Ficus or Not?

[WeirdMusician]

Hi Guys.


Last year, I got a bonsai from my mother. It was spring back then and this little, beautiful tree was growing quite well. In the summer I did some trimming and he growed happily through the summer and autumn.

But around december last year he lost a great deal of his leaves on the backside. I turned him around, so the front of the tree was in the back facing my wall and the back of the tree was facing the rest of my room. Some leaves have been growing there, but I noticed most of them are at the tips. Some leaves also are starting to grow at strange places in the middle.


Now, im a newbie to bonsai and I love the arts. The fact is, I don't know if im really doing everything the right way. Im even not quite sure about the species my tree belongs to...

Here are some pictures of my tree and my room, since I do know the location of the tree is important. If anyone has any suggestion with regards to species, trimming, watering etc. please tell me!


Greetings from a Dutch bonsai newbie who desperately wants to learn the art of bonsai!

[WeirdMusician]

Apparently I messed up with the pictures, here they are again. You can view them as a slideshow on Imageshack.


http://profile.imageshack.us/user/WeirdMusician

[irene_b]

This is not a ficus..This is a Elm tree..

[WeirdMusician]

Hi,

Thanks for mentioning it. I was already doubting the species of the tree. At least I know now where to search about it.

Do you've got any suggestions on how to trim it? I was especially wondering if i should trim the branches that were formed last year, since they do make new leaves, but they distort the shape of the tree (for as far as I can see...)


Thanks for telling me the true species!

[irene_b]

Hard to give advice not knowing where you live in the world
Irene

[Claudio]

Hi!
It´s a chinesse ulmus.
The tree needs a moistier ambient (spray water each day) and a lot of light, preferebly from a lamp at a closer distance but not so close, the leafes might get burned. Don´t keep where it´s cold.
Hopefully it will recover but i doesn´t look good.

Also consider repotting it into a bigger and deeper pot, during the recovery period.

Good luck.

[WeirdMusician]

Hi,

First of all, thanks for the reactions. I indeed forgot to tell I live in the Netherlands.

Whats also good to know ( I guess) is that my window is at the side of the house where the sun comes up and stays untill about 4 o'clock.

Right now its quite cold outside, and i try to keep the tree warm and moist (ofcourse not to moist, but im spraying it every day).

I don't know if I can place it on the window sill within this month, since its cold at the other side of the window, especially during the night. That being said, I dont even know if you may actually put these trees on a window sill. I read about other species, the leaves will burn if you do...

At this moment the little tree is making new buds, but only on some branches. What I should do with the rest of the branches is kind of a guess, some look quite dead but branches I thought were dead are now actually making new buds... I put the tree in the bathtub the other day with water just under the trunk, so the soil could suck up some water. I hope that does anything good...

When I was putting it in water the other day, I started wondering if I may feed the tree right at this moment. I read somewhere an Ulmus shouldn't be fed whilst it has no leaves or few leaves. Any suggestions on this?

I apologize for my bad english, I never really learned the grammar of the english language the right way ^^

[RichLewis]

Hello

Spraying the tree every day won't provide much humdity at all. Put your bonsai inside a tray filled with about 2cm deep of water, and stand it on a stone or similar to keep the bonsai pot out of the water. The water will evaporate around the tree and provide constant humidity. Some people put gravel in the tray, and stand the tree on the gravel, but I find its harder to clean that way.


Your elm will need as much light as possible, the leaves won't 'burn' if you put it on the window sill.

When the weather warms up, move the tree outside, it will do much better. Probably some time around the end of April you can put it in a spot that's sheltered from the wind where it will get plenty of sun. Bear in mind I'm from the UK (western part) so we have similar weather to you, so you may want to move the tree earlier or later in the year depending on your local climate. Don't prune anything for now, and give it a broad spectrum fertilser at half concentration once every 2 weeks once you put it outside. Usually when a tree is dormant (i.e. it has dropped it's leaves for the winter) you wouldn't fertilise it. However, your tree hasn't gone dormant because it's been grown inside all time. You could give it half strength once a month to tide it over until spring.

When you water, pour the water from the top like with any other plant. Put a wooden chopstick in the soil, pull it out every day. The wood should be damp to the touch, and this indicates that the soil has enough water. When the chopstick is dry, then it's time to water. Most people who are new to the hobby fiddle around with their trees too much, and the constant attention is really detremental. So always remember to be patient, and once you are comfortable with watering and fertilising, get a few more trees.

