yellowing leaves on fukien tea

jbond3

i just got a 6yo fukien tea online. i set it out for full sun for a few days and now all the flowers have died and some leaves are turning yellow. what do think the problem most like is. i have no idea what to treat--sunlight, watering, etc? please help

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bonsaikc

Put your fukien in light shade and don't water too much right now. Don't let it dry out, but don't keep it wet. This is a natural part of shipping fukien teas, and if you let it recover, it should be fine. They don't much like to be moved.

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Chris Johnston
Sashi-no-eda.blogspot.com

Kansas City Area Workshops 2008

jbond3

thanks for the info, but unfortunatly i found another promblem with my tree--their are some kind of insect--amphids i suspect--in the soil. do you have any suggestions on how to treat this problem correctly or if it is the source of my yellow leaves?

TREESTALKER

Hello, I know a little about the Fukien Tea's so I will tell you what I can and I hope it helps you. If you have aphids, you would most likely see ants also. Ants use the aphids to get juice from the tree. Ants will pick up and carry aphids from one tree to another "milking them" ! Search aphids on Google for images and see if you notice anything like this on the tree, near the ends of the branches, tucked under leaves, etc.

The yellowing of the leaves is normal for the Fukien Tea trees because they do not like to be moved around, and if you do not know exactly how the tree was being cared for.... inside under grow lights or outside in the full sun, you cannot duplicate it and the tree will kind of go through a little shock. Mine do excellent in Florida under a screened enclosure (filtered sun). I get plenty of flowers and berries. They do need as many hours of sunlight as you can possibly give them to get the best flowering and fruiting. Also, the more sun... the smaller the leaves.

Ease off on the water, let the soil dry slightly between waterings to prevent root rot and the tree will just be healthier. If the tree is in shock and losing many leaves, it will not need as much water. Fukien Tea's do naturally lose and regrow leaves all year round, so do not mistake a couple yellowing leaves for a need for water. The tree is tropical and tropical's will turn yellow leaves out all year round.

Keep the tree above 55 degrees F.

I am a bit long winded but I think this will give you a good basic start. Good Luck.

TREESTALKER

Sorry, I took up so much space and did not address the bug issue. Fukien Teas are not friends with alot of insecticides. Just make a home made solution of 1 drop of dish liquid to 16 ounces of water and spray the tree for insects. Spray every nook and cranny of the tree and its foilage. Rinse the tree off the next day with plain water. Repeat the soap, rinse every 3 or 4 days for a week and a half. That should take care of most insects you might be facing. You can also submerge the pot in water for about 15 minutes to see what floats out, if you have an ant colony living in the soil, you will know soon enough. Only soak the soil, not the entire plant. Only do this 1 time per week.

Also, please keep new plants seperated from your other plants until you know they are healthy and pest free to keep from contaminating your own collection of plants.

Again... Good Luck ! :>)