Serissa, Indoor Or Outdoor

Firebelly

Hi all,
A friend has recently sent me a beautiful, young serissa from the east coast. I've attached a photo below. He said he has kept it inside for its life so far, and it is doing well. I live north of Seattle WA, and was wondering whether this plant would be suitable for outdoor growing out here. The maximum amount of direct light it could get in any window in my house is around 4 hrs/day, but outdoor, I can give as much as it needs. A book I've read said the low end of its temperature tolerance is ~50, which is about what we hit each night. Any suggestions on what to do to with this youngster? Thanks for the help.

Nate

Attached Images

serissa.jpg (62.8 KB, 199 views)

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BonsaiMon

Hi Nate,

Your serissa will do fine outside. Less problems with humidity and air flow when grown outside.
Light thru a window and direct sunlight outside are not the same,
so acclimate it slowly to full sun .. four or five hours .
The 50 degree temps will be fine.
I leave mine outside til first frost here in va beach.
I have also planted some in the ground and they have survived full winter with many freezes.. we had a hard winter this year and the serissa's in the ground.. dropped thier leaves
but all came back beautifully.

peace,
tom stoute

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peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/

Earl

You might do a search for Serissa here on bonsaiTalk. I think there was some discussion about this recently with the idea that maybe the high mortality rate with Serissa was due to people treating them as indoor trees instead of outdoor. I know I have tried them three times--the last one being a forest planting. They all seem to go great guns for a while then just up and die. I've always kept them inside and wonder now if that is the problem.

I had one starter left over when I did the Forest planting. I threw it in the greenhouse where it is about 35 in the winter and it did fine. Come spring, it bloomed all over the place. Then I brought it in and put it under lights, and it died within six months. So I think Tom is right.

Earl

Jay

Serissa...... bah humbug.... or something.

I have had several Serissa over the last few years, at the moment I'm down to one. I live in zone 5b/6a so outside during the winter will not do. My Serissa(s) are outside for the spring to late fall period, and do great! Then I bring'em in and put them in a sunny window in a cool room (winter temps 58-62 F). Shortly after coming in the Serissa begins to drop its leaves to a point where there is none to only a couple. It sort of stays this way till late winter when it starts to leaf out a bit. By the time it gets outside it comes back.... Soooooo, for the winter it looks like crap and manages to survive with the little effort I put in to it.

Can you tell.... Serissa is NOT my favorite.....

Jay

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