Help with Chinese Elm

Laura · White Belt Joined: 27 Dec 2006 Posts: 1

Hello

I am a novice bonsai owner, my first one.

I live in Perth, South Western Australia, is is currently summer right now. I have owned a small Chinese Elm for 3 months. The trunk colour is dark brown. It was growing very well for the first two months, then the leaves began to become less sparse, at which point I removed all the leaves, thinking it would help. I had failed to do a little research before I had done this. This was about one week and a half ago ( when the leaves were pulled off, not cut) Since then no leaves have sprouted except one on the underside of the truck which is not growing and has discoloured.

As for watering, it has been watered regularly up until a couple of weeks ago until one day it was accidentally left in the sun, this has happened twice. (after the leaves had been removed). It has now been left inside, away from the sun and watered three times a day. It has also been soaked in water for a couple of minutes at at a time. I have read that you can also overwater these bonsai. We think it is dead, but thought I might consult a forum to see before I take it to where it was bought ( being the silly season they are closed for a couple of days.)

Just in case you were wondering, it has been neglected as we a re renovating house and it is has been moved around somewhat and forgotten.

anyones advice would be appreciated.

Regards
Laura
Beckenham, Western Australia ( Perth )

Dick · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:32 am Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

Stop watering it so much. You're drowning it!

Removing the leaves wasn;t a bad idea. It's done all the time to make the leaves on a bonsai smaller, thought a chinese elm has fairly small leaves to begin with.

The tree really belongs outdoor. A tree without leaves in the direct sun is not going to be hurt by the sun. However, direct sunlight will slow the development of new leaves to some extent. So if youcan place it outdoors where it will not get midday sunlight, it should resprout soon.

Watering should probably be once per day during summer and less than that in the other seasons. At this point, do not fertilize the tree until the leaves have returned in full size. Keep the soil evenly moist (not soaking wet). It takes time for the buds that are at the axils of the leaves that were removed to swell and issue forth new leaves. Be patient. Bonsai is that way...

Good luck....Welcoem to the forum and do come back with any questions you might have at all.

keithmart · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:09 am Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

Hi and welcome to the group

If you scrape away a small bit of bark from the trunk, and it is green underneath, your tree is alive (at the moment)

chinese elms do lose leaves when stressed, like being allowed to dry out.

I personally would leave it in the shade for the time being, and keep the soil damp. It can take 5 or 6 weeks sometimes for new leaves to appear.

good luck

lance111 · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:38 pm Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

Hi and welcome to the site Smile

I see you have had some good advice, don't give up... Smile

TB420 · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

I am not a big fan of scratching the bark to look for green unless you have several tree's and are going to dispose of it. If you are going to follow the directions given, shade for most of the day, it does not need sun to photosynthesise with out leaves. I am sure you are not going to throw the tree away if you scratched the bark and did not see green, you will still try to revive it. Scraping the bark is a very good way of telling but only if you are going to throw the tree away if you don't like what you see. If after a few weeks and nothing then you might want to scratch, but you said that you had a new sprout from the trunk. This would not have happened on a dead tree. Can you get us a pic. If you are not a member you can use photobucket and provide us with the URL. Good luck

Tom

Surrey John · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject: Help with Chinese Elm

Laura: if you think your tree is dead, it quite possibly isn't, especially as it has only recently lost its leaves. I had a tree that 'died' - the leaves dried out and fell one by one until the tree was bare - I lifted it carefully out of its shallow bonsai pot, soil and all, and repotted it into a deep flower pot onto fresh soil and just kept in a quiet corner of my garden, where it miraculously came to life again but only after about a year. It's now as strong as it ever was, and I shall re-pot it bonsai in the spring. Admittedly it was a Chinese Privet, not a Chinese Elm, but the general principle must surely be the same for all trees (except serissas) - 'never say die'.

Cheers! SJ.

Stymie · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:34 pm Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

I reckon that Laura has left us folks.

TB420 · Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:49 pm Post subject: Re: Help with Chinese Elm

I reckon, so. Hope she did not just toss the tree.

Tom