Unhappy Serissa foetida

carr62

I have been taking care of a Serissa foetida since Sept 01. It's about fourteen inches tall, and I would guess several years old (my boss received it as a gift, and I'm taking care of it). It was kept inside, next to a southern facing window. I watered it once weekly, or whenever it felt dry. It did quite well and flowered happily. As winter came on and there was less light (since we're in Germany there's more cloudy, rainy days than sunny ones anyway), it began to lose some leaves, mostly the foilage underneath. However, in late February it accidentally missed a watering, got too dry, and lost its' leaves. Since then I've tried everything to make it happy. I bought it a plant light. I've put bonsai "vitamins" in its soaking water weekly. I even repotted it, thinking perhaps it needed an infusion of fresh soil. The roots appeared healthy on repotting. I also trimmed back the obviously dead limbs, hoping to stimulate new growth. On warm sunny days I've sat it outside. So far nothing has worked. New green leaves appear on the lower branches, however, as soon as they get to any size they blacken and shrivel up. I feel like I'm taking care of a giant twig now. I've told the boss that her tree is probably a terminal case. Any ideas about what else I can try?

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TreeBay

You need to be very sure you aren't overwatering it.

Serissa needs time to recover and you may be killing it with all the attention.

Check the ***FAQ*** or bonsaiTALK Links under techniques->watering for some comments.

Don't water again until the soil is *almost* dry.

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