Questions from a well-researched newbie

[CliffracerX]

==MINOR FUKIEN TEA UPDATE & GENERAL BUMP, DAY 11 AT O'DARK'THIRTY==
I've been kinda stressing over its watering situation today as the moss didn't seem to be transferring much water to the soil below, so I finally took it off to make sure I was watering the tree itself, and to inspect the soil situation a little closer.
Revelations:

• The moss was indeed absorbing basically all of the water, though admittedly I was watering fairly cautiously and giving it time to seep through before checking soil moistness. Oops.
• Yes, it is definitely in a most, if not entirely organic substrate. Oh dear.
• Outside of the top layers of soil, said substrate seems to be fairly densely packed. Oh dear.
• There's a lot of new growth that needs trimmed, and unfortunately not much of it is in a position optimal for trimming to encourage additional ramification - sure, it would probably do so, but in a way that'd make the already dense portions of the canopy even denser. Not life or death, though, just style things.
• I think it may be deciding to flower? A good sign that the week or so I've had it hasn't been terrible for its health, at least.

Moisture meter readings averaged around 2.5 (edges are a bit less moist, presumably due to distance from the roots which I very well may have brushed into or even stabbed by accident with the meter when measuring closer to the center), and it felt fairly dry to the touch about an inch into the ground (like a really well wrung-out washcloth that's had a bit to dry), so I went ahead and gave it some fairly thorough watering. Moisture meter's gone up to 3.5-5ish and it now feels reasonably moist, like a washcloth that's been dunked in water then wrung out so it's ready for use.

Questions for the assembled experts:

1. How urgent is repotting it?
2. Tangentially, should I leave the (faux?) moss off the top, or keep it in place? It may have been there to help with humidity or retaining soil moisture for all I know.
3. This is more of a general care question, but: I've seen lots of conflicting info on watering & fertilising from bonsai info sites (e.g, bonsaiempire), so what should I be aiming for, moisture and feeding-wise?
4. Another general care question: how do I keep it happy, humidity-wise?

==POSTAL NOTE==
I do realise that worrying about all this at o'dark'thirty is pretty silly, since it is a tree and things move fairly slowly with 'em, but I figured I'd err on the side of caution here since FTs have a reputation for being finnicky - I'd rather lose out on some sleep than risk the tree's health.

 

[leatherback]

As you can tell. The tree grows happily in the substrate it is in. There is nothing wrong with it. It is just more tricky to care for it. So how urgent is it? It is not. It is established and healthy. Question is, are you able to keep it that way in this substrate.

I do not keep moss on my pots.

You should never let it dry out. But it has to get drier before you water it. As bad as fully drying out is roots in a swamp. (And we are back to substrate: Coarse open substrate is a lot easier to manage).

I have not often seen fukien trees stay happy outside of the tropics. If you find a way, you are set for big consulting I think.

 

[CliffracerX]

As you can tell. The tree grows happily in the substrate it is in. There is nothing wrong with it. It is just more tricky to care for it. So how urgent is it? It is not. It is established and healthy. Question is, are you able to keep it that way in this substrate.

I do not keep moss on my pots.

You should never let it dry out. But it has to get drier before you water it. As bad as fully drying out is roots in a swamp. (And we are back to substrate: Coarse open substrate is a lot easier to manage).

I have not often seen fukien trees stay happy outside of the tropics. If you find a way, you are set for big consulting I think.

Good to know there's probably no immediate rush - I'm fairly paranoid about over/under-watering and can likely keep it in good shape for a while without too much difficulty. That said, I'm guessing it'd still be wise to give it a repot come this spring since it's still in a harder substrate to manage & the roots are an unknown factor, likely not a great one given its origins from a producer for big box office stores & time spent at said box office stores.
(Why, one wonders, are they being shipped out to non-tropical areas anyways? I don't have much faith in box office stores as-is, but *jeez*, selling people plants that're likely doomed to failure in the very zone the store's in is just absurd.)

That watering advice more or less falls in line with my general understanding for bonsai & plants at large, as well as a common theme among the advice I've seen for FTs specifically (let them get fairly dry, then water 'till fairly moist, wait & repeat ad infinitum)

As for zone advice, that also has been a definite recurring theme. I suspect keeping them inside with carefully-regulated temperatures + a humidity tray or the likes + growth lights is probably the only way for them to really thrive long-term in anything less than the tropics. We definitely can't just pop it outside, as I'm pretty sure both the highs and lows of the next couple days are likely to already be outside its comfort zone, plus sudden exposure to full undiluted sunlight would roast it.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 11, END-OF-DAY STATUS REPORT==
It's been a busy day.

