself.