A sad little Serissa - bonsaiTALK Community

11-May-2007	#11
Attila Attila Soos Join Date: Jan-2002 Location: Los Angeles, California Country: USA Posts: 1,924	I use a soil mix similar to the one for my pine trees: instant draining, mostly pumice. To compensate for lack of water retention, I use a deeper pot. Yandrosxx is right, serrissas love high humidity, combined with absolutely no waterlogged soil. With the current pot, you should raise the level of the soil almost double to its current level, forming a mound rising way above the rim. This way, the roots can grow above the waterlogged layer, where the soil is moist but has a lot of air. Right now, the lower part of the soil is constantly wet and there is no room for the roots to breathe. It may be too late though. I've seen too many times this picture: serissas send out green leaves even after they are beyond saving. Last edited by Attila : 11-May-2007 at 12:57 PM.

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11-May-2007	#12
vince bonsaiTALK Craftsman Join Date: Apr-2004 Location: aberdeen Country: scotland USDA Zone: varies AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 88	Attila This is one reason i have my remaining one in a 9 inch deep cascade pot. Have had it for over a year and so far so good, it's a Mt. Fuji Compost/soil is Akadama and chicken grit, so far so good. I have so far broken all the rules, i have left all suckers to grow, also as soon as i see a flower, i cut it off. One of my other bad tree's? is a Fukien, i read somewhere you should cut off all flowers, this should promote more growth, new leaves, and this has worked as well. So, i applied this rule to the Serissa. Any thought's about this? Cheers.

11-May-2007

#13

Attila

Attila Soos

Join Date: Jan-2002

Location: Los Angeles, California

Country: USA

Posts: 1,924

Quote:

Originally Posted by vince

you should cut off all flowers, this should promote more growth, new leaves, and this has worked as well.
So, i applied this rule to the Serissa.
Any thought's about this? Cheers.

There is logic in that, flowering always takes away from growth, so it makes sense. But serissa is a vigorous grower even with flowering, so I don't bother removing them.

Unless one already has a large trunk, I believe that one should let the suckers close to the main trunk grow freely. The new trunks will eventual fuse with the old one and create a larger trunk and nebari. I have a large clump of serissa and it grows in a 3 gallon nursery pot. The reason is that I want to create a large root structure, and every year I raise the plant by an inch, so that the roots get more and more exposed (it's hard to do this in a small bonsai pot, serissa is notoriously slow to create a large trunk). Eventually the mass of fused roots become the trunk, adding character to the plant.

I have an easier time than some other people, here in Southern California serissa can be grown outdoors year-round, so mine grows like weed and became a large bush pretty fast.

11-May-2007	#14
vince bonsaiTALK Craftsman Join Date: Apr-2004 Location: aberdeen Country: scotland USDA Zone: varies AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 88	Yep I have tried them outside, but due to our climate, when i put them out they threw a bit of a tantrum, by the time it recovered i had to take it inside, another tantrum. So this is strictly an inside tree for me. As you buy them usually in a shallow pot, i decided to go with a deep pot, watering is easier to control. Some people wire them up, chop them about, but, they have missed the main point, just getting them to survive for a few year's is the thing. Cheers.

6-Sep-2007	#15
dankone bonsaitalk monk Join Date: Oct-2006 Location: new haven Country: usa USDA Zone: 5 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 291	i own a serrissa that has been in my posession for three years it has a 2in diameter trunk and great nebari. once when i went on a trip the perso n i asked to water my stuff missed my serrissa. needless to say the leaves all wilted and died. in a desperate attempt to save it(perfect trunk and nebari), i cut all the branches off and had only a trunk and roots. it budded back like MAD and a year or less later i have a completely new set of branchesthat look even better than before. they are fussy sometimes but this guy is one of my faves for bonsai i have 8 of them 3 are mame. the really funny thing is i got the best one from all places wal mart for ten dollars! it looks better than many i have seen and will post a pic when my camera is returned to me. __________________ eat a bonsai for breakfast.

6-Sep-2007	#16
vince bonsaiTALK Craftsman Join Date: Apr-2004 Location: aberdeen Country: scotland USDA Zone: varies AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 88	Any chance of a pic. of this monster? I have never seen one that is 2 inch across on the trunk. Have seen them with exposed roots, but never the trunk. Cheers.

2-Apr-2008	#17
luft bonsaiTALK Neophyte Join Date: Mar-2008 Location: San Bernardino, CA Country: USA Posts: 8	I recently bought a beautiful little serrissa covered with amazing double blooms at a nursery recently. I read up on it and saw that it is a finicky species. I noticed reading through posts that everyone that mentions that their serrisas grow like weeds also mention that they live somewhere with high humidity. After about a week, many of the beautiful blooms on my serrisa began to turn brown and fall off. So I had the idea to flip a fishtank that I had sitting around and put the serrissa under it with a bowl of water next to it and suddenly all the buds on the thing opened and it is covered even more than when I bought it. It is quite breathtaking now. Long story short, it seems they really do love the humidity.

3-Apr-2008	#18
Mcspeed bonsaiTALK Master Chief Join Date: Mar-2006 Location: West Springfield Massachusetts Country: USA USDA Zone: zone 5 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,101	Careful Luft, the flowers only last so long, turn brown, and fall off in the normal cycle with these. Putting it under a fishtank takes the air circulation away and you could find yourself in a fungus situation. Serrissa have a reputation as a whimpy plant, I find this to be far from the truth, even to the point of ALL my Serrissa will get frosted. This year I kept some out with trees that got winter freeze protection on my 3 season breezeway( anywhere from 30 to 40 degrees F. all winter) and they are coming back just fine. Inside I do nothing special, they sit in an east facing basement window with a 2 lamp florescent fixture over all the trees, on time 12 to 16 hours a day. They are watered daily some less water some more depending on each trees needs that day. Humidity is the same as my house, the basement has some heat and from the few times I checked it usually about 65 degrees around the trees. These are to me more of an almost temperate tree, hence get the subtropical lable, my advice is don't try to baby them, a tree in the condition of the one that started the thread should probably be let to dry down, then keep the soil just moist to see what happens. __________________ 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

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