New to bonsai, gifted Chinese Elm.

[MakeBelieveMatt]

Hey everyone!
So, my mother purchased a Chinese Elm back in November and from what she's told me, the tree was not doing much of anything until about three months ago when it started to slowly drop it's leaves. Fast forward to mid March at which point there wasn't a single leaf remaining. I was at her house two weeks ago and I noticed the tree and since my mom is usually WILDLY successful at growing ANYTHING, I asked her about it's current state. She was obviously frustrated by the whole scenario and she said I was more than welcome to take it off her hands. Honestly, I think she just wanted it out of her house. I've always wanted to delve into the bonsai "world" so I did take the tree home with me and I even built a little shelf for it out of necessity since all of my other houseplants already occupy every possible square inch of window space.



I live in Wilmington, Delaware and the shelf faces southeast and gets adequate sunlight. Not full on sun though, since I have a few large, mature trees in my front yard. The first week in it's new home the tree revealed nothing, good or bad. I went out of town for a few days and when I returned home on Wednesday...voilà! Progress!



I wasn't expecting the growth to appear where it did but truth be told, I wasn't expecting anything really. I was just happy to know that it wasn't dead. So, I'm wondering. Where do I go from here? Since the growth occurred that low on the tree and nothing at all on the limbs higher up where the previous leaves once were, I'm a little thrown off. Do I tend to this new growth already or just let it play out? Should I trim back some of the finer limbs toward the top of the tree? Any and all guidance is well appreciated! Thanks in advance and I'm excited to be a part of the community!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site!

You are probably going to hear this from a lot of people, but your tree would do better outdoors. If you have a bright sunny window where it gets direct sunlight, you might keep it alive, but it won't thrive like it would if it were out in full sun. Think about trying to grow an American elm tree in your kitchen, and you get the idea

For one reason or other, the tree almost died. In this case, I would be careful not to trim those shoots or do anything to the tree that would weaken it in the short term. All you want is the tree to put out as many leaves as possible, grow strong roots, and recover from whatever shocked it in the first place.

The big question: what does the soil look like? These small Chinese elms are notoriously famous for coming in bad soil, which is a common cause for many peoples' initial problems with them.

 

[MakeBelieveMatt]

I can absolutely move the tree outdoors now that the weather is a bit nicer, if that's recommended. Here's a closeup of the soil.



It hasn't been watered in a week and it's still wet.

 

[Nanuk]

I can absolutely move the tree outdoors now that the weather is a bit nicer, if that's recommended. Here's a closeup of the soil.

View attachment 239617

It hasn't been watered in a week and it's still wet.

Still wet after a week is not a good sign.
It needs to be in free draining substrate.
That said, I'm not sure if a repot at this time would be good or not.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I can absolutely move the tree outdoors now that the weather is a bit nicer, if that's recommended. Here's a closeup of the soil. It hasn't been watered in a week and it's still wet.

Definitely move it outside. The tree will be much happier. Find a nice spot in your garden to put a low shelf like a bench, and just make sure you are either a diligent waterer, or get a cheap drip irrigation system from Home Depot.

As far as the soil goes, you are in a bit of a chicken and egg situation. For trees being grown in containers, it is really important to have an open, free-draining soil mix. You should water the top of the soil, and the water should run through the soil and almost immediately drain out the holes in the bottom of the pot. If the water is absorbed into the soil like a sponge and refuses to drain that's bad. If the water pools on the top of the soil and takes a while to be absorbed in, that's even worse.

I took a photo of one of my Chinese elms to show you what the soil should look like. There are a million different opinions about what makes the best bonsai soil, and it varies somewhat by species, but the majority agree that you want a mix that is mostly (if not completely) inorganic, and if you use organic material it should be chunky and not break down into the soil quickly (like bark nuggets or rough cut peat). In my photo this happens to be 100% pumice, but I also use 1/3 pumice, 1/3 lava, 1/3 akadama. It just so happens that where I live pumice is really cheap and I use garbage cans full of it so I use 100% pumice on most of my trees that are still in development You DON'T WANT anything that looks like potting soil.



So your little tree has bad soil and appears root-bound in the pot. It is likely that your mother cared for the tree by properly watering, but the soil became water-logged (since it didn't drain well) and many of the tree's roots died, which in turn killed most of the tree. The good news is that Chinese elms are like weeds and are very forgiving, and if you can get this tree to recover you will have a story to tell!

The tree is too weak right now to repot, but you have to get some drainage going. Break out a chop stick or a knitting needle and turn over the pot. There should be one or two drainage holes on the bottom. Make sure the holes are clear and not clogged with soil. Turn the pot back over and using the chop stick at the edge of the pot, try to penetrate the soil mass and poke a series of holes through the root ball all the way to the bottom of the pot. Continue throughout the rootball and try to aerate it as much as possible.

