Your tree sounds like it's dead as a doornail, but on the off chance it isn't... Yellow leaves means it's been watered too often (plus is likely in crappy 'potting' soil (which should have been rectified right away using a proper bonsai mix). You can't grow 'bonsai' (trees) like house plants, neither as far as light or water or humidity or anything else goes. Have you asked for information before (and got what advice?) or joined a local club or just winged it? Not trying to be mean, but when you get something special, it's important to learn how to take care of it before it dies.

I'm gonna guess you bought it from a big box store just as they are having their fall 'just-before-we-toss-all-the-dead-looking-stuff-in-the-dumpster' sale or a little before?

Don't take the bridge just yet, you 'shocked' it by making a big change in it's envorioment...it's a tropical and may come back, give it time. It won't need much if any water but you should put it in an area of partial shade and let it sit for a few weeks...see what happens.

Larke has a point but you've already shocked it once, let it try to recover before doing anything else that's too drastic just now.

Bob

thanks larke... but i just changes th potting soild for my .I brought organic bonsia soil with moisture control . So for i have not asked for information but when I strated seeing yeallow leaves , i started to search online about how to take care for the plant buu then still i did not see any imrovement and leave kept on falling ....do you suggest me to change the soil . If so which soil should I got formy bonsai ... also i read about root getting rot... could that be the cause not sure about it ...

I would love to know what "organic bonsai soil with moisture control" is! The majority of bonsai are planted in mostly grit with small components of organic material, and 'moisture control' is left strictly up to us (or the weather if the trees are outdoors). I've seen "bonsai soil" in some stores - it looks like regular soil (particles too small!) and I can only imagine that it's either meant only for certain tropicals under very specific conditions (otherwise) being watered by experts, or else it's just c..p in small bags designed to add to the store's profits. Unless your stuff is mostly grit (anything from turface to small aquarium gravel) whatever the organic components are, I think you're going to have trouble with bonsai. But the other things matter too, the light, humidity, etc . etc. If you've let your pot sit directly in (drain) water for any length of time rather than up on pebbles higher than the water in the humidity tray, then rot is certainly a possibility, as it well might be if the 'soil' is all wrong but you kept watering anyhow just based on whether the top of the mix was dry, regardless of how wet the rest of it was.

Hi there, I'm not a bonsai person and I believe all the advice above will help you out.

But I can share something to make you feel better: I once bought a serissa and got into the same situation as yours - the plant lost all its leaves and looked like dead but it came back!

What I did was let it be and tried to keep the soil somewhat moist. About a month or two afterwards [sorry I don't remember well], new leaves appeared and the plant revived!

Maybe your plant is going through the same thing? If so, don't panic, just give it time and maybe it will come back for you as well as I did for me.

This the plant after its come-back.

{{gwi:17599}}

Good luck.

One thing I should have mentioned - Serissa is widely known to be one of the hardest plants to deal with in bonsai - sometimes no matter what you do just doesn't help because they're so unpredictable. You certainly could have begun with something easier!

yesterday i went to garden center from where i got my bonsai and the lady there was really nice she has told me if i could bring my plant and show it to her and tonday i am going to take my plant to show to her and would see what she tells me about it .

so...i took my plant to the grande center and the lady told that due to over watering my plant dries out ...she had showed what to look for and when to water .. .the roots for my plant have not been rotten which i good sign the plant left side has been dired out we cut the stem to see whether it is green inside but then was all brown but the good sign is all the right stem from inside are still green which means that my plant is still alive and now i have to wait till i see green leaves comming back ......

In future, don't 'cut' any stems. Just make a firm little scratch halfway up the trunk and either you'll see bright green just under the bark (good) or not (bad - unless it's a young conifer, in which case it might not be bright green and you'll have to go by how it is otherwise.

I've been playing around with bonsai for a few years off and on and purchased a Mt Fuji serissa earlier this spring to add to my small collection. I've read what everyone says about them being so finicky and, while I've found it to be fairly accurate, so far (knock on wood) it's been an easy tree to keep. The only two hiccups I've had were initially planting it in a soil mixture that was too compact and didn't drain well enough (standard tree & shrub soil with a little grit mixed in) and not watering it enough during a 2 week 100F+ spell.

You definitely need a completely different type of soil than what you're used to seeing... In fact, you'll look at it and think "That's not soil at all, that's gravel! How can that support my tree?" Try dallasbonsai.com - they've got some great soil options, and are pretty helpful (by phone or email) if you have questions. I used about 1 part of their bonsai mix to about 3 parts of their fujiyama mix; so far, so good.

Also, a question I notice hasn't been asked/answered, where do you have the serissa? Outside or in? What sort of light/wind does it receive? How often, and with what type, are you fertilizing it? As long as your temperatures are above 50-55F, it should be - and will do best - outside, though you will want to have it sheltered from really strong winds. Here in KS, I only expose it to direct sun in the morning and early pm; after that, the sun - even now - is way too intense and will burn the leaves. Since you're in NJ, it can probably handle full sun most of the day. With regards to fertilizer, it's best to use a bonsai-specific one since most fertilizers you'll find at the garden center are usually too strong and might burn the roots. If it's got a good ratio, I've been told that doing 1/4-1/2 concentration is ok.

