A sad little Serissa

bananatrees

Hi all,
My Serissa seems to be having a bad time of late no matter what I try.
Its leaves are brown and dry, I do water it often, it gets a lot of light and is kept from cold, and i cant think of any changes but he's not happy!
It is 13 years old, i have had it for one year.
It seems its too small for the pot and needs more soil, could i add soil around or might it need repotting?
It is green under the bark so it is still alive... i really dont want it to die!!
any suggestions?

Advertisement

AndyWilson

seems to larger for that pot to me... not too small, i am always proved wrong with serissas though so don't take my word for it!

Eh how often are you watering it?
Andy

PinkFloyd

The pot seems to be a bit small. In my experience, serissas seem to like a little more leg room that others. Also, they don't like to stay soaking wet. Have you changed it's surroundings lately? They really don't liked to be moved much once they get used to their surroundings, they will drop leaves, but will come back out.


John Lee

__________________
Gun Control Means Never Having To Say " I missed You".

Joanie

It probably has root rot from staying too wet. Where do you keep it? Extra lighting? (I'm assuming that you keep it inside) Is it near a heater vent?

Once the roots start to rot, the leaves wrinkle and brown, and it looks like it needs water. But the roots can no longer take up water, and the soil stays too wet, and you water it too much because you think that it needs more, so the rot continues.

If it were sitting here, I would pull it out of its pot, cut off the dark squishy roots, and then repot it into a larger pot with free-draining soil. It may or may not recover, but it would have a better chance than trying to recover in the wet soil and with rotting roots as it is now.

If you decide to take this route, make sure that you understand how to make the soil, ask us about it if you need to.

Joanie

__________________
"You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says,
'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" ~ Dave Barry

soonami

^^

like Joanie said, cut off dead roots and repot in very free draining soil. Hopefully its not too late

TreeBay

you might start by removing that thick layer of moss so the roots can get some air and get rid of that coaster if it's trapping water and slowing drainage. How frequently have you been watering, and how does that soil SMELL?

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

vince

Well i am a famed grower in Serissa, i have killed dozens of them !!
I cant post all the DONT'S on the site, it would take to long.
All i can say is, very careful with watering, not a lot of feed, and don't shift it about.
As far as sniffing the roots, wast of time, it will smell like rotting meat if you disturb them.
At the moment my latest project is a Mt Fuji, this has small variegated leaves that has a sort of waxy look about them, also i don't mist it, as soon as i see a flower, i cut it off, so far so good, another thing is, its in a 9 inch deep cascade pot, had it for over a year, which is good for me.
I have to say, there are more posts about them in bonsai forums. than any other tree/ shrub. Cheers.

Yandrosxx

I have had the same serissa for nearly fifteen years. Anyone who tells you that serissa's like a lot of water hasn't owned a serissa that's lived very long. It's a bad myth that's thrown around too much.

Serissas like high humidity levels and normal watering. Don't let them stand in water, don't water them more than you would anything else. In fact, I let mine get bone dry to the point of the leaves severely wilting all the time.

If you want it to thrive, however, regular watering, HIGH HUMIDITY (70%+). That's hard to do consistently. I use humidifiers in my sunroom where I grow only tropicals to keep the humidity consistently high.

Put it outside, let the soil dry out a bit between waterings. If it has live roots to any degree, it will likely be fine.

Check for spider mites. That's the only persistent problem I have with mine.

I always look for very small webbing rather than the paper test. They are so small that they may be making the tree sick without you noticing it.

Joanie

The high humidity is an interesting point. Thank you for your advice!!! It's always great to hear from people who are successful with fussy species.

Unfortunately, it looks like Bananatrees hasn't come back.

Joanie

__________________
"You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says,
'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" ~ Dave Barry