This is a short-term bandage and is not how you want to care for any of your trees going forward. As you do this you have to make sure that when you water you water thoroughly, and then let the tree drain thoroughly before watering again. There is a chance that when you poke holes through the root ball the water will simply flow through the root ball leaving some interior parts dry, so you might even want to soak the tree in a shallow bucket to ensure all of the root ball is getting wet. Hopefully in a month or two your tree will be strong enough that you will be able to repot it and once you get it into good soil you won't have to provide this level of care.

Chinese elms are one of the super strong deciduous species that can be repotted in early summer without risk to the tree. You just want to give the tree as much time to throw out as much foliage as possible before you repot it.

 

[MakeBelieveMatt]

Definitely move it outside. The tree will be much happier. Find a nice spot in your garden to put a low shelf like a bench, and just make sure you are either a diligent waterer, or get a cheap drip irrigation system from Home Depot.

As far as the soil goes, you are in a bit of a chicken and egg situation. For trees being grown in containers, it is really important to have an open, free-draining soil mix. You should water the top of the soil, and the water should run through the soil and almost immediately drain out the holes in the bottom of the pot. If the water is absorbed into the soil like a sponge and refuses to drain that's bad. If the water pools on the top of the soil and takes a while to be absorbed in, that's even worse.

I took a photo of one of my Chinese elms to show you what the soil should look like. There are a million different opinions about what makes the best bonsai soil, and it varies somewhat by species, but the majority agree that you want a mix that is mostly (if not completely) inorganic, and if you use organic material it should be chunky and not break down into the soil quickly (like bark nuggets or rough cut peat). In my photo this happens to be 100% pumice, but I also use 1/3 pumice, 1/3 lava, 1/3 akadama. It just so happens that where I live pumice is really cheap and I use garbage cans full of it so I use 100% pumice on most of my trees that are still in development You DON'T WANT anything that looks like potting soil.

View attachment 239626

So your little tree has bad soil and appears root-bound in the pot. It is likely that your mother cared for the tree by properly watering, but the soil became water-logged (since it didn't drain well) and many of the tree's roots died, which in turn killed most of the tree. The good news is that Chinese elms are like weeds and are very forgiving, and if you can get this tree to recover you will have a story to tell!

The tree is too weak right now to repot, but you have to get some drainage going. Break out a chop stick or a knitting needle and turn over the pot. There should be one or two drainage holes on the bottom. Make sure the holes are clear and not clogged with soil. Turn the pot back over and using the chop stick at the edge of the pot, try to penetrate the soil mass and poke a series of holes through the root ball all the way to the bottom of the pot. Continue throughout the rootball and try to aerate it as much as possible.

This is a short-term bandage and is not how you want to care for any of your trees going forward. As you do this you have to make sure that when you water you water thoroughly, and then let the tree drain thoroughly before watering again. There is a chance that when you poke holes through the root ball the water will simply flow through the root ball leaving some interior parts dry, so you might even want to soak the tree in a shallow bucket to ensure all of the root ball is getting wet. Hopefully in a month or two your tree will be strong enough that you will be able to repot it and once you get it into good soil you won't have to provide this level of care.

Chinese elms are one of the super strong deciduous species that can be repotted in early summer without risk to the tree. You just want to give the tree as much time to throw out as much foliage as possible before you repot it.

Wow! Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I'm going to get straight to work!

 

[rockm]

Wow! Thank you so much for such a detailed response! I'm going to get straight to work!

Mr. Nut gives excellent advice.
FWIW, a lot of people buy bonsai like this and assume they're houseplants. They are not, for the most part, unless your tree is a species that is used as a houseplant, such as ficus or schefflera. Houseplants are houseplants because they can TOLERATE being kept inside. All things being equal, they'd rather be outside in their home ranges of the tropics--most houseplant species originate in the tropics.

Elms are temperate zone trees and yours, once it gets it feet back under it will be happiest outside ALL YEAR LONG--including winter. This species is quite capable of handling a Delaware winter with only a light jacket--which in the case of bonsai is a six inch deep mulch covering over its pot on the ground in your backyard garden.

 

[MakeBelieveMatt]

Mr. Nut gives excellent advice.
FWIW, a lot of people buy bonsai like this and assume they're houseplants. They are not, for the most part, unless your tree is a species that is used as a houseplant, such as ficus or schefflera. Houseplants are houseplants because they can TOLERATE being kept inside. All things being equal, they'd rather be outside in their home ranges of the tropics--most houseplant species originate in the tropics.

Elms are temperate zone trees and yours, once it gets it feet back under it will be happiest outside ALL YEAR LONG--including winter. This species is quite capable of handling a Delaware winter with only a light jacket--which in the case of bonsai is a six inch deep mulch covering over its pot on the ground in your backyard garden.

Thank you as well, rockm. All this help is greatly appreciated!