[WeirdMusician]

Hi,

This morning, I have put the tree in a tray the way you suggested. With the tray I have put it in the window sill. My only question for now is: do I have to take the tree from the sill in the evening? It becomes quite cold in the evening and my curtains will be closed with the tree between the curtains and the window. I dont really know how cold it gets between the curtains and the window at night, so I'm not sure what to do...

I will go and look for some fertilizer next day, probably some 5-5-5 stuff, or is an other kind of fertilizer a better one for the tree?


Thanks to all who have helped me already. I'm glad I finally got a clue about how to care for this little tree. I hope it will recover, right now it has got some new buds on a few branches, so its slowly recovering, but I will only go shouting when all branches look alive again...

[WeirdMusician]

Hi all!


Allright, so the bonsai is now in the window sill, staring happily outside.
The leaves of one branch of the tree are starting to turn yellow, I dont know why, but I guess its because I changed its place in my room.

I bought a 6-5-5 fertilizer. It should be 25ml on 4.5l for normal plants. Half strenght would be 25ml on 9l.

Now, my watering can isnt 9l, it's 1.5l. So I did the maths and came to some 4ml of fertilizer.

Now for the problem: Should I put the 4ml of fertilizer in the watering can or should I feed the plant one time only? For in that case, I wouldn't know how much to use...

Second: Is it a good idea to mix some of the ferilizer in the spayer, so everytime I spray the plant it gets a little feeding too?

[Zob]

Hi all!

Allright, so the bonsai is now in the window sill, staring happily outside.
The leaves of one branch of the tree are starting to turn yellow, I dont know why, but I guess its because I changed its place in my room.
I bought a 6-5-5 fertilizer. It should be 25ml on 4.5l for normal plants. Half strenght would be 25ml on 9l.
Now, my watering can isnt 9l, it's 1.5l. So I did the maths and came to some 4ml of fertilizer.
Now for the problem: Should I put the 4ml of fertilizer in the watering can or should I feed the plant one time only? For in that case, I wouldn't know how much to use...
Second: Is it a good idea to mix some of the ferilizer in the spayer, so everytime I spray the plant it gets a little feeding too?

You must be kidding !

[WeirdMusician]

No, I actually wasn't.

Im not at all experienced with bonsais or trees for that matter and posts such as yours aren't really any helpfull.

[RichLewis]

Now for the problem: Should I put the 4ml of fertilizer in the watering can or should I feed the plant one time only? For in that case, I wouldn't know how much to use...

Put the 4 ml of fertiliser in the can, and fill it up with water, so you have fertiliser + water. Water the tree as normal. If you have some fertiliser + water left over, save it and water the tree again as you would normally, like when you give just water. Then in 2 weeks, fertilise again.

Second: Is it a good idea to mix some of the ferilizer in the spayer, so everytime I spray the plant it gets a little feeding too?

This is often known as 'foliar feeding'. Personally, I wouldn't do that, you might do more harm than good.

Some bonsai-ists spray fertilisers onto the leaves/needles of conifers in the early spring, to give them an early burst of nutrients when the roots and soil are still too cold to absorb nutrients efficiently. It is often used to force growth and speed development of already healthy tree.

You mentioned that the tree was also forming new leaves. Which leaves are turning yellow? The young, new leaves or the older adult leaves?

Are the yellow leaves dry when you touch them?

Are the new leaves curling, or are they green and healthy?

Can you take another photograph of the leaves? Don't pull any of the yellow leaves off, they will fall on their own when they are ready.

[WeirdMusician]

Hi,

To start off: When I touch the yellow leaves they actually feel quite moist.

Pictures are on this link:

http://img59.imageshack.us/g/dsc01175w.jpg/


And for those who might be wondering about the little tree in this series: Yes, it's a new one, it's an Ulmus, it's still small and I hope it will become beautiful, as I hope for the other I got too.

[RichLewis]

Just give it some time, and as much light as is possible. When the temperatures outside begin to warm up, put it outside. If you have a greenhouse or a sheltered place, that would be ideal to aclimatise the tree to it's new environment. If not, some place sheltered from the wind would be perfect, for example a veranda.

Just concerned about frost, I don't know how severe it is in your area. We can get bad frosts until June, so with weakened plants it's important to keep them sheltered until they toughen up.

Also, you could remove those rocks from the pot. As the pot is so small, they will inhibit air getting into the soil , which is important for healthy root growth. However, keep the rocks for a future project, don't throw them out.

cheers