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A few months ago, I ordered a couple Chinese elm cuttings. I chopped em way down, pruned the roots mercilessly, and stuck me in some pots. Waited for a couple months, and just when I was beginning to think I had been too rough on them, they started sprouting leaves amazingly! Very resilient!

A few months later though, the leaves started turning pale and crispy. Now if I touch a leave it falls off, and I can crinkle them to a fine dust. (Still a pale green color though...) any ideas what caused this? And if they might still be alive? I never changed my regular generous watering. And had them in a spot that got a little direct morning sun, and some filtered light throughout the day. (Outside)

It also may be worth mentioning that I live in southern Arizona. The temperature just changed here. So at night it’s still around 65 degrees, but around 100 degrees every day now. I wonder if it’s just too hot? I read that Chinese Elm probably need a more stable temperature. I feel like they are dead. So I just planted some Pomegranate seeds in hopes that they will like the wacky climate over here...

Do you mind sharing a picture?

This is all unsuccessful cuttings. I would think that they have grown no or very few roots.

Oh, ok. In some ways that’s reassuring... Thank you so much my friend!

The substrate you use is very coarse, which hampers the water retention. I would say that causes the demise of your cutting. Considering the amount of growth you got on that one, I would say it had started to root, but dried out. DId you take it out of the pot to check on rooting once it was clear it died?

That makes a lot of sense! Especially since the same thing happened to my apple seeds, and juniper sapling. And they all seemed fine until the weather got warmer, ( which I’m sure made it even harder for the coarse soil to retain moisture) I haven’t taken it out of the pot yet, but now I will definitely check... Thank you!

Unfortunately, it has been dead for quite some time. It looks like it dried out at some point. Do you have a bonsai potting mix that you could use? Being in Arizona, it is likely thar you will have to water the plant several times a day, especially with it being outside, and misting it wouldn't hurt either. You have the opposite problem to me: it's cold and cloudly up here!

Sorry to hear of your cold and cloudy troubles... Some middle ground would be nice! Lol This is the mix I used... looks like maybe it is a better mix for more mature trees, and in a more humid climates... ( I put a few pomegranate seeds in this container the other day) Maybe I should find something that is a bit finer, to retain a bit more moisture?

And here’s what the Chinese elm cutting’s roots looked like...

Congratulations. As suspected, you succesfully rooted your elm cutting. Well done.

The mix you have, confirmed now that i see your hand next it, is very coarse. The grains I use for cuttings are about 1-3mm. Enough airspaces yet it does not easily dry out completely. The mix you have there is similar to what I use for my big collected plants, think, 50cm diameter pots.