Aaron S. Seiju Chinese Elm

[Aaron the Great]

Hello everyone. It is good to be back. For about the last year I have had some really bad days so unfortunately I have lost almost all of my trees. I have a loblolly pine and an eastern redbud and that is it for my outside trees and I have a couple of ficus for tropicals. So in a sense I feel as though I am starting from scratch. I'm considering making a bonsai blog or Youtude but I have yet to decide. Anyway as a gift I received a Seiju Chinese Elm bonsai. It is the first tree that I have ever had that was bought as a bonsai tree. Usually I use cutting or buy a tree on sale and change it into a bonsai. So here is my little tree (I tossed in a couple of my rose rocks for decoration):

Here are the leaves and canopy:

I would be awesome if the leaves stayed that small. Here is the trunk, it has a lot of bumps that I am assuming that is where they cut limbs off

and here is the tag

I do not know much about this tree species so there is some learning to do. I would like to keep it indoors and I don't know if indirect light will work or do I need grow lights or put it in a window with full sun. How well can you get cuttings to root from it?
I would like to get one more growing as a cutting and I would like to have one styled as an acacia tree and another one trained in a Chokkan style.
This is the pot that I have selected for it. Since it is that only bonsai pot that I have, it was an easy choice.

So let me know what you think and please share any advice that you have for me.
Aaron S

 

[Aaron the Great]

Here is a pic to show the scale of the pot and tree

 

[Shibui]

Seiju is just a variety of Chinese elm so everything that applies to Chinese elm can be used with this tree.
Leaves stay smaller than standard Chinese elm which makes Seiju popular for bonsai. Growth habit tends to be long, straight shoots so pruning is essential. Makes first class smaller bonsai. Seiju also develops dark, corky bark as it gets older which looks cool as a bonsai.
The bumps on the trunk are where shoots have been trimmed. They will usually be absorbed as the trunk thickens and bark starts to thicken so no need to worry about that at this stage.
Like all Chinese elms, root cuttings are very easy so when you repot save any decent pieces of root to put in as cuttings. Cutings from the branches are usually easy to grow too.

Indoors is not the best place for a Chinese elm. It can be done but not always easy. It will need really bright light and maybe extra grow lights to do well but direct sun through a window can get too hot sometimes and burn the leaves.
Be careful of the soil staying wet all the time, especially indoors and also if you put it in that huge pot.
The new pot is quite large for the size of your tree. That can be good because it will allow it to grow a bit and develop a thicker trunk sooner than in a little pot but can also be bad because the roots tend to stay wet which can cause problems, especially indoors.

 

[Aaron the Great]

Thank you Shibui for sharing your wisdom with me. I have never done a root cutting so I will look into that.
I can keep it outdoors but I think I will bring it in for a bit with triple-digit temps. I will repot it today and will post some pics.

 

[Aaron the Great]

Should it be in full sun?

 

[SeanS]

It’s a little late to be repotting, the tree is already in full leaf.

Repot next spring as the buds are swelling and save any interesting roots you cut off for root cuttings.

 

[Aaron the Great]

Oops I repotted it but in my defense it needed it. It looked like it was grown in a 1" pot and recently it was plopped into the larger pot. I assume this because the outside inch or so had almost no roots at all. Inside of that taking the form of a 1" pot was an insanely dense rootball. It had a copious amount of roots about 1/8" in diameter. Most of them had fused together because there was no room at all for them. It took me quite a while to slowly get the roots free from each other and eventually, I was able to lay the roots out in a good root plane in the new pot. I wish I had taken pics but like every day for me, pain won the day so I just did what I could. I saved some root cuttings so now it is time for me to figure out how to propagate them. Here it is in its new home

 

[BrianBay9]

They're pretty tough. Repotting late will probably be OK. I would keep it in morning sun only for a couple of weeks, then full sun if it's growing well.

 

[SeanS]

Put the root cuttings in a pot with the cut end at the soil surface, in a few weeks you’ll know which ones are going to make it or have made it

 

[Aaron the Great]

Put the root cuttings in a pot with the cut end at the soil surface, in a few weeks you’ll know which ones are going to make it or have made it

Will do, thank you

 

[Aaron the Great]

What moisture level should I try to keep for the root cuttings?
I have the cuttings in a mixture of compost and potting soil because that is all I have. Most of my trees are planted in that.

