Fukien Tea questions from Noob

[VeniceFL]

Hi all new to Bonsai, I am in Venice FL and got a 9 yr old Fukien Tea from a grower. While the grower did a great job of plastic wrapping pot to retain moisture, tree ended up in close to 8 days in a UPS box due to multiple UPS transit delays. Been 6 days since received, number of leaves shedding has gone down considerably, but many leaves still have dark areas or dark spots. Questions:

1. I have sprayed some neem oil spray just in case but guessing all this from shipping. Any additonal steps needed?

2. Keeping it indoors, got s good grow light - 100W, currently 12 inches from top of tree, delivering 500 photosynthesis light units. Measuring 10 to 20 during day without grow light at this southern facing windows, so thats not enough i think. Is the light distance ok at 12 inches from a heat and light perspective?

3. How long to run the lamp for per day given the tree is recovering (i think)?

 

[VeniceFL]

Anyone? Am I in the right forum?

 

[Jrmcmich]

So someone recently asked about same tree. I have one that has been inside for all last year and it was not happy by end of winter looking yellow leafs. Mine was also in a bad soil as it came from a big box store. Yours looks to be bonsai soil so a plus. I repotted mine in better soil and have kept it outside with nicer weather and is now darker green. So while indoors can work it seems outdoors is better overall for health. My only 2 cents as I’m new to hobby as well. As far as grow light I had one on mine indoors for winter but wasn’t much help however might be too cheap one from Amazon so not sure how it would compare to what you have.

 

[VeniceFL]

TY! For your grow light, were you able to measure the photosynthesis output? My lamp at 12 inches is producing enough for a cloudy day outside (about 500 units to top of tree)... this is my lamp. I can crank it up to over 1,000 at 6 inches but will need to add a fan because the heat will be a lot more. Anything less than this 12 inch sertting I have will likely not be sufficient but I am hoping an experienced person can confirm. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHXYZQ6L?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 All the leaf dropping has completely stopped. Most of the leaves have been damaged and will likely fall one by one in coming weeks but there are young leaves without black dots and I am keeping an eye on it.

 

[SWfloirda]

In Venice your tree should be outside unless the temperatures get below 40. I gave up on keeping tree or houseplants inside so I don't know much about how to handle the grow light. Whether you keep the tree inside or out Fukien's are pest magnets. Scale, aphids, mealy bugs, even a few pests I don't recognize. I feel like neem oil does nothing for me in Florida, just my experience. I don't like to use systemic pesticide but I do use it on my fukien, Bio Advanced is what I found at Lowes.
If you ever want another tree take the hour drive down to Wigert's in North Fort Myers, save money on shipping and you can pick from literally thousands of them.

 

[VeniceFL]

Thank you very much. I will give it a few weeks to see how well it recovers else move out. Appreciate the info on Wigert's!