I acquired a young Fukien Tea tree last weekend. Seems to me that someone who owned it before me wanted to train it into a bonsai tree, but clearly had no idea what they were doing. The trunk bears several pruning scars, and has been unceremoniously chopped to about 10" high. One side of the tree is almost completely bare, save for one branch about 2" from the base. The other side of the tree has branches growing every which way, and there is an interesting configuration of branches and new growth shooting above the point where the top of the trunk was cut off.

The tree is currently in a plain ol' one-gallon plastic pot with nice drainage. I'm using a mixture of potting soil and Perlite, and fertilizing every two weeks with a homemade fertilizer I got from a gardner whose plants really ought to be on display somewhere. The tree is staying in my nice, humid apartment until the weather warms up enough for me to move it to my nice, even more humid patio. Since my apartment doesn't get much direct sunlight, I have it under a grow light for about 6 hours a day.

Now that you have all the relevant information...is there *anything* I can do to redeem this poor little tree? Is it too late for me to train it into a bonsai tree with proper branches and everything? Should I just give up on the whole bonsai thing and hope it'll make passable penjing instead?