Chinese elm - is it fungus?

[a1dusty]

Nah, it's a Polish company In other thread i read that crappy soil isn't reason to do emergency repot, so for now I will just wait and watch out for overwatering. I have also sent message to shop, where i bought that elm. We will see what they think about this. I don't have high hopes, because it was the cheapest bonsai on whole website, but still I like it very much, so I try everything I can to make it happy

Edit: I have found another thread with problematic tree - same pot, same crappy soil, but totally different country. Probably it is mass imported to Europe from China, it cames with that soil and shops do nothing to improve them a little. At least my soil seems to drain well when watering, but on the other hand stays moist for too long.

A straight transplant won’t disturb roots to much then you can add the potting grit all the way around and hey presto she will drain out much better till u repot in spring

 

[crea7or]

Thanks! It was not inside, i moved tree right away to the balcony as everybody says

So should I water it less often or just use less water? Currently it is every 2 days, 3-4 passes over whole tree (around 0,5-1l of water). Everytime I check the soil with toothpick half distance between edge of pot and trunk. When it comes dry or almost dry i water the tree

Edit: @crea7or not sure about that, i would rather be cautious. October also seems safer for repotting/planting than September.

Check this post from reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/comments/i2jir0

I think this guy Jerry, has an account on Bonsai Nut as well. Doing bonsai doesn't have to be always super safe, you have to risk a little sometimes, for better and faster results. But in the end, it's your tree, your call.

 

[BonPiotr]

Check this post from reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bonsai/comments/i2jir0

I think this guy Jerry, has an account on Bonsai Nut as well. Doing bonsai doesn't have to be always super safe, you have to risk a little sometimes, for better and faster results. But in the end, it's your tree, your call.

I will give it 2 more weeks and water it a little bit less. If it will keep shedding leaves i will think about that repot

 

[a1dusty]

Nah, it's a Polish company In other thread i read that crappy soil isn't reason to do emergency repot, so for now I will just wait and watch out for overwatering. I have also sent message to shop, where i bought that elm. We will see what they think about this. I don't have high hopes, because it was the cheapest bonsai on whole website, but still I like it very much, so I try everything I can to make it happy

Edit: I have found another thread with problematic tree - same pot, same crappy soil, but totally different country. Probably it is mass imported to Europe from China, it cames with that soil and shops do nothing to improve them a little. At least my soil seems to drain well when watering, but on the other hand stays moist for too long.

Hmmmm just a thought , you say created in China and shipped to Europe etc , maybe they put the fine water retention soil so can be shipped without worrying about water , string of lights above for couple weeks for the customs checks and hey presto to beautiful green leaves with little or no roots , repetitive sales , sorry for rant , got Court out few times few yrs back , straight transplant into washed and heated gravel of size big enough to hold a little but drain the lot

 

[BonPiotr]

Hmmmm just a thought , you say created in China and shipped to Europe etc , maybe they put the fine water retention soil so can be shipped without worrying about water , string of lights above for couple weeks for the customs checks and hey presto to beautiful green leaves with little or no roots , repetitive sales , sorry for rant , got Court out few times few yrs back , straight transplant into washed and heated gravel of size big enough to hold a little but drain the lot

Yeah it sounds probable

The shop replied - i can repot it to a slightly bigger pot - still not sure about that, so I will wait a while.

BUT if I had to repot, i should leave roots as is and just get rid of old soil, right?

How bigger pot i should get? Now i have 6x4x2 inch pot (15x11x5 cm) and im thinking about something like 1-1,5” bigger.

 

[a1dusty]

If I was going to transplant I would have a pot roughly inch all round and up to inch underneath, yes it disturbs them a little , to give you and idea , I picked up about 110 pre bonsai ish last week and transplanted everyone into larger pots with proper drainage and all are well and coming along great , the worst pots are the ones which curl in at top , on these that are transplanted mid season I gently break the pot so as not to disturb the roots , transplanting as said is far better than leaving the roots waterlogged in compact soil , not everyone will agree but it has worked for me over the years without casualty’s

 

[BonPiotr]

Little update. It seems I have problem with spider mites. There’s some yellow mosaic on few leaves and also microscopic white web spots also few tiny black eggs underneath a leaf or two. I have never seen this state of infestation and thought it has to be full web, which I have seen once on my strawberry few years ago.

 

[a1dusty]

Little update. It seems I have problem with spider mites. There’s some yellow mosaic on few leaves and also microscopic white web spots also few tiny black eggs underneath a leaf or two. I have never seen this state of infestation and thought it has to be full web, which I have seen once on my strawberry few years ago.

Sorry about the spider mites mate , have not had a problem with them before thankfully so beat to look it up as I would if I had problem with it , fingers crossed for you mate but I sure you’ll get through it

 

[BonPiotr]

Sorry about the spider mites mate , have not had a problem with them before thankfully so beat to look it up as I would if I had problem with it , fingers crossed for you mate but I sure you’ll get through it

Sure thing I have won with them on mentioned strawberry two years ago, when they had full invasion I even had some fruits later that year For now I have just sprayed tree under shower and misted it with biogold vital organic fertilizer solution to thin out their population, next step - pesticide

 

[a1dusty]

Sure thing I have won with them on mentioned strawberry two years ago, when they had full invasion I even had some fruits later that year For now I have just sprayed tree under shower and misted it with biogold vital organic fertilizer solution to thin out their population, next step - pesticide

Fingers crossed for you but sure it be ok