名媛直播

Hi all,

Introducing myself
Hi, I live in the south of the UK. I've always loved trees, even as a child, and consequently always had a fascination with bonsais. I had my first foray into the world of these little trees when I was given a "grow from seed" bonsai kit. As per my only other post on this forum it didn't go too well and the attempt has been abandoned! (despite the excellent advice, for which I was grateful).

My bonsai journey so far
More recently I was given an established Ligustrum bonsai which was bought from a large garden centre chain and I love it! I read up on keeping it and got going (I was particulally pleased that it was listed as a good one for beginners). Things seemed to be going well, new shoots were forming, I did some trimming of the straggly ones and left one which I planned to have a go at shaping.

I had an issue with feed however: I bought a drip feeder to put into the soil and, whilst for the first few days it seemed to work, the feed level going down just slightly, one morning I saw that the whole feeder had emptied into the soil! (I'm guessing user error here but found it interesting that it seemed to work to start with... any advice on that appreciated but it's not my real reason for posting, I thought it might give helpful background).

Shortly after the feeder incident I noticed that a number of the leaves started to go black on the tips and start to curl, following internet research I came to the conclusion that I was over watering... (again, is this correct given the symptoms?)

As a result, for the last couple of weeks I've let the soil get pretty dry before watering but now the leaves have started going yellow and falling off... (under watering?)

Moving the tree outside
Again to the forums and I saw the repeated advice on various threads that, despite the tree being ladled and sold as an indoor bonsai that it would be much happier outdoors. Though disappointed, this makes sense since that's where trees live naturally and so today I moved the tree outdoors, here's hoping it perks up and starts to look happier.

The questions I've not discovered answers to
With moving the tree outdoors I have a couple of questions:

1. Watering - is there a risk of the tree being over watered with the somewhat wet weather we've been having recently?
2. I was really hoping to have the tree in my office and, whilst I appreciate that may not be possible it would be nice to be able to see it when I work. The challenge here is that my home office is on the first floor. Does anyone have any experience / recommendations in keeping bonsais on an outside windowsill? Anyone bonsaiing from a flat?
3. How long should I expect it to take before the tree starts to recover?

I've attached photos of the tree as purchased and now for reference.

Thanks in advance for your help

Well, inside is a certain way to kill the tree, so congrats for placing it outside where it belongs. Despite lables and shops advertising otherwise there is no such thing as an indoor tree.
That being said, your questions:
1: depends on the soil/substrate.If its a free draining substrate you cannot overwater, rain/water will flow right through ( if your tree is not standing on a tray like yours is, water collects in there). But it seems your tree is in the original compact, not free draining muck all these mass produced trees are being planted in which keeps fairly wet a long time, and become rock hard when left to dry out which makes watering a bit tedious.So i would repot next spring in a good substrate. Speaking of watering: water with a watering can or garden hose untill water spills from the drainage hole underneath. Check the rootball if waterd completely by dticking a chopstick in it and taking it out after a few minutes. If wet: watered enough, if dry.. well you get the picture
2: i think thats a recipe for a falling tree...
3: no answer to that, depends on a lot of things.

Thanks for the response lucR, that's really helpful.

From what you said, is it the case that I wasn't over watering the tree when the tips of the leaves were turning black? (I never left it standing in water just made sure the root ball was nice a wet.) Or is it because the type of soil it's in could cause overwatering?

Thank you for the advice re watering, when using the can/hose should I be watering the whole tree or just the roots? In my attempt to no over water I was letting the soil get pretty dry between each watering, is that correct or should I be keeping it moist?

Again, thank you for the advice, hopefully I haven't killed it off already!