Jonny D

Hi Paul, it looks as if we are making some sort off progress here, the board is very god at that....

So we've established that you have a chinese elm (i've never heard of it being labelled like that TB), the problem with buying bonsai from garen centres and shopping centres is that they are often poorly looked after whilst they are in the garden centre as know one there really knows what they are doing and added into this the type of tree that they sell has been mass produced for the consumer and therefore little care has been taken (if you look around the boards you will often see the term mallsai, refering to this type of tree a pun on the american term for shopping centre and bonsai). So although they look healthy whilst there when people get them home put them in to there central heated houses, with little knowledge they quickly die. However, that is not to say that all is lost with your tree.

you said the roots were in good condition which is good when you repotted, bonsai soil need to be well draining usually quite gritty, if i had the tree i would have put it in something like John Ines no. 2 with the same amount of grit 1:1 ratio (Ken I really feel that akadama in this instance is not appropriate, I don't use it and i'm approaching 4 years in bonsai, not only that but it can bring with it a whole host of other problems, is expensive and there are several types out there). However, do not repot the tree again it has probably all ready gone through enough stress, if this time next year it is healthy you can consider repotting it then.

As i said in my earlier reply indoors I have found that chinese lelm are tempramental to change in position indoors and will often drop leaves even just moving them slightly, once you find a spot it like leave it. A lot of people use grow lamps indoors as the light they recieve is not enough this also helps to keep the tree healthy. At this time of year, it is my opinion that a window sill is probably ok, the sun we get at the moment is not strong enough to burn the leaves through te glass. If it were my tree i would gradually acustomise the tree to outdoors during the spring (protect it from sharp frosts, snow and bad weather until is acustumed) and then i would make it an outdoor tree from then on (april/may time) all year round. You can continue to keep it indoors if you wish through out the summer but you must rember air circulation (also rember this while it is indoors now, best place is an unheated room as central heating drys the air and reduces air circulation).

Watering it when it needs it is correct, when i kept an elm indoors I use to just touch the top of the soil, if it was dry i would water, if not i would leave it a day. I would make a rough geuss at this time of year that every 3-4 days would be approprate, maybe more maybe less, use your judgement, this will likely be required to be stepped up in summer.

DO NOT fertilise now! leave it at least 4 weeks for the roots to reestablish themselves this will also coincide with with the start of spring. normal strength should be fine (what ever your fertiliser bottle says).

Lastly the continuing yellow (yes it is fine to keep removing the dead leaves) may just continue it may already be lost (this may have been your fault but may also be the poor conditions in the garden centre, you don't no how long it had been there), or alternativley it may stop and recover and put out new buds. As I said before please do not take my word as gold, others may disagree with what i have said or using what i have told you here may kill your tree.

Hope i've some what helped.
Jonny - Sorry bout the essay! (oh and I know TB has one or two chinese elms, look in his gallery!)