Fukien Shock

bonsai411

I recently brought some pain to my fukien tea. After two years of being root bound, I decided to repot. I live in South Florida, and just repotted 3 days ago. Suprisingly enough, odd for this time of year, we experienced a last minute cold front, and sure enough, I was no where near home. It only got in to the high 50s, for a couple hours at night. But sure enough I believe it shocked the tree enough to dry out the leaves. This morning the leaves were still dried out, kind of curled up, and some lighter than others. The shine is diminshing.

I am not sure whether or not this was due to that chill or the repot, and probably a combination of both, Now the weather is fine, but the tree seems to be in shock to the point where I am afraid I am loosing it.

My question. Are fukien's a forgiving tree that make stress comebacks? Does the tree tend to have a green under-bark layer? When I do a scratch test, I see a bit of green, but mild and pale. Has anyone had a success fukien comeback with these symptoms?

Thanks in advance.

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pootsie

Another Fukien Disaster!

Not to worry. My experience with F.tea is that they are very forgiving. Mine have bounced back from what I thought was sure death a couple times.

As to the cold, I live in Ohio, where we have plenty of it to experiment with I've found that 50F or lower will make them very unhappy, but that they can live through it. I certainly wouldn't want to take it down to 40 F or lower, although my other tropicals have no problem almost to freezing.

FWIW

pootsie

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buntaro san

I had a friend whose Fukien was knocking on heaven's door, it only had about a dozen leaves left and they didn't look all that good, but we put it into a kinder environment and it is thriving now, it didn't take all that long to recover too, if I remember correctly, so there is certainly hope. Good luck!

Buntaro

bonsai411

In another forum, they mentioned defoliating it completely, since most leaves are now brittle and curled up. Any thoughts on this advice?

Thanks for the hope . . .

pootsie

You could probably take off the leaves that look totally lost already, but I'd leave most of them on. If your tree suffered a shock, it will need a little bit of phtosynthesis to recuperate. Normally total defoliation is not recommended for a weak tree.

When it has finished making use of a leaf, it will drop the leaf. I'd let it run its course. But, when a leaf is totally brown/black, don't leave it on or else it will make a home for mealy bugs.

I HATE MEALY BUGS

pootsie

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p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

Jerry Meislik

I totally agree. Keep it warm, keep it humid, watch the soil and do not let it stay too wet. Keep it good light but not direct sunlight.
Do not remove any living leaves.
Good luck,
Jerry

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Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/

rockm

For what it's worth, dry, shrivelled leaves do not "recuperate." They are dead. Trees do not heal leaves. The make new ones. Watch for new growth sprouting from the limbs and trunk in the coming weeks. Don't mess with it. Let it grow out.

pootsie

Now, Mark, you don't think I was suggesting that a leaf comes back to life, do you?
I meant to say, the leaves that are half brown but part green should stay on to allow the tree (not the dead leaves) to build up new strength. I've seen a lot of F.tea leaves go half-dead, but still half of the leaf functions in it's capacity as an efficient little solar panel. I love nature!

... except the mealy bugs.

pootsie

__________________
p.s. My cat is a bonsaiTALK Master.
Columbus Bonsai Society

susieq

Hi 411,
Fukiens are very forgiving and yours will probably pull through. But Fukien Tea are tropical and on a different repotting schedule than non tropicals. I too used to repot my tropicals this time of year until my bonsai teacher informed me a couple of years ago that the best time to repot tropicals is in the middle of summer. (I am in Florida too) No wonder mine had been losing every leaf and staying that way for nearly a month after the repot! They always came out but not until they had frightened me to death. Now that I repot, root prune and major branch prune in the middle of the growing season, they do much better . I don't have naked trees for weeks and weeks in the spring anymore.
I still have to put them in a shade area for a couple of weeks after the job but what a difference. I hope this helps.
Sincerely, susieq