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Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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Posted by
micadams (
My Page) on
Tue, Jan 20, 09 at 1:33
| Hi everyone. Been reading the forums for a few weeks as I am new to the whole Bonsai thing.
I know people have posted in the past about leaves turning brown and stuff but I haven't been able to find an answer to exactly what my question is so I'm posting one.
So here's the short story.
I bought a Chinese elm bonsai (mallsai) that was kept in a green house and when I bought it it didn't have very many leaves because it is winter where I am now. (Toronto, Ontario)
Only a few leaves have turned yellowish and fallen off (some stayed on but i removed them) but never were they dried out, so I'm not worried by that. I am worried about the new leaves coming in with a bit of a brown centre. They are only a few days old at most and I was wondering if the brown goes away. The existing leaves are very green like normal so I don't think the tree was unhealthy when I bought it. Is this new green leaf with brownish redish centre normal for Chinese Elms until the foliage is older?
(other notes)
I don't have a humidity tray as of yet.
my house is no where near as humid as the green house.
the window it is placed in front of gets morning sun.
I have watered with tap water twice by soaking from the top and letting the water drain out the bottom.
and I haven't re-potted it out of its typical peat moss soil.
thanks for reading if you have read this far. I am just trying to get as many of the future questions from the more experienced answered sooner.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Hi, well as an ex T.O.'er, I can tell you that you can't just put it outside now there, and unless the winters get less extreme there (aren't the summers awful now?) you're going to have to deal with a hybrid answer (for next year at least) of protection, e.g. the pot sunk into a large container of mulch in your garage or, better yet, cantina (bsmt cold room), somewhere that doesn't go below about -4 C, even overnight. Now, it was not a good idea to pull off any leaves - that damages the growing spot and may be responsible for your spotty leaves now. Elm leaves may well stay on the tree right through winter, especially if they've been indoors (or even a greenhouse), just not always. You also say you don't 'have' a humidity tray, but it's not necessary to go out and buy something, just rig whatever you do have available that will get a little water around the outside of the pot without keeping the bottom wet (I've even used tiny (1.5" plastic) pots made for paint mixing all around the pot). Go easy on the 'soaking' BTW - the fewer leaves on a tree, the less often it needs water and you can even (once or twice) not 'water-til-it-comes-out-the-bottom'. Remember the bottom half of that soil is probably sodden. I do agree that it's probably best to wait for March/April to repot though. As far as the leaves go, you may end up having to wait for a 'good' new crop (spot-less) til next year or so, once the spotty ones have had their season. OR the brown could be due to the soggy situation, OR to the tree's general confusion about where it's living vs seasons, etc. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Thank you Lucy. I never thought about just using something around the house for a humidity tray so I will look around. As for me pulling off the leaves. I only pulled off dead ones because I read another site saying it was ok, but I will stop doing that. If I were to bring it inside to my garage for its dormant period does the tree not need light either til spring?
and one more thing. some of the new leaves growing with the brown spots are on places where there was no leaves to begin with when I purchased it. I'm guessing the soil is no good (thinking about a Pine bark, Perlite and some sort of grit combination for repot) and its probably gone through a bit of shock because of the temperature in my house compared to the green house. So what I'm going to do is stop soaking it until my future repot come spring. (even though there seems to be quite a bit of little buds popping out of everywhere). find a temporary humidity tray and wait out the new leaves with the brown spots. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Well, don't stop watering, especially if there are new buds, just be a tad less frequent about it, and maybe just a bit less heavy with the amounts, but don't 'short' the roots altogether - let the tree tell you when it seems to need more. Your idea about the mix is good, but the bulk of it should be grit, then bark and perlite's optional. If it was a in a greenhouse all this time though, maybe just find a room with lots of light and air for it now - the cold room or garage would be counterproductive (sorry if I've confused you, I didn't realize it had been in a greenhouse). |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Lucy. Your help is very much appreciated. I would like to know about the grit. Ive read I can use some forms of cat litter or aquarium gravel. What would your "grit" consist of? |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| There's no cat litter in Canada that I know of that will not turn to mush very fast, so natural colors of aquarium gravel (maybe mix that tiny glassy looking kind with somewhat larger, small-pea size painted ones) should be ok. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Sounds good. thanks again for all your help. Adam |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Hey Lucy.. Just an update for you. I put a make shift humidity tray under my tree and i gave my tree some fertilizer (read that you can do it when the tree has some buds coming in).. and within 24 hours the brownish leaves turned green and tonnes of new growth started. Although you said to wait til march or something to re-pot.. would now be a good time too? I've read that when the tree is budding, that it is a good time to re-pot. Thanks again |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Hi, it would be, but only just before the buds open. Otherwise wait til they've matured a bit and things settle down (6 wks?). |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| hmm.. what if some have opened and some not. Less than 25% have opened. who knows though, at this rate by morning it might be more like 30% I'll wait it out though just to make sure. I don't wanna ruin a good thing by being impatient. I did buy it to teach my self some patience to begin with haha. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| You can use a few different things as Lucy said, I will add coarse Turface (with the dust screened out), small gravel or Haydite (if you can find it). For the 'soil' part you can use pine bark mulch with the fines and big pieces screened out so the average size is about 1/4 to 3/8" maximum. For that elm a mix of 60% bark to 40% 'grit' works good--also make sure that the pot drains well. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Dear micadams, I don't know about your specific tree, but I use natural water for my trees,(no chlorine or other anti-bacterial chemicals, chlorine is an acid!) i catch rain water in a clean plastic bucket, (not water from a roof drip!) I place my bucket in the open where water from the sky is all that enters it. Also, let mother nature help, i put 2 earthworms in each pot 2 worms will mate and keep their species continuing. I have had similar problems with my trees,First,remove your tree from it's pot and wash the soil away from the roots,(natural water)Second soak the roots in a mixture of natural water and miracle grow for a couple of days,Away from direct sun light, then re-pot with new soil. Also, sunlight doesn't mean put it in a window where the sun shines directly on it. You can close the blinds and let the light defuse through to your tree. Sometimes, keep it in the dark for 2 or 3 days, this will cause the tree to "strive" for life and encourage growth of new leaves to help with photosynthesis. All life wants to live, to make a person hungry, deprive him of food for a short time, he will then eat heartily. Same with trees! |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Paul, I don't know if you live near the equator somewhere, but keeping any plant in a room with the blinds closed anywhere else would not only cause long straggly stems and huge leaves (not wanted in bonsai) but probably the death of the plant! Plus it only rains 'sometimes' in spring and occasionally in summer here, not ideal for saving rainwater. |
RE: Havn't been able to find an answer. Please Help.
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| Sometimes it's a matter of what works--for you. It rains quite a bit here (trees are outside anyway) but when I water it's from the (polluted) well I have, the trees seem to love the water. No, I don't drink it LOL!! |
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