jguyett

I have five cultivars of Serrisa's in my collection, in various stages of growth. They are the base specie, the white single, the white double (my personal favorite, a white variegated, violet variegated and a violet single blossom. The latter being the most finicky of the crew.

Root rot seems to be the most prevalent problem. This I cause myself by planting in a less than free draining mixture. Experimented with a ProMix, uncut with sand or clay and it was just too heavy. A premptive annual drench with an anti fungal such as benomyl (if you can find it) or Thiomyl does the trick nicely.

The serrisa is pretty much immune to bugs, they take one bite and leave, and lord knows we do have the bugs here in East Tennessee.

I am sure this will be cause for arguing, but I consider the serrisa to be far superior to the Fukien Tea as a bonsai that will survive inside. It is not as delicate as the Tea, you can with proper back pruning keep it blossoming from March to December, leaves are smaller and proportional. I have a very nice fukien tea purchased on eBay from a gentlman in Florida. It is almost speciman grade, but the short blossoming period cannot compare with the serrisa's profusion of blooms.

Good luck and save those cuttings.

jg