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Hi there I have had a bonsai for the last couple of years an it has recently started to thin out and drop leaves and twigs. I have no idea what species it is as it came with no labels to say so.




Any help is much appreciated .

Callum

Hi Callum,
If you had this tree for a couple of years now without knowing the type and without any experience, you actually did an outstanding job keeping it alive! The tree you have is a Carmona, or Fukien tea and is one of the toughest trees to keep alive. Especially indoors!

How long exactly do you have this tree now? And to identify the problem a bit better, exactly how did you took care of it? Was it always in this place, or was it next to a window? How much did you water it? Did you gave it fertiliser and how often?

Im not too sure how long exactly i have had the tree it must be two or three years roughly. The instructions that came with said to immerse the pot in room temp water for ten to fifteen minuets when the soil was dry to the touch, giving it a prune at the same time taking the new spindly growth back to a leaf stem. i have recently moved to a new place and left it with my dad (who has a bonsai as well) fir about six months i have just brought it home after i noticed it was looking a little sorry for itself it was on a north facing shaded window cill, where it has been for the past year and was doing well. now it is near a west facing window. I have never given it any fertiliser my dad might have given it some water soluble plant food.

Thanks for ID now I know what I am looking at I can start looking after it properly. I must be a very lucky person to have kept it alive thus far.

Thank you.

Callum

As some people know I don't agree with it that Carmona (Fukien Tea) is the most difficult species indoor, but let's not talk about that!

I would place the tree back where you have always kept it succesfully. Could be that the tree is a bit stressed due all the movings.

What the problem probably is that your tree isn't doing well is that the soil is too wet. I know that on those instructions stand that you should do the watering that way (I got 2 Carmona's myself), but don't do this. Water about every 3 days, it depends on the circumstances of course. Just water it with a watering can, but do NOT immerse the pot in water, except when the soil is that dry that the soil can't absorb water anymore. Then you can immerse it in water and wait till the bells are gone.

Don't give water when the soil is still wet, but also don't let the soil dry out completely. After a while you know exactly when you need to water it, it's just a matter of 'experience'.

I hope this helps!

PS: take a look for caring tips here:

Hi Callum,
The westside window should actually be a far better place for you bonsai instead of the north side. bonsai require quite a lot of sunlight, though direct sunlight from a south facing window could actually burn it. therefore west or east facing windows are recommended. I can see from the long internodes that your bonsai didn't had enough sunlight for a while so the move should actually be a good thing.

However, there are many factors that play a role in choosing the right spot for your bonsai. Besides sunlight, bonsais need a lot of air circulation and oxygen. Yea, that's right, plants use oxygen too! (though they consume less than they produce) They also don't like very dry air, so placing it above a radiator is probably not so good idea.

If none off the above problems are applicable to your situation than you are living in an actual greenhouse. Because the conditions your tree want's to live in are absolutely not the kind off conditions you want to live in, you actually have to sacrifice somewhere, somehow. Tropical plants can react very aggressively to environment changes in the form of leave dropping, especially when these changes are not in favour of the plant. I'm quite sure that it's this what you are experiencing.

If you think the trees current position is actually the best place for your bonsai considering the above conditions, just leave it there for a while and see if it recovers. If not, there might be something more serious going on.

There might also one other thing affecting your bonsais condition. You said you've never given it any fertiliser yourself, and your dad recently gave it liquid fertiliser. Your plant may also be reacting to this. Plants need fertiliser to keep healthy, but giving it too much may actually kill it! Especially if it's not a well balanced fertiliser mix. Therefore I always advise people to use slow releasing solid organic fertiliser. Biogold is actually a very well balanced fertiliser for your bonsai and it doesn't smell. You can buy it at your local bonsai shop/nursery. I suggest you flush out the soil and start using Biogold from now on.

Thank you for all your help.

I will take a trip to my local bonsai stockist and get hold of some of the bio gold that dsdevries has suggested and see what happens.

I will keep you all posted on what happens

Thanks again.

Callum

Just a few comments:

- When the soil is really dry, you do not need to submerge it to get it to take up water; If you use lukewarm water, it should be taken up by the soil very easily. In general do not water plants with cold water, but with water at room temperature or just above

- There is no need to use special fertilizer. Just use the fertilizer suitable for any normal plant. Ideally you use this at 1/2 or 1/4 of the recommended dosage. If the tree is in true bonsai soil, add it at double frequency to the water. If in normal soil add at the regular frequency. With a single feed of fertilizer it is virtually impossible to kill a tree.

Have you ever re-potted this tree? Reason I ask, I bought one a few months ago, just repotted last week and the original 'soil' was an ugly mix of sand clay & stones. If you haven't already, wash all the original stuff off and replace with a decent free draining mix. I feed weekly with normal dilution liquid seaweed and it's doing well.

Dave

No I haven't repotted it yet still original soil. Will pull it out of the pot and have a look at it.

It does drain well and still holds water for a week or there abouts.

Callum

bonsai novice 1988 wrote: It does drain well and still holds water for a week or there abouts.

This sentence contradicts itself. Well draining soil doesn't hold water for a week ore there abouts.

Most indoor bonsai which you buy at garden- or shoppingcenters come in poor bonsai soil that holds just way too much water and far from enough oxygen. That's why it's often advised to repot them as soon as you get them on a potting mixture that consists of clay granulates instead of earth. A standard potting mixture for deciduous trees is 1 part kiryu and 2 parts akadama. Akadama is a soft baked japanese kind of clay granulate type of soil, while Kiryu is a harder baked type that holds less water than Akadama. Kiryu is used to further improve the drainage of the mixture. Many people also received good result by using hard baked perfume-less cat-litter (you do have to wash this you self to make sure there are no chemicals inside).

Using this kind of soil as a few major benefits over regular soil. first of all, it holds just enough water for your trees and hold way more oxygen. This makes it nearly impossible to overwater your trees and introduce root rot. Excess water simply drains away freely. And because the clay will colour bright when it's dry, you can easily see when it's time to water again.
Second: excess fertilise will also drain away every time you water your tree. So you able to give your tree an even better balanced fertiliser mix with a smaller chance of overdosing.