==THE MAPLES==
Got moved back to the regular, non-screened porch as they've been recovering for a fair while now, the weather's super-cloudy the next few days so there's no direct sunlight risk, and because it was a beautiful day, peeps wanted to let the resident quadropeds of the feline persuasion go out & enjoy the pretty day while the chance was there. They've not changed much since yesterday & I'm pushing the attachment limits for this post, so no pictures for now.

==THE FUKIEN TEA==
It still seems plenty happy - the flowers are making slow progress, leaves are as vibrant and solid as ever, and the new growth was still growing, so it finally got a much-needed minor haircut today - took off some of the newest branches that weren't contributing to the overall shape of the tree, and plopped the resultant cuttings into a pot with lightly-moistened 50/50 perlite : potting soil mixed up, and a clear water tray being used as a makeshift humidity dome. Misted the cuttings before putting the dome on as well. We'll see how it goes - I'm not expecting much, if any of them to take, but figured that it's worth trying - if it works, free material, if not, no great loss. Note that they were *not* given any rooting hormones - I didn't think to look for 'em at Lowes today and dunno where any are around the house at present. IIRC it's not a strict necessity & just improves the chance the cuttings will take.


==THE FOREST GROWS==
I finally got my mitts on some proper tools (not Bonsai-specific, but still better than kitchen scissors), more perlite, small pots, and most excitingly, two Portulacaria Afras - one regular, one Variegata variant. They were unfortunately grown for MAXIMUM SHRUB (tm) and so bonsai-ing them is going to be...an involved process. I believe there are at least two, probably three distinct regular P. Afras in their pot, and probably 2 or more of the Variegatas in the other. Unfortunately, re-potting them to eventually have them all in their own homes instead of a tangled mess as they are now is also gonna be an involved process:

The regular ones appear to be mildly rootbound, and I'm not at the level of skill, rest, or sunlight where I'm willing to tangle with trying to trim the roots, separate the plants, and re-pot - so for now, they're gonna be staying in the planters we got 'em in 'till I have a better idea of what the heck to do moving forward. Did give them a light watering as the soil was more or less completely dry in both pots.

That said, I've not been completely unproductive with them: I went ahead and gave 'em a light haircut too.


The resultant cuttings are currently resting on top of dry 50/50 perlite : potting soil in shaded planters on the middle shelf below the Fukien Tea's home, being given time to callous & hopefully to later go into said soil for rooting - if I'm understanding the optimal way of rooting them, anyway. If anyone here has advice on how best to root them, I'm all ears.


Edit 1: put a space in perlite : potting soil because otherwise it was gonna be perliteotting soil forever. With all my years on the 'net, you'd think I'd have known better than to make that typo, but...nope.

 

[leatherback]

With portocularia you can basically remove all roots, so untangling them could be as easy as snipping a few mains off. Let them dry for a day or two, then plant.
Same with the cuttings.

Make sure the cuts have build a skin. Then plant in slighltly moist medium. Do not water for the first 2-4 weeks.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 12, END-OF-DAY STATUS REPORT==
The first batch of P. Afra cuttings have been transplanted today. That's about all.

==THE MAPLES==
Like with yesterday, there's nothing really to report here. They seem to by and large be recovering, although they're not quite as fond of the regular porch as the screened one - need to figure out a better way to guarantee heavy shade during the worst of the afternoon. No pictures again today, as I'm pushing attachment limits & there's really not much to show.

==THE FUKIEN TEA==
It seems happy as ever. Flowers still making slow progress, new growth slowly chugging along, no signs of things being unhappy that I can see. Cuttings are inscrutable, but I expect it's going to take a lot more than 24 hours to find out if they take or die.

I should note that I have yet to fertilise the main tree - to my understanding they usually want fertilised somewhere between every week & every other week during the growing season with a fairly mild fertiliser (e.g, solid pellets or a diluted liquid fertiliser), and I haven't yet put in the research time to figure out a good place for mail-ordering an appropriate mix.


(Also, some details of note: our living room, where it stays, has giant southwestern windows providing a decent bit of light - but they are triple-treated so not much UV is coming through. It usually hovers around 70F, +/-10F depending on weather, season, etc, and the humidity doesn't drop below 30ish% that I know of - possible lighting issues notwithstanding, it may actually be an ideal environment for growing happy FTs, who I understand want 20% humidity minimum and enjoy that exact temperature range.)

==THE P. AFRAS==
Not much to report on the main plants today - they're just doing their thing. I did take a couple more trims off the regular P. Afra for the purposes of slowly bringing back some of the absurdly long and leggy growth to encourage a more tree-like shape, and to have more cuttings to try planting in two days in the name of science - I went ahead and did the first set of cuttings tonight, ~24 hrs after they were taken. They were decently calloused over by the looks of things and definitely getting kinda dry, so into the soil they went.

