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Got this jade tree two months ago and only watered it once. The leaves started wrinkling and falling off. I was told it's overwatered and need to leave it dry out. The soil feels very dry but I can't tell now if it's overwatered or underwatered. I live in the Northeast US and the tree has been kept indoors.

Sympthoms are similar. Judging from that moist holding soil I woulg guess overwatering.

I usually dont advice beginners to start repotting newly aquired trees. But this is an exception. Jades dont grow in bogs and sphagnum will rot the roots. I would say repot it into well draining soil mix.

Hi,

I seem to have a similar issue with my sweet plum bonsai. Went away on holiday for 2 weeks and asked the daughter to water once soil dried and she is adamant she did but when we came back all the leaves had shrivelled and had gone crispy etc - so it looked like it had dried out so watered it (with liquid feed in the water). It hasn't improved and now I can't tell if overwatered or underwatered but nothing seems to be bringing it back to life.

Would re-potting in a recommended soil (not spaghnum) be the best thing to try and save it? There are several small green shoots elsewhere growing near the roots on the soil - I'm thinking of propogating those and at least trying to get a child tree.

Any suggestion?

I cannot see any picture.

But.....

Never fertilize an unhealthy tree.

Never repot an unhealthy tree.

Never repit any tree in the summer.

Thank you for the tips. I have tried to add the pics again for you. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Dom

It looks like the tree is on the wrong side of the window. Get it outside now!

Hi,

Well, according to all the sources I've seen / read, you can easily keep sageretia inside and it was going from strength to strength week in week out until we went away and it was either over-watered or under-watered but we can't tell which.

I don't think putting it outside in the cold and rain would help at all. I'll try and find answers somewhere else, thanks for your time.

There is a lot of discussion about inside/outside on the Empire.

Trees evolved stuck in the ground not able to move, so they expect a certain combination of climate, dark/light, rain/dry, humidity, air motion, etc., and when they don't get what they evolved in, they get unhappy. None of them evolved filtering sunlight through glass, with weak light from indoor lighting, with pretty dry air, etc.

Some, like sageretia, should be brought in when the weather outside is colder than where they evolved, but trees don't read thermostats and what seems cold to us just seems like fresh air to most of them.

You can imitate outdoor sun with grow lights but you would have to imitate outdoor darkness by turning off the lights at night and having the tree be in pretty much complete dark every night. That is unpractical for most of us, and the easiest way to supply the right light cycle is put it outside. Being inside stresses them and while they may last a while, they don't thrive. There are dozens and dozens of posts about trees kept inside, all of them are told take it outside, and none of them come back months later and say they kept the tree indoors anyway and now they tree is bursting forth with new growth. None.

Sageretia is a warm temperate species from China. It needs distinct seasonal changes in order to survive long term. In bonsai we dont aim for survival, we aim for development. In order to acomplish that we need more than survival. We need full health and growth for decades.

You can look for other answers, the answers you want else where. But it will not change the nature of your tree and will not help it survive.

It is not possible to look at a photo of wilted leafs and say If it is over or under watered. Sagretia is a very water demanding species, so the best guess is that it is under watered. Watering bonsai seems to be hard to get right for many, but still so easy. Water when the tree is moist but not dry. Water with fine spray nozzle over the entire surface until there are a steady flow of water running out off the drainage holes.

When leafs are wilted like that they dont magically recover within weeks. The tree needs to shed them and grow new leafs wich is very energy demanding and takes time. I missed watering my sageretia in december and it did not recover until may. If you get a second growth spurt out of it, it may recover in late summer.

"You can look for other answers, the answers you want else where. But it will not change the nature of your tree and will not help it survive."

This is a common theme within the tropical fish keeping realm too - A person asks a question, generally wanting to keep fish A and fish B in the same tank and asking for advice. 99 experienced and long-standing keepers advise them not to, and say why. The person then keeps asking, until finally 1 person out of 100 tells them what they want to hear. They go about their merry way, then wonder why their fish have died...