 

[Aaron the Great]

This is my third week of having this tree. I'm not happy with it so far and I'm positive that it is mostly from m mistakes:
Mistake 1) I repotted it at the wrong time, it was really rootbound and it was planted in just shredded bark, no soil at all.
Mistake 2) I put it in premade Bonsai Soil and this was the first time for me using it. Since I am the only one that pays any attention to my trees I normally use just homemade compost since it is free and usually works well. I wanted to try something closer to bonsai soil, I kind of felt like my trees are just small trees in pots because I never use any type of bonsai soil.
Mistake 3) I used some slow release bonsai fertilizer pellets. I have never used much fertilizer since my trees usually do just fine in my compost.

With that being said, it is alive but that is about it. It really isn't growing any. Since this is a new species to me along with the soil and fertilizer I feel like I should ask for some help on more experienced bonsai artists on my options. I only water it when the soil feels dry but not too dry and it is getting around 6 hours of sun a day. It is kept outside.
Thank You

 

[BrianBay9]

This is my third week of having this tree. I'm not happy with it so far and I'm positive that it is mostly from m mistakes:
Mistake 1) I repotted it at the wrong time, it was really rootbound and it was planted in just shredded bark, no soil at all.
Mistake 2) I put it in premade Bonsai Soil and this was the first time for me using it. Since I am the only one that pays any attention to my trees I normally use just homemade compost since it is free and usually works well. I wanted to try something closer to bonsai soil, I kind of felt like my trees are just small trees in pots because I never use any type of bonsai soil.
Mistake 3) I used some slow release bonsai fertilizer pellets. I have never used much fertilizer since my trees usually do just fine in my compost.

With that being said, it is alive but that is about it. It really isn't growing any. Since this is a new species to me along with the soil and fertilizer I feel like I should ask for some help on more experienced bonsai artists on my options. I only water it when the soil feels dry but not too dry and it is getting around 6 hours of sun a day. It is kept outside.
Thank You

Time....a couple of weeks out from a repot is not enough to get concerned about. If it's green but not growing yet, give it time.

 

[Aaron the Great]

Thank you

 

[Shibui]

Agree. Chinese elm can cope with repot most of the year but expecting a tree to get going right away after a major root operation is asking a lot, even for a a Chinese elm. Give it a few more weeks to recover from the repot. I'm confident it will get going.
Fertilizer is not a mistake. Plants in well drained 'bonsai soil' need extra fert because we also need to water them more often.
'Bonsai soil' can be a double edged sword. It is great for most of us and reduces chances of trees getting waterlogged and dying from root rot infections but it will be very different from the compost you are accustomed to so you will need to modify your normal watering with that pot because of the different soil. Are the other trees you mention growing in home made compost also in shallow bosai trays or in deeper pots?
It is possible to grow bonsai in almost any potting soil provided you can match watering and care to the soil behaviour. Compost can work quite well in deeper pots as the depth helps with water drainage. The shallower pots we use for bonsai behave vastly different to the deeper pots which is where most problems arise. Shallow pots with fine particle soils are notoriously hard to manage which is why most have moved to open bonsai style mixes.

 

[Hawk Force]

Very true about small pots/trays and small growing media. Tgrough capillary action small pots keep roots wetter. Took me a long time to figure out. I use medium to large lava rocks as a drainage base to break the ability to hold so much water. It’s working well for me.

 

[Aaron the Great]

Just a little update. No point in a pic because nothing visually has changed. It is still alive, the leaves are still green. At this point, there still have not been any signs of growth since the repotting of 03 Ma 2023. I keep it in the morning sun (5-6 hours) then it is shaded. I water every morning and when it is really hot I water in the late afternoon. It has not grown any new leaves and it has lost some but still appears to be alive. I'm guessing that I put it into shock when I repotted it and it is taking a while to recover. It has been 6 weeks from the repot so I am expecting something by this point but still waiting and doing what I can.

 

[Aaron the Great]

This tree is still not growing any, slowly losing leaves. But when I did the repot I planted a root and it is showing strong signs of growth. The tip of the root is covered with new leaves. So that is something.