Where do you live? If you live where all of your deciduous trees lose their leaves, your elm will eventually lose its leave also. Do you have consistant temps. below 45F? If so, then your tree will lose its leaves. If you live in a sub-tropical area that gets chilly but doesn't freeze often, it may lose only a few leaves and then lose all of last years leaves as spring causes new leaves to push the old ones off. If that is the case, i'd leave it outside

Okay, so I have two questions about two different bonsai but didn't want to make two posts. Me and my mother recently bought a bonsai each. I have one already, this is her first. We bought them because we�re planning on going to a wiring/shaping class that�s local and you need a tree to practice on! They were both potted in nasty wet slop, so we repotted them in Hoffman�s Bonsai soil. That�s why in the pic of the brush cherry, the base of the trunk is really icky. (No, it's not rotting, just very damp and muddy.) So, first question about mine. A brush cherry. As you can see in the picture, the trunk has no roots coming above the soil or anything. Also, the trunk at the very base is a bit narrower than the middle of the trunk. I have repotted it � before it was potted a bit deeper to hide that. I might follow suit and re-bury it a bit deeper� But first, my question. I have heard you can air layer the base to get more roots to grow. One page I was reading said to take a drill bit and VERY carefully by hand make a small divet in the very base of the trunk. Pack it with rooting gel (I have powder, I think either would work) and sink the divets RIGHT beneath the soil line. Said that this will prompt growth of roots, and then I would have the opportunity for some roots to be above the soil instead of a boring straight trunk the whole way. Could I do this with my cherry? The second question is about my mother�s very unruly Chinese Elm. We�re obviously going to wait till the styling class, but we thought we�d get some ideas beforehand. It�s strange in the sense that one side of the tree has NO branches on it. It�s rather flat. I was thinking we could either do a tiered style of bonsai (I can�t think of the real name, I�ll link an image of what I mean) or a windswept style, looking as if the wind was blowing toward the side with no branches. We will probably cut off the very topmost vertical branch at the top of the trunk, because the other branch serves as a good leader branch and continues the curve of the trunk.. But other than that we�ve never done this before and are looking for ideas. Any ideas for us? (Sorry the pics are phone quality!) Yes, one of the elm branches has nasty wire scarring. It had wire on when we bought it, we cut it off. We are not opposed to leaving that branch on if it would serve. I know it should be cut off, but neither of us are competing or anything � so I figured if she doesn't mind the wire scarred branch, it doesn't matter if it stays on if it can serve in styling. Thank you for any opinions you can give us! (And no, the kitchen table is not their final spot. Just here for repotting and picture purposes!) Here is a link that might be useful: This post was edited by cfox248 on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 11:53

I have purchased a few Chinese Elms from EBAY and I live where there are very hot summers. We have mild winters with a handful of freezes average. THe elms purchased are in tiny pots so with good care, I have to repot (out of season) by just lifting the trees out of the pots and place them (with their soil) into a larger pot with a good water retaining mostly organic mix. I have lots too many trees due to our summers and too grainy mix. Its a tough balance here getting the soil just right in order not to have to babysit all day my plants. I almost gave up completely but I was so concerned with a free draining mix that my plants dried out. IF I could find a good potting soil, I could basically go with the soil and some grit here. Winters would be touchy but once a week watering should not produce root rot since none of my other plants have died.

Hi David, please leave your tree where it is until spring, right before the buds are about to open (not just when they first appear). You won't be able to do anything with it in winter anyhow as it will be asleep (dormant) and not ready to grow, and cutting any part of it may still stimulate mechanics of growth, but if buds do appear and open (before winter) the whole tree could die. Don't grow it indoors ever if you can manage that because it will do so much better outside. Can I ask you why you think it is a Chinese elm (rather than some other kind of elm)? I'm from Quebec and it's really unlikely to be a Chinese one growing wild. If you do dig it up in spring, don't use a terracotta pot, but a wide one only tall enough so that when the tree is in it, the roots reach the bottom, then fill in around them with a good bonsai mix (no potting soil or peat please) of aquarium gravel (you can get nice natural looking brownish ones), perlite and some small bark chips (maybe pine mulch that's been cut up enough so it's not 'shredded' too much, and will allow water to run through it quickly. Also make sure it gets plenty of sun. In another couple of years you could put it in a bonsai pot.