12 year old Chinese Elm seems very unhealthy!

chris_mouland3

1. What kind of bonsai do you have and how long have you had it? a 12 year old Chinese Elm. 1 month.

2. Where did you get it, and what was its condition at the time you acquired it? My girlfriend bought it for me as a Xmas present from a garden centre. When I received it, all leaves were green and it looked healthy.

3. When did you notice the problem? a few days after receiving it.

4. How have you been watering it and how frequently? I watered it about a week after receiving it by dunking the pot in water for 5 minutes. I did the same about a week after that.

5. What region are you located geographically and where are you keeping your tree, indoors or out, full sun, part sun, shade? I am in South East UK. The tree is on a window sill. the window does not open and so the plant is not in a draft. As is typical in the UK at this timeof year, there is no direct sunlight (too many clouds)

6. Does the soil have any unpleasant odor? No.

7. When was the tree last repotted? I don't know.

8. Is there any discoloration of the foliage? Would you describe it as turgid and green, dry and brown, wilting, mottled or partially eaten? If you brush the foliage with a fingertip, does it fall off? The leaves have started going a yellowish brown colour, before turning completely brown and falling off. Just brushing my finger over the leaves will knock them off. At first it was just a few leaves, but now I would say 50% of the foliage has gone.

9. Is there evidence of pests, like ants or aphids? Where do I start? noticed on the first day a small white creature crawling on the soil. After a few days I noticed many small black flies on the window next to the tree. and dead on the window sill itself. Looking on the leaves, I see some black flies walking on the branches and also some green looking flies (about the same size) On the under surface of the leaves there are small green 'bumps' that could be eggs(?). On the upper surface of the leaves there are lots of white 'things'. They don't move and some of them look as though they could be dead flies, and I really don't know how else to describe them.

10. Can you post a picture of your tree to the forum? I will post some pictures later today, but right now I'm at work and haven't got any.


any help you can give will be extremely helpful.

Chris.

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pup

With luck you will get someone in the UK to answer this.
Aldershot is in winter now and Chinese elms are deciduous.
However what you describe is possibly an insect attack.
I cannot comment on your growing conditions, because where I live my elms are outside all year.
I have seen post on this site from Poms, that grow them out side all winter. In Surrey at Herons Bonsai Nursery it is the norm. Pup

ps is Aldershot still a garrison town?

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PUP
Advanced begginner


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Mcspeed

Hey Chris welcome to our world.

First off skip the once a week dunk, you need to water when the tree needs it, you obviously did your homework nice job of listing your tree and situation. Take a look through our threads on watering you'll learn a lot there, but your current watering system will get you in trouble, if not already. Read up on soils too.

Sounds like you might have a couple of different bugs, one due to potentially the soil staying wet too long, which will weaken and eventually kill the tree, proper watering will help that situation. The other might be white flies, but the bumps sound like they are sucking the life from the leaves. I use Safers insecticidal soap, works well and mild, but you might get away with spraying them off with water.

You most likely have a light issue too, best bet would be to get the tree under some florescent lights, lots on lighting for indoors here in the threads too.

Back to work

Good Luck.

chris_mouland3

Thanks for your replies guys.

I have bought some insecticide spray and have sprayed the tree. I have also moved it to somewhere that has more ventilation and will monitor the dryness of the soil to determine the next time it needs to be watered.
the good thing is the tree is still growing new shoots so I guess all is not lost.

after I posted my first post here, I found out more about bonsai pests and found that there are several different problems here, but now I'm trying to get them under control and hopefully in a few weeks it will look much better.

Thanks again for your help.

Chris

chris_mouland3

Hi, Yes, Aldershot still has military bases, but I believe the number of troops here has been reduced over the years. I only moved here about 3 or 4 months ago because of a job relocation and don't know much about the area yet.

thanks for your help.

:-)

chris