Lavender Star Flower Tree (Grewia Occidentalis) - Root Bound?

[delaghetto]

Hi BonsaiNut Community

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week thus far.

I am currently stressing over my Lavender Star Flower (Grewia Occidentalis). I reside in Denver, CO and on, or a day before October 18th (per my weather station of looking at temps and seeing the first frost date) I brought my little tree inside due to our very first frost. It has been inside in a southwest facing windowsill, I won't lie, I had it a tad close to the window, so that is a potential contributing factor. Per my temp gauge the coldest it has gotten inside the windowsill is 57F (14C). I water it when the soil is dry from my first knuckle. The tree is still green underneath the bark and the branches DON'T snap; they are very bendy.

Due to the yellowing leaves and severe root bound look...is my tree recoverable if I repot it into an 8.5" pot, it's currently in a 6" pot right now. The soil is very DENSE. Any tips, insight, best next steps of action I should take are greatly appreciated as I am very worried about this little tree..

I am happy to answer any questions that I may not have already covered.

 

[Attmos]

I like it.
Maybe it needs more humidity. I lived in Colorado and, as you know, it's dry as hell. lol
Have you seen any insects? Some of them are reallly tiny and difficult to see if you aren't actually looking for them.

 

[MMJNICE]

To me the tree doesn't really look root bound. I don't see that many roots when you lift the tree out the pot. A root bound tree will be full of roots and hardly any soil visible when lifting the tree out the pot. To me the soil looks horrible. It looks like mud. The roots probably can't breath in that crappie soil.

 

[delaghetto]

I like it.
Maybe it needs more humidity. I lived in Colorado and, as you know, it's dry as hell. lol
Have you seen any insects? Some of them are reallly tiny and difficult to see if you aren't actually looking for them.

Hi Attmos,

Thank you for the kind words! She's definitely a pretty one.

When I water it, I don't notice any insects, I've had my partner take a look also and they were unable to find any insects also.

As for the humidity, the weather gauge I have in the windowsill living alongside the tree states it's 30% humidity and we keep a humidifier running almost all night but turn it off during the daytime as we are not in the room.

 

[KateM]

I have a couple of them and they seem to be very thirsty trees.
Mine wilt if not kept evenly moist, but I never had the leaves turn yellow. They are also not in bonsai pots yet and are over potted...

 

[delaghetto]

To me the tree doesn't really look root bound. I don't see that many roots when you lift the tree out the pot. A root bound tree will be full of roots and hardly any soil visible when lifting the tree out the pot. To me the soil looks horrible. It looks like mud. The roots probably can't breath in that crappie soil.

Would it be wise to maybe replace the soil, or try and break it up by hand to create less dense compact soil?

 

[Russ1]

Looks like a watering issue and possibly it could use some Chelated Iron.
Hard to tell from the image but what do the roots look like, are the brown and mushy, dry, are the tips growing (lighter colored tips)?

 

[ABCarve]

You mostly have a watering issue. They like water and you live in a dry area. Repotting while the tree is stressed is not a good idea. Mine gets watered daily (even in winter) although it's in an inorganic APL mix. Yours looks to be in a potting mix with organics which is okay, but...... waiting until the mix is totally dry to your first knuckle is probably too dry and extreme. Temperature wise they're pretty hardy. Mine has been frosted without ill effect, but they do like heat and lots of sun. My advice is to give it a dunk in water to make sure the entire root ball is moist and wait for new buds to push. It will probably lose all its leaves. It won't use water because of no leaves. You will lose water from evaporation, so you'll have to monitor it closely before watering again.
For more info: https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/grewia-progression.19866/

 

[delaghetto]

All, I wanted to update you.

I have done what ABCarve recommended on Friday after making sure the topsoil was dry and I can proudly say that while, it's lost almost 90% of its leaves, I have some new buds growing in!!

Will keep you all updated as things progress.

Thank you everyone for your assistance and I hope everyone has a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.