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bonsaiTALK Craftsman
Join Date: Jan-2003
Location: Tennessee
Country: U.S.A.
Posts: 73
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If you recently bought this tree or recently moved it inside for the winter than this is the normal adjustmentthat fukien tea goes through during enviornmental changes/shock. Fukien is well know for dropping its leaves when stressed. The new leaves will stay a lighter green as you've discovered until they fully develope and"harden off". Though leaves grown indoors will always be lighter green in color, larger, and thinner than the thicker, waxier, darker leaves that will develope when the tree is kept outside.
Yellowing of the leaves is normal as fukien sheds them. They are leaves that are not getting enough light or are unable to adjust to the new enviornment and slowly die. To reduce the amount of yellow leaves it is very important to ROTATE your plants every couple of days to prevent all the leaves dropping on the back side as you are experiencing. The important thing is to adjust your watering habits to fit the lesser demand that the tree will have during the shorter days and lower ligt levels. Also, the more leaves the tree sheds as it adjusts, the less water it will need until they grow back.
You can shape/prune/wirefukien a any time, but I would recommend waiting untill tis vey well adjusted and putting on new growth before you do.Just watch your water and give it time and your tree will rebound very well.In my experiience fukien is VERY hardy if you don't kill it by over attention.
Also, remove any yellow leaves as they appear on fukien.The not only look unattractive and are already dead, but they quickly develope fungus and can lead to an attack of"black spot" which fukien is very suceptable too.
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