Unhealthy Fukien Tree

Regis

Hi all! I am new to this forum and bonsai art as well. I have a small question about my Carmona Microphylla ( Fukien Tea ). I live in Czech Republic, which is quite cold now and my tree seems to have a lack of light ( it gets about 1 hour of direct sunlight in the morning ). New foliage is growing and there are also small flowers, but it's simply not the Carmona's dark green color I saw when I got the tree. I've place it on the window and on the opposite side of the tree some leaves are getting yellow.

I don't want to use any special growing lamps, so, can I fertilize, trim new growth and so on, if the tree is in such shape?

I attach a photo, which shows the worse side of the tree.

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f001.jpg (22.3 KB, 213 views)

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Regis

And finally, the photo of the whole tree...

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f002.jpg (16.7 KB, 208 views)

Bonsai-gecko

If you recently bought this tree or recently moved it inside for the winter than this is the normal adjustmentthat fukien tea goes through during enviornmental changes/shock. Fukien is well know for dropping its leaves when stressed. The new leaves will stay a lighter green as you've discovered until they fully develope and"harden off". Though leaves grown indoors will always be lighter green in color, larger, and thinner than the thicker, waxier, darker leaves that will develope when the tree is kept outside.

Yellowing of the leaves is normal as fukien sheds them. They are leaves that are not getting enough light or are unable to adjust to the new enviornment and slowly die. To reduce the amount of yellow leaves it is very important to ROTATE your plants every couple of days to prevent all the leaves dropping on the back side as you are experiencing. The important thing is to adjust your watering habits to fit the lesser demand that the tree will have during the shorter days and lower ligt levels. Also, the more leaves the tree sheds as it adjusts, the less water it will need until they grow back.

You can shape/prune/wirefukien a any time, but I would recommend waiting untill tis vey well adjusted and putting on new growth before you do.Just watch your water and give it time and your tree will rebound very well.In my experiience fukien is VERY hardy if you don't kill it by over attention.

Also, remove any yellow leaves as they appear on fukien.The not only look unattractive and are already dead, but they quickly develope fungus and can lead to an attack of"black spot" which fukien is very suceptable too.

Regis

Thank you very much for your quick & comprehensive answer, it's great!
I got this tree as a gift about 1,5 months ago. It had perfect foliage, but after a few days, the leaves began to drop, because I didn't water it properly and also of the shock it experienced during the move, which you've described in your post.

I was afraid that the tree is already dead, but after I began soaking the tree instead of normal watering, it started to recover and now it's much better ( even better than the photo i've attached - it was taken on 8th November ).

I think, that now I understand what the leaves do. I was bit mistaken elsewhere, so I thought, that tree should be kept in exact position all the time, no rotation etc. I'll also try to adjust the watering the way you've written.

So, I'll have two more questions. You've mentioned the "black spot" attack, which I can also see on my tree. What is the cause of it? Just these yellowing leaves?
And finally, may I fertilize the tree at this time or not? I heard that fertilizing could be dangerous for unhealthy trees.

Bonsai-gecko

You could fertilize at any time, but you shouldn't. In most cases you should only fertilize a tree when it is in active growth. This time a year in your area fukien will grow very slowly(if at all) during te winter and should only get a very very mild dose of fertilizer even if it is actively growing.Its wise never to fertilize a stressed tree as the fertilizer may overwhelm the already weak roots.

Black Spot is a type of fungus(mold) attack.Its common on roses, etc. Fukien is very suceptible to it. The yellowing leaves aren't a cause of it, but allow it to grow and spread even more rapidly. Outdoors fukien almost never falls prey to black spot because the wind blows away the spores. Indoors the spores aren't dispersed and land right on other healthy leaves and the disease can spread shockingly fast. For fulien t is not even a good idae to let dead leaves sit in or near the pot as they can develope spores and infect the healthy tree.Its also not advised to mist the leaves of a fukien at night or in low light levels, as the moisture will only increase the likelyhood of a black spot infection.

Fukien is VERY sensitive to pesticides/fungicides/chemicals, if you develope a problem you need to treat make sure you ask around and reseach whether the chemical is safe for fukien.I know any amount of diazon(among others) is fatal to these trees.

Glad to hear your trees doing better already.Some people have problems with fukiens sensitivity, but once you learn their quirks they are almost impossible to kill.