The biggest went into the various 3d-printed vases I've made so far, while the smaller ones are staying in the original pots in bulk - I don't expect many of them to take given the size, so figured I might as well plant all of 'em and move the survivors into their own pots in a couple of weeks. The soil mix is scoops of the same 50/50ish perlite to potting soil setup as in the pots, watered to the point of some water draining out the bottom when shaken, meaning they're on the fairly-moist end of things - we shall see if this is great or terrible in the coming days, and I'll may try the second batch of cuttings on the dryer end of things.


The bulk ones:

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 14 STATUS REPORT==
A mixed bag of info for today.

==THE MAPLES==
The maples are not looking so good today. The tall guy is more or less back to being entirely droopy, even in the lower leaves, its shoots are dying, and there are growing dead patches on the two bushy guys' leaves. Only the smallest are still thriving. I've moved them back to the screen porch for guaranteed shade in the afternoon & to help maintain humidity around them to the best of my ability - they may very well need humidity chambers for a while until things cool back off again, as the leaves are often dry within an hour or two of my misting them. Pictures incoming.


==THE FUKIEN TEA==
Nothing much to report with the parent plant - it still seems happy enough. Gave it another thorough watering day before yesterday (IIRC) as the soil was feeling pretty dry, and yet it's already pretty dry again. Not sure what to make of it, given the tree itself looks happy - I may err on the side of watering based on the status of its leaves instead to avoid the risk of overwatering. It definitely needs a re-pot this coming spring, I think - it seems like it's got roots throughout most of the soil, and the water retention/drainage situation just mystifies me at this point.


The cuttings, meanwhile, have grown by what appears to be a full set of leaves across all of them. The tallest one had grown enough it actually got a little toasted by sunlight through the windows yesterday when I set them out with the lid off to breathe, and had bounced back with naught but a single missing leaf by the evening - the makeshift humidity chamber is clearly doing wonders for them being able to stay hydrated. Not sure what this is gonna mean for them rooting in the long-term, but cautiously optimistic it's a good sign for their survival.


==THE P. AFRAS==
Basically nothing to report here. The cuttings don't seem to be making any progress forwards or backwards that I can tell, and the parents seem fine, although their soil has been concerningly and omnipresently dry - something tells me those massive root systems are sucking up all the water fast...though it could also just be that I've been cautious with my watering (read: spritz the soil a good few times using the spray bottle's single-stream mode) and shouldn't hold back from watering them thoroughly. Really need to sit down and plan out a proper re-potting for 'em.

 

[Mycin]

Look for the leaves on the jade cuttings to wrinkle, that's a sign they're rooting in my experience. Don't be shy on the water for the established jades - water deeply and thoroughly like any other plant. I'd let the soil dry out to something a bit less than moist between waterings, but when you do water, water them until water drips steadily out of the bottom. A sprayer isn't really appropriate for anything short of moss or cuttings, IMO.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 19 STATUS REPORT==
Things're moving slowly. Taking it group by group, as usual.

==THE MAPLES==
Most of them look fairly happy, save for the tall guy, who's looking pretty terrible at this point and I assume is probably a dead tree standing - almost all its leaves have what I could only describe as bruises forming, four more from the lowest portions were dead outright & needed trimmed off a few days ago, and the new growth up top looks extremely dead at this point. The others are happy, though some have brown splotches here and there that, while disturbing, don't seem to be hurting anything - water pressure is good, they seem to be slowly growing, and overall just look relatively happy. More than anything I think they probably need more sunlight at this point, tall guy notwithstanding.

Tomorrow being day 20, it may also be time to give them their first feeding - I opted not to do so on Day 10 due to their general iffy state.

==THE FUKIEN TEA==
Far as I can tell, it's still a happy camper. One of the flowers on it was in full bloom yesterday, though it's closing up and looking a little withered today - AFAIK that's normal for FTs, they only flower for a day or two. Pics from its state yesterday can go in another post or the likes, if people are curious.


(Also, if anyone has advice for fertiliser that FTs like, I'm all ears - I'm almost certain it'll need fed soon, given how long it's been in that pot & how small it is.

==THE FUKIEN TEA CUTTINGS==
They're still growing, far as I can tell. I am utterly mystified as to how they've managed to do this well, being that the extent of my preparation was taking off the lowest leaves to encourage rooting from their nodes before jamming 'em in the soil mix.


==THE PORTULACARIA AFRAS==
Parent plants look like they're finally happy, water-wise, as most of the leaves have attained that somewhat-plump state that P. Afras are known for. Not much else to report with 'em - they're still in their original pots as I don't have enough drainage trays left for replanting at the moment - which I may just use as an excuse to break out a new thing of green filament & print some fancier planters for 'em myself, heh. Cuttings are inscrutable, though many are showing the wrinkliness that hopefully indicates they're rooting. Not pictured is batch 2: they're looking basically the same as the first batch & I'm out of images.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 21, MAPLE-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS==
Not a ton going on