Aralia not looking so hot

mikedigital

So I bought a beautiful aralia about six months ago and it has been great. I don't know if it's the weather or it just can't stand to live in this apartment that quite frankly, I don't want to be either, but it's not looking so good. When I bought it, it has tons of dark green leaves on all it's branches and then I trimmed it down to "tame" it a bit. It looked great. Then within the past month or so, it had lost some leaves and began to not look as good as it once did. The other day, I decided to clean it up and cut some old and dead leaves off it and cut back some of the growth and get it ready for spring. I did trim it down to where there was little to no leaves, but everything was green on the ends. The new branches were dark green and I even cut back the older branches and there was green there, too. Now, as you can see, the newest branches are withered and dark and I want to know if there is anything I can do or if this is just the tree running it's yearly course. I appreciate your help in advance.

Attached Images

	aralia_1.jpg (59.7 KB, 13 views)
	aralia_2.jpg (41.2 KB, 30 views)

Advertisement

SlapSlapSlappy

There are some questions to be answered first,

1. Are you keeping this tree outside?
2. Is this tree deciduous?
3. Did you buy it from somewhere local, or off the internet?
4. What's the soil like? Does the water drain through quickly and does it have coarse material, or does the water stay wet for a long time, with thick soil.

The last thing the tree wants right now is pruning, so I wouldn't recommend pruning it until you know it's safe to do so.

A test you can do is scratch the bark with your fingernail. When you scratch it, is the dark a brown color, or is it green?

mikedigital

1. I am keeping the tree inside. (unfortunately)
2. I believe the tree is deciduous.
3. I bought it from a local nursery.
4. The soil is medium sized fir bark. It doesn't have any stones in it, but the water can go through easily. I water it 2-3 times per week and I mist it maybe 4-5.

You're absolutely right about "the last thing I want to do" but up until last week, it still had leaves on it and seemed to be doing alright. This all happened within the last couple days where I have worried about the state of the tree.

After scratching the bark, it is a yellowish green so I think that it's still alive under there.

SlapSlapSlappy

Well keeping it inside is the first problem. Where are you keeping it inside? Is it on top of a humidity tray? Do you have a lighting system?


Well inside your house it won't be deciduous so you can rule that out. It's good that the soil drains easily, we can rule that out too. Misting 4-5 times a week won't help raise the humidity. The humidity inside of a house is dangerously low, and the tree doesn't like it.
If at all possible, it needs to be outside. For beginners, it's very hard to keep a bonsai inside without knowing some stuff about humidity trays and proper lighting. Is there a way you could keep it outside?

mikedigital

I've got it in a drainage tray and I always water it until some water comes out so that it has some "extra" water to breathe in. I know it's bad to leave it indoors, but in the city in my apartment I don't really have much of a chance. It's right by the window in hopes of it getting as much real light as possible. I might go out this week and get a plant light but until then, it just sits sadly by the window.

SlapSlapSlappy

I would put pebbles in the tray, so it evaporates at a more consistent level. Try getting the grow light, and see what happens.

mikedigital

I bought the grow light and will set it up tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for your help.

Mcspeed

Mike if you put that tree outside in Buffalo as advised, dig a grave for it first. Unless you can knit a little electric sweater for the tree.

Gotta love it when you give advice and no nothing about the tree. SlapSlapSlappy these are at least subtropical, so outside for a while is not a good thing. As in it gets really cold in Buffalo. Be careful of what you dispense for advice, some people run off with the first reply they get, if not sure at least say so.

A soil of bark will retain quite a bit of water even though it seems to run right thru, so too much water is an option here.

Aside from that I don't know a lot about these, hopefully someone will chirp in that does know. My only experiance with these was years ago, I was watering for a girl friend while she was off to the UK for a few weeks. If I remember correctly I probably overwatered it, but I have a feeling these dislike either extreme. The overwatering effort had it drop a lot of leaves, probably lost some branches too.

Watering is on an as needed basis, not on schedule, unless you can tailor the soil to your schedule. Let the soil dry down to just moist, not wet, then water again.

You can't rule out some kind of pests either, this could have been eaten.

__________________
If at first you don't succeed -- skydiving is not for you.


Always remember that you're unique -- just like everyone else

Enjoy this day.
Bill

jfecme

AMEN to all of this! Keep it inside except when it's above 60 at night when it can survivie outside.

__________________
Over 25 years experience - good and bad, and still learning!