For the more knowledgeable members, if I've made any errors in my advice, please chime in - I'm by no means an expert, just an enthusiast eager to learn and pass on what knowledge I can. :)

If I could, in turn, ask for some advice (since this kind of on the same topic): As the temps get cooler, I'll be bringing my serissa into the house... and that's where I'm a little stumped. I have no window I can put it in, so I'm trying to determine the best place, type and intensity of light for it (and my few other herbs, etc, that are tender for this area). If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it!!

Can you afford a 4' long fluorescent fixture that'll take T5 bulbs? Hang it 6 inches above the tree and use a $10. timer to keep it on 16 hrs/day. Your other plants will be happy too!

The two worst plants any beginner can start with are serissa and fukien tea, the problem is that both of these are 'pleasing' to the eye and look nice to start with. Both can be and usually are a royal pain in the butt to work with. When in the states I grew mine in a greenhouse setting (along with a few other tropicals) but never a FT.

What you should do is Google care of them, there is a wealth of info on the web. If you go to the website of Jerry Mislick he has a ton of information on care of most tropicals and he grows them indoors way up north.

To handle them indoors you will need at least flourecent lighting 5 or 6" above the plants. With just a few one standard double tube fixture should be enough to work. Humidity trays help but with dry central heating it's more of a placebo for you in the winter.

You should buy the highest wattage tubes you can find and 'full spectrum' is best. They should have the lights on 12 to 14 hours a day. The plants will get 'leggy' but you just prune that back in the spring.

As a point of information:
I did a test of serissa vs. soil mixes a number of years ago under controlled conditions. The winning medium was pure medium Perlite...which looks really crappy when used in a Bonsai pot.

Bob

Hello guys! Same problem here. My serissa seems to be dying, even though the root is green. I think the low temperatures helped my bonsai to get ugly. I think I am very patient, for sure. but sometimes I get discouraged. I don't know what to do.

Hi, I'm having the same problem with my flowering white serissa. All the leaves are just about gone and what does grow back turns black or brown. I repotted and checked for rot but the roots were ok. I am using a very good soil mix from Bonsai of Brooklyn and it drains well. I have my plant up on stones in a humidity/drip tray and keep it out of doors day and night except for when it rains. The tree is 19 years old and shaped really nice. I've been told to give it full sun as much as possible, which I have been doing all along. I use a moisture meter so I don't over water but still nothing seems to make it happy. I would greatly appreciate any info, hints, tips or articles anyone can offer. Thanks for any help available.
jonr

Moisture meter - big mistake. You must have watered too much or you wouldn't have black and brown leaves. That simple. Meters are ok for people growing houseplants and who have no real interest in them except as decorations, but in bonsai, you need to learn what works and not, and you won't do that by using a meter, but by observation, of the light on a given day, of the state of the soil at the time in relation to its previous watering - is it still relatively damp, possibly even just plain sodden the whole way through (in which case your mix is not draining properly, if at all), how's the temperature? Etc. etc. And what do you know about the "very good soil mix from BofB"? The components, in relation to serissa, and all the variables I listed? Mixes are certainly not once size fits all, and if you bought one of those, you got what you paid for - presuming/pretending everything else you did was ideal.You need more experience because serissas are PITAs, but experience alone is not enough unless you pay attention to the tree and learn what it wants, when and how.

This post was edited by moochinka on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 17:21

HELP! I think my serissa is dead :( It was going great until February and now all the leaves are gone and the branches look brown inside!!!!

This is an excellent article on how serissa probably is not the best tree for a beginner

http://www.best-bonsai.com/serissa-bonsai-bad-rep/

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Serissa Bonsai Trees – Bad Rep?

Serissa bonsai trees have got allot of bad feed back lately. Allot
of this feed back is giving one of my personal favorite bonsai trees a
bad rep. Now is the Serissa my recommendation for a first bonsai tree?
Certainly not, there are many more forgiving trees out there for the
newcomer. However for any one with even a little experience caring for
bonsai trees, they would be missing out to not have at least one of
these beautiful trees in their collection.

my bonsai serissa, the leaves are really brittle, my mum noticed couole days ago. Just looks really dry, although instructions i got said it was ok not to water 1-2 days. I left it for 2 days and my mum noticed the crispy leaves. Some of the leaves have turned yellow but not the majority. Can my tree be saved? This is also my first bonsai and never looked into the care of them as i thought it would be easy. I got the bonsai cos i thought it had character. I'm generally really good with plants etc. Makes me feel sad that it could have died or is dying. Can i help it in any way? Thank you in advance for any advice!

Looks like you still have some good leaves on the plant. I would first snip most of those thin branches with dead leaves. Way too many branches and leaves for such a small plant/pot to support, Not to mention most of the inner branches and leaves probably do not get any light whatsoever. The soil looks inappropriate also. Serissa likes well drained soil, never soggy and bright light. I would flush the soil with lots of water and then keep it in a bright area outside but not in direct sunlight till you see new growth popping out.

Relocation shock...stay focused on a good lighting and watering discipline. keep away from a.c. vents. It can recover.