Help with Fukien tea

paulplants

Seed
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I've been gifted a fukien tea 3 weeks ago, it's approximately 8 years old and it's my first bonsai.
It was in apparent good shape from the store, i moved city soon after and brought it with me, it has had all sorts of problems: pests (mainly aphids), gnat larvae, and brown\black spots. I was probably over-watering it at the beginning (nothing crazy, the pot has drainage holes) because also spraying away aphids with water. I used neem oil in cycles, and h202 for gnat fly larvae, now i am waiting for the soil to dry a bit, and will water less. The first two problems seem under control, the third though is what worries me. Is this fungus? The leaves with a lot of spots will just drop (some i manually removed), and also i feel like it has lost a good 40% of leaves.
Some photos of the now and the last one was in the beginning:
Help is greatly appreciated!
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.33 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.33 PM.png
    365.8 KB · Views: 17
  • Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.48 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.48 PM.png
    415.4 KB · Views: 18
  • Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.57 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.17.57 PM.png
    244.6 KB · Views: 21
  • Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.18.08 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.18.08 PM.png
    182.8 KB · Views: 20
  • Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.18.17 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2024-03-26 at 2.18.17 PM.png
    226.4 KB · Views: 20
Fukien teas are tropicals and they will drop their inner leaves as they grow, or if they are moved to lower light locations. The inner leaves will yellow and start looking bad, and eventually fall off the tree. You only need to worry if leaves on the OUTSIDE of the foliage mass start to droop and look poor - or yellow. They should be rigid and a dark shiny green and may exhibit tiny white dots that are sprinkled uniformly across the leaf surface.

Though Fukien tea has a bad reputation as a touchy plant I have found them to be strong and resilient - as long as you get them into a good soil mix and put them outside in the summer. Unfortunately, many arrive in the US in a heavy organic soil mix that looks like something that you would find in a bog. If you repot, be very gentle with the roots - they are very fine and the tree will not respond well to aggressive root work. However it will respond even less well to remaining in bad soil that is difficult to water and creates all sorts of issues down the road. So proceed cautiously.

Also, water thoroughly, and then let the soil almost dry completely before you water again. Do not let the tree sit in standing water or sit in saturated soil too long. A good soil mix will help immensely with the ease of watering.

fukien.jpg
 
Last edited:
thanks! That's why i worry. These spots are prettmy much uniform on the leaves and i was trying to figure out if it's fungus and if it needs anti fungal spray
 
Back
Top Bottom