Who knew?

I gave Joe a bonsai for his MBA graduation gift. Since then we have probably not given it all the TLC it has deserved aside from watering it every couple of days. Tuesday, I finally found a cute little table for it to sit on outside (it's the outdoors-type) and by Wednesday we noticed many of it's little green needles were turning brown. Yesterday I went out in a downpour to a local greenhouse to buy plant food. They guy who owned the greenhouse seemed dumbfounded about giving me bonsai advice but he offered me a handful of food for our tree. I went home and sprinkled some on the top of the soil and then watered it again. I have no idea if I was helping the bonsai or really just leading it to an early death. Today even more brown needles. I called the arboretum to see if I could bring it in to their plant clinic (which should have been my first plan of action) and they told me they don't do bonsai's but there is a bonsai society in our area. Some more research and I found out the society meets monthly where Joe works...and now he has sent out calls for help. I am not sure if anything can help our little, tiny three year old bonsai. For now, I am just holding my breath.