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Fukien tea needs help

17 years ago

Hello ,

My wife recently purchased a small pre-started fukien tea bonsai. It's been removed from the pot it came in ( a regular 4" rose pot) to a nice bonsai pot. The root ball was cleaned and the plant was set into a new media . The media may or may not be our problem. It consists of a potting mix,sand, and perlite.

A few days after the repotting the tree began to have dry dead leaves as well as some wilted ones. It was watered and three days have passed ,still it has not shown any signs of perking back up yet. I think the media is still damp. Perhaps even too damp.

Is it common for this species to have troubles after a repot and after adjusted do they spring back ? Or is it more likely we've got a bigger problem on our hands? I've thought maybe the lower humidity in our forced air heated home coupled with a repot and western window exposure may all have shocked the tree too much. It is now placed in an eastern facing window getting good morning sun an bright indirect light in the afternoon/evening. I really hope to save this tree , she fell in love with it the second she bought it .

any help is greatly welcomed

thanks

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Comments (3)

lucy
17 years ago
My fukiens live only (permanently) under glass - either in my 'indoor' green house or under a very glass bell, on top of wide humidity trays, and a few inches below T5 full spectrum fluorescents. They do NOT like being out of their 'rainforest' atmosphere at any time, though you need to walk a very fine line to not incur things like mealy bug, by having a little air always available. The glass usually has a little condensation on it, but never to the point of dripping. I don't have to water that often because of the set-up, but it's something you need to play with a bit. Potting soil is full of peat and therefore doesn't dry out well at any time, so if you can find a mix with less peat in it, you'd be better off. I don't know what your version of 'sand' means - if you mean something like beach sand vs larger 'grit', go for the grit (various options) and less soil. Or use an orchid mix which drains right away, though you'll end up watering every day or so. Not the easiest tree to grow!
catdancr6
17 years ago
Hello... Thank you for your reply, Lucy... I'm siklid's wife, and I just joined.

Yep, I'm worried about my Fukien Tea. All the info I've read on this plant says it is good for indoor bonsai as a tropical. I will do more research.

I changed the growing medium to pure Bonsai mix, and the tree is now sitting on a humidity tray under a bell jar. I just checked it, and was thrilled to find that there is new growth, some of the smaller leaves have perked up, and the flower heads are no longer wilting. I'll keep an eye on it, I still have hope.
Thanks for the info!

Gracie
(catdancr6)
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Ohhh... it looks pretty far gone to me. Have you scratched the trunk to see if it's still green underneath, because if not, I'd think it was gone. Overcompensating on the water bath by letting it 'dry out' was probably not the best idea - any roots not yet at the pot bottom would have dried out... unless I misunderstood what you did. But once the initial wetness had subsided (day or two?) I would have put some kind of clear bag over it to keep humidity up for the leaves while it recovered... maybe seems counterproductive, but the damage was already done anyhow, and the foliage still needed moisture.
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Lucy thanks for response. I scratched the bark about 1/2 ", all brown, it is dead. Not sure what I did wrong. It was inside all winter, near some light, watered it once per week. Like to buy another one, any good tips?
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If you're still around, we need much more info - have you ever repotted it? watering habits? sprayed with what? fertilized with what/how often? The picture? Al
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Why post twice? You have a response in the other thread on F. Tea just below this one.
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lucy
17 years ago
Terrific! Just be sure the hum. tray water never reaches the pot bottom (or you'll end up rotting roots).

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