Trees I Won't Grow Again!!

Aurelius

I just stay away from indoor plants all together.
Royal PITA.
The only other one that I have tried that I won't do again is Boxwood.
That smell they give off smells just like the kitty litter box.
I'm surprized to here pines and azaleas is this thread, what do I know, I'm in zone 7 just about anything is happy here.

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mr_burninator

I'm so dissappointed to hear about how problematic Serissas and Fukien Teas can be. It seems that there's a little bit of conflicting information between this forum and some of the books i've been reading. Of course considering this forum cites the reactions of real people to actual attempts at keeping certain species. I can only assume that they are so popular because of their beauty? I just seems like I also hear that they can be fairly easy .... maybe after a certain level of experience. Has anyone out there had success with Serissas or Fukien Teas, or are they really that bad?

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pdbbonsai

Mr Burn

Hi and welcome to BT! I think you will find a line down the middle of just about every specimen. Some people like this or that, others will tell you they dont.

As far as the two you mentioned being problematic, I would venture to say that it truly depends on your skill and more so your growing environment. Those two things will tell you if you will be successeful growing Serrissa and or Fukien Teas.....

Me....I am in zone 3/4 microclimates....not a good spot for these two.

Paul

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laurengeary

I must also admit that fukien tea is so very difficult and I will probably never try it again!

John Dixon

I'll still try anything, but fukien tea is my least favorite. They seem to attract every pest known to man, plus fungus, and are hinky about water. Serissa are easier IF you adhere to the following:

Do NOT baby it!!! During the first year, I slowly start decreasing water. By winter (when the tree is inside) I am watering once a week (submersion in the sink), and maybe one spritzing too. Early spring it will start dropping leaves. When the night-time temp will be no lower than 40*F, I move serissa outside again. First in the shade and gradually increase light.

Once it has adapted to being outside again, I will start to cut it back and fertilize. The soil mix I use for serissa contains about one-third peat moss or Scott's seed starter mix. This seems to be working well and makes serissa a lot easier to deal with.

Everything else (so far) is fine with me.

John

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D3rutat

i am starting to hate ficus retusa's as they seem to keep dying to me. I mean, i buy a nice ficus with nice ramification and end up with long branchs with no ramification. And when i prune them , they die back.....>

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FredL

I will not try Sugar Maple or its relative, Southern Sugar Maple again. Too coarse, internodes too long, leaves too big. Might of worked if I persisted but I heard too many negatives about it and didn't like the preliminary results I was getting. Dropped it in Favor of Amur and Red Maples.

Gary Biggs

I live in California's Central Valley, where summer time temps reach over 100 degrees on a regular basis. I have learned to avoid Japanese Apricots, which require a very cold spell in order to flower (which we seldom get), all spruces, and Japanese Black Pine has also caused me to nearly have seizures. There are a few more talented bonsai growers than I in my area who have good success with JBPs. My area is great for Chinese Elms, Pomegranates, and Boogies, of which I have many.

Gary

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susieq

I guess success with Fukien Teas depends a lot on what part of the country you live in. Here in Florida, mine do quite well. They are on shelving out in full sun all summer. They get watered when dry. They sprout little "tea" plants from the copper colored berries they drop. This spring I have dozens to dig out of the containers of established parent plants. If I trim them and jam a cutting into the dirt beside the parent, most of the time it will root with no special attention given to it. In the winter, I transfer all the tropicals onto little garden wagons. If we are going to have a cold spell, I pull the wagons into my work shop which is unheated. If there is a sunny warm day, out they come again. I don't fuss over them at all and some of them are getting quite large. The other tropicals I keep are two varieties of malpigghias. They get the same treatment. But I would hate to try and keep them if I lived up north some where.

One tree I won't try to keep again, is Japanese black pine. I have had several. The last one was real nice and I kept it going nicely for several years. Then one day it just looked bad and with in a couple of days it was dead. It really had a lot of development too. I have no clue what I did wrong.
Susieq