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| So I was given a lovely little plant, but it's in trouble. It's been losing leaves on a daily basis. They're drying out, turning yellow, and falling off. Leaves look nice and green in the photos but that's only because I made the bonehead mistake of removing all the yellow ones before I took the photos (duh).
First off, can anyone identify it? And second, what might I be doing wrong with the care of this plant? It's not in the best soil right now, and I will most definitely re-pot it in the Spring. For now, I've got it in a south window with filtered light. It's not subject to any drafts and I've been letting it dry out between waterings (not bone dry). Perhaps it's still in shock from the changed environment, but it's been over two weeks now. Finally, I'm looking for any styling advice. All I know is that the first photo is the likely front, it's got an unsightly stump from a previous chop, and it looks to have promising nebari beneath the soil line. Really not sure where to take this tree. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:21
| Another view. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:21
| And another. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:22
| You've probably noticed by now that I don't know how to post multiple photos in a single post. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:25
| ...or count, apparently. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:26
| And here's that nasty stump. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Wed, Oct 10, 12 at 21:27
| ...and the soil line. |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Thu, Oct 11, 12 at 11:59
| Further research leads me to believe this tree is a Serissa, which probably means I'm screwed, due to its seemingly finicky nature. :( |
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- Posted by silentsurfer 6A OH (My Page) on Sun, Oct 14, 12 at 10:22
| hey Bryan yea thats Serissa, Nice one too! i like the kinda 'Dragon' styling,, :) While it appears considerably larger/older, its oddly reminiscent of one i'm caring for. mine's also recently begun yellowing, and dropping leaves, It appears yours is in the same soil type as mine too, tho mine is significantly rootbound [i think]. i included some pics to show you what i mean. Youve a pretty good sized tree in an fairly shallow pot, have you checked 'beneath' the soil-line yet? How long have you had this tree now? ..and thus been observing this behavior? Is that the original soil that you a acquired the tree in? I'd suggest 1st, dont be put off by the 'reputation'. These are gorgeous little trees, especially in bloom, with a vigorous growth rate, and they respond well to training. cheers :)
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Sun, Oct 14, 12 at 15:09
| I've only had the tree for a short time, and because of the late time of year, have decided to put off doing any major work to it until the spring (if it even survives until then). So no, I haven't looked beneath the surface yet, and the tree is indeed in the original nursery soil. I've had it for 3 or for 4 weeks now. It's still losing leaves. Hard to tell if leaf loss has slowed down, but I don't think it has. I've got it on a humidity tray and in the sunniest spot in the house. I read in a couple of places that these things require supplemental lighting during the winter. I hope this isn't the case, because I do not have (and have no plans of purchasing) that type of equipment. Assuming it gets through the winter, my first move in the spring would be to put it in some better soil (and check out what's going on beneath the surface). Seems like a root-cleaning would be really hard on it though, given how finicky it appears to be. As for styling, I'm not sure where to take it. It doesn't have great taper, and as I mentioned before, the stump near the top seems quite problematic.... |
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- Posted by silentsurfer 6A OH (My Page) on Sun, Oct 14, 12 at 18:57
| hey Bryan yea thats Serissa, Nice one too! i like the kinda 'Dragon' styling,, :) While it appears considerably larger/older, its oddly reminiscent of one i'm caring for. mine's also recently begun yellowing, and dropping leaves, It appears yours is in the same soil type as mine too, tho mine is significantly rootbound [i think]. i included some pics to show you what i mean. Youve a pretty good sized tree in an fairly shallow pot, have you checked 'beneath' the soil-line yet? How long have you had this tree now? ..and thus been observing this behavior? Is that the original soil that you a acquired the tree in? I'd suggest 1st, dont be put off by the 'reputation'. These are gorgeous little trees, especially in bloom, with a vigorous growth rate, and they respond well to training. cheers :)
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Mon, Oct 15, 12 at 0:30
| I've only had the tree for a short time, and because of the late time of year, have decided to put off doing any major work to it until the spring (if it even survives until then). So no, I haven't looked beneath the surface yet, and the tree is indeed in the original nursery soil. I've had it for 3 or for 4 weeks now. It's still losing leaves. Hard to tell if leaf loss has slowed down, but I don't think it has. I've got it on a humidity tray and in the sunniest spot in the house. I read in a couple of places that these things require supplemental lighting during the winter. I hope this isn't the case, because I do not have (and have no plans of purchasing) that type of equipment. Assuming it gets through the winter, my first move in the spring would be to put it in some better soil (and check out what's going on beneath the surface). Seems like a root-cleaning would be really hard on it though, given how finicky it appears to be. As for styling, I'm not sure where to take it. It doesn't have great taper, and as I mentioned before, the stump near the top seems quite problematic.... |
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| Serissa is one of those plants you either grow well or not at all, and I have no idea why that is. I've lost 2, but neither loss was culturally related - they grow like crazzy for me. I just sent 3 really small but nice starts to Laura in VB. They had been started as cuttings & the trunks wired & chopped a couple of times when they were very small, so she has the makings of some really nice mame size material if she wants to start work on them sooner, rather than later. I grow them in the gritty mix, full sun, fertilize with FP 9-3-6, bring them in after they've been nipped a few times by frost, repot in the spring ...... IOW - I treat them just about like everything else I over-winter under lights. We don't all look at bonsai in the same way, but I know if Brian's tree was mine, come next spring I'd be chopping it back to just above the first branch, then waiting for the tree to show me what it wants to be. I have no reservation about cutting something back hard if that's what's required to build a little taper into the plant. Al |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Mon, Oct 15, 12 at 17:17
| Al, I thought you might suggest a severe chop, and I'm definitely not opposed to the idea. Would the remaining branch become the new leader? Or would we wait to see where the tree back buds, and go from there? |
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| If you keep the existing first branch & lop off the top, you're bound to get new branching off the existing branch from the highest point on the branch, fairly close to the trunk. THAT new branch would be my new leader.Use a little wire to give it some direction and movement that compliments the trunk, then let it grow unencumbered by pruning for a year or two until the transition in taper from the trunk to the branch to the new leader softens to where it's believable. Somewhere along the line you'll decide if the low branch you kept will be part of the composition or not. I suspect 'yes', unless you get a lot of breaks off the trunk and see something interesting developing that requires 'losing' the branch. Wire the branches while they're young - they get very brittle. Al
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 16, 12 at 11:14
| Okay, this makes sense. One last thing, though. How would you make the cut? Perpendicular to the ground (1) or perpendicular to the natural angle of the trunk (2) (see photo)? |
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- Posted by bryanscott 3a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 16, 12 at 12:21
| Man, I really wish one could edit (or delete) posts on this forum. I obviously reversed the (1) and (2) as seen above. |
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| I'd probably just leave it long for the time being. Come spring, I'd chop it back to just below the second branch, & then keep rubbing any buds off that form above the branch. You really don't need to even think about cutting the old trunk back flush until you start to see the existing first branch starting to form a collar around the stub of the old trunk. You may even want to carve it or create a hollow using part of the old trunk stub. Al |
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