Please Help

mancwill · Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:44 pm Post subject: Please Help

hi all.

I am sorry that my first post is an unhappy one. Crying or Very sad

I have had a bonsai since January this year. I baught it from a specialist.

It was living indoors at my old house in Manchester (UK) because there was nowhere for it outside. I moved house in July this year (still Manchester) and slowly introduced it outside to my balcony.

Everythig was good until now! alot of the leaves have died and fallen off. There are still some good green leaves left.

I think the sickness may have been caused by me under-watering it. I changed from submerging it in water to watering from the top. I was bothered about salts rising to the top of the soil. Another cause may have been that it has stayed outside during the midday sun. It has been really warm of recent and the balcony is a bit of a heat trap.

Please could you look at the photos and decide what I should do.
HEEELLPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!! Crying or Very sad

Thank you for your time.

http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/?action=view_image&id=91R44226 U604

http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/?action=view_image&id=QI4D248F 9VAV

Ps. Sorry about the quality of the photos but I took them in a hurry

m5eay · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:38 am Post subject: Re: Please Help

Hi Mancwill,
I went to look at your pcs, and both had only half there, it was almost impossible to see what it may be. Possibly Carmona? I am not sure. It certainly does not look happy, can you do another pic so we can identify it and give you some help? It does sound as if you may have been overwatering but I can't be sure without a better idea of waht it is and how often you were watering.
Geoff.

mancwill · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

hi m5eay. Thanks for your response.

Here are the new photos:

This is the whole tree (almost!!(200K limit)):
http://picserver.org/view_image.php/460P40BJF790

This is a closeup of the leaves:
http://picserver.org/view_image.php/2Q27T7U9O7SZ

I water it when the surface of the soil is not moist to the touch. The soil seems like its quick draining, not much clay.

I always use water from the tap which has been left for over 24 hours to air off.

Thanks for the help.

m5eay · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

Hi,
yes thats better it is chinese elm, it needs to be outside all year if you can, in a nice cool place unheated window not south facing it looks like uneven watering is the main problem, but the tree is tough, and even if it loses all its leaves, they usually come back. I have several and two small ones are forever losing leaves and then re growing them. Where are you keeping it right now? Looks like a nice tree, don't forget to feed a tomatoe feed is okay, once a week in spring and summer, but not in winter.
Hope this helps.
Geoff.

Stymie · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:15 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

I usually believe it to be less traumatic to hold back on feeding while a tree is under stress. When it shows signs of recovery I start fortnightly with a half strength mix. Maybe I'm cautious but so are most of the people that I know in the bonsai world..

steve · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:15 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

Hold off on feeding it anything, though, until you see plenty of new growth coming through. Fertilizer will be quite damaging at this point.

steve · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:18 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

Not only do we think alike,Stymie. But we also think so at the same time!!

Stymie · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

I noticed an echo too and I didn't want to argue with Geof. so used gentle words.

m5eay · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:27 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

Yes ok, you are both right, no feed for a while until it recovers.
Geoff.

DMicheleR · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:22 am Post subject: Re: Please Help

Chinese Elms are tough...I haven't managed to kill mine off yet! Very Happy

But I have traumatized it quite a bit, and everything these guys said to do to fix the damage worked like a charm. Wink

mancwill · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:23 am Post subject: Re: Please Help

Hi All.

Thanks so much for the replies! Laughing

At the moment the tree is in a cool shaded area of my apartment. I thought that if it was sick I should keep it out of the sunlight for a while.

Unfortunately, where I keep my bonsai on the balcony is south facing. Should I put it back outside and bring it in on very sunny days?

If it is uneven watering causing the problem, then should I go back to submerging it in water when it needs it?

My other error was that I have been misting it too often. As I said in an earlier post, it used to be kept indoors and now that it is outside I was stupidly misting it just as often as when it was indoors.

Again, thanks so much for your help

steve · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 12:41 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

Indoors will slow it's recovery. If you sould find a way to create some shade it would be better. Possibly putting it next to something taller or under a chair or something for a while.

Dick · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: Please Help

There has been some conflicting information about Chinese elm on the forum lately. They are deciduous outdoor trees and should not be considered indoor trees as the conflicting information states. Some people have ahd some real luck growing them indoors, but it's just by luck that the trees are still living after a couple of years. If you treat your tree as deciduous and grow it outdoors, you will be better off. Keep it well watered so that the soil never dries out. When you water it, wash the foliage too. It may be suffering from some critters too. They attack weak trees<