Well, I have a 4' long fluorescent over my trees (but more of them than your one :-), with T5 (T8 will do tho') bulbs in it... I used to have lots of info on lighting, lumens, etc., but no longer do. I think you can get 'daylight' bulbs for a one tree fixture (not 'gro bulbs') and that would be adequate, or a relatively high wattage fluorescent bulb that your fixture indicates is OK to use in it (they generally have something right on/in the fixture to state that).

It sounds like Portulacaria afra, which doesn't tolerate wet feet well at all. Test the plant by moving it side to side to see if it's still secure in the pot. Usually roots rot off the main stem very quickly when they're over-watered and the plant often simply falls over. If you've lost most of the rootage, you'll essentially need to treat the plant as a cutting and hope you can reroot successfully after removing rotted tissues so only sound roots remain. Al

Thanks for the welcome and very relevant questions seems I have come to the right place. Well my bonsai is a portulacaria afra, it is a 13 inch tree with a trunk radius of about 1 1/2 inch. The pot is a two inch deep and 9 inch oval ceramic one. The soil in the pot looks like it has small pieces of gravel in it. My plant was repotted two yrs ago at a nursery in Boston. So far I have sat it next to a sunny window and now in Texas there has been no dearth of sunlight. I gave it sun for about 6-8 hrs a day. The watering schedule was immersion in a sink for about 25 min at a sitting. This was needed about once in four days in the summer but rest of the yr it has been around once in 8-10 days depending on the drying out of the soil. I live in an apartment and so at night my bonsai sits on a book shelf in a well lit and airy area. Also in the summer I tried to give the tree some time outside a couple of hours on the balcony. All was going well until two weeks ago athe leaves starting dropping off. Now my beautiful broom style tree is bare of leaves and has a network of branches, the tops of which are shrivelled. I suspect root damage and am wondering if I should go ahead with an emergency repotting. PS- I also nuture my plant with songs and loving words Thanks Monica

I make sure to use water that has sat out overnight to water my plants. Does that not make a difference? Or not enough of a difference? You already learned that the crystalline structures on the leaves of your plant is composed of dissolved solids (sugar and mineral salts) left behind as the water in the exudate associated with the guttation (primarily driven by over-watering) evaporates. If you allow your water to rest overnight in an open pan, some of the water in the pan evaporates, but ALL of the dissolved solids in the water are left behind, So technically, the concentration of dissolved solids in the water (which includes fluoride, and chloramine, used now to chlorinate most tapwater) would be slightly higher than water straight from the tap. The pH of water straight from the tap is also slightly lower than water that has rested for a period of time, due to dissolved CO2 gassing off. Also yes, can you point me in the direction of drain hole tutorials?? I'm guessing you mean how to drill the holes? This should help: Drilling holes in pots The 2 types of drill bits most appropriate for drilling holes in pots are a diamond core drill for the highly vitrified (hard material - baked at very high temps - glass, ceramic, ......) pots, and a drill with several names for drilling clay pots fired at low temps, such as terra cotta. That (carbide) drill is called a 3-point drill, spear point drill, or a spade drill, seen here: You only need 1 - in 1/2 or 3/8" size. For the hard stuff, diamond core drills are best, though the 3 point drill will drill the hard stuff, too. Diamond core drills: You can buy either type at big box stores. They're not that expensive, and they last a long time if you take care of them. They are best used with a steady stream of coolant from a squeeze bottle (contact lens solution bottles work great for this) or with the work surface barely submerged. IE, put the pot upside down in a tub and fill the tub with water until it just covers the work surface. If you use a spritzer or squirt bottle, a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water is an excellent coolant, and soapy water is better than plain water but not as good as the antifreeze mix. The coolant keeps the tool from over-heating, and in doing so, increases the life of the tool substantially - like triple or quadruple the number of holes you can drill. Regular masonry bits are "ok" for drilling terra cotta or cement (you can make them work), but inappropriate for anything harder. The right tool makes everything easier. And lastly, should I be flushing all my plants (pothos, croton, aloe, snake plant...) when I water? One way or another - YES, absolutely. Ideally, your choice of soil should allow you to water to beyond the point of saturation, so you're flushing the soil as you water. If you can't do that w/o worry that the soil will remain soggy for a prolonged period, limiting root function, or worse, wrecking root health it would be best to consider learning how to amend the soil you're using or make a soil that allows you to flush the soil regularly. There are also a few very simple work-arounds that will allow you to use a soil that would otherwise be inappropriate. For example - if you're using a soil too water-retentive for a plant's well-being, and you need to flush it - you can flush thoroughly over a sink or tub or outdoors. When the pot stops draining, hold it in your hand(s) and move it up and down. You'll note that on the reversal from downward to upward motion, Newton's First Law of Motion takes over and some of the excess water in the pot exits through the drain hole. As the amount of water diminishes, more can be forced from the soil by reversing directions more forcibly. As long as your pot is of a manageable size, this simple trick is invaluable for anyone using an excessively water-retentive soil. If the pot is too large, you can use a wick to drain excess water, or even tipping the pot at a 45* angle to drain makes a very significant difference in how much excess water a medium can hold. Compare B with A to see how much excess water the simple act of tipping the pot forces from the pot. E shows what a wick, used correctly for best benefit, can achieve. D shows one way of using ballast to reduce excess water. Even when using extremely water retentive soils, ballast can reduce the amount of excess water a soil can hold to less than 5% of what it would hold w/o use of ballast. Al