Please help me save my precious 8 yr old zelkova!

thetoad

I would really appreciate anyone's help or advice here as I'm pretty new to bonsai and I really love this tree so will do anything to save it.

I have had this 8 yr old zelkova since last september (I think it's an elm as it is sold as an indoor and does not shed it's leaves fully in winter) and it has been fine all through the winter, it sprouted a bit of new growth and now more so as it's been coming into spring. Until yesterday...

Because of the horrendously sporadic UK weather, it went from being freezing cold, low light levels and rain to yesterday being a roasting 28 degrees and as my plant usually sits on my windowsill I came home to find him totally frazzled and all it's leaves had dried up and started curling up which means they will now fall off. I knew since the soil had started to come away from the pot that it was severely dehydrated so I soaked the tree in water for about half an hour and have now been sitting it in slightly in the shade and misting it at least twice a day.

I did check the underlayers of its trunk and it seems to be white/green in colour and all its branches seem to be very pliable and bendy i.e theyre not breaking or snapping. I don't know whether to brush off/remove the dead leaves and I worry the roots may rot if the plant doesn't start taking up any water, is there anything else I can do other than simply wait and hope it recovers?

Please help as I do love this plant and was really upset when this happened, will do anything to save him!

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Joanie

Now that he is thoroughly wet, let him sit in the shade or light sun. If it doesn't have functioning leaves, it doesn't really need sunlight. Wait to water again until the soil is dry on the top, but just a little moist underneath. You can use a dry wooden chopstick to test the soil. Leave it in for a while, then pull it out and it will tell you whether the soil is wet underneath the surface. IF the leaves are too wilted, misting them will not help. If they just look like they could perk up, they will show improvements by tomorrow. Don't remove them unless you are sure that they are dead. Remember, brown leaves don't hurt the tree, otherwise beeches would be crying all winter long. You have time, to wait and see whether they will perk up or whether the tree will have to grow new buds instead.

You might want to consider a growing light if you absolutely must grow the elm indoors. The summer sun is going to be difficult to regulate... a few hours of sunlight reflected through a window will cause a lot of problems. So, consider using a growing light instead of the windowsill. You can search this forum for 'growing lights' or 'indoors' to find information.

Good luck!
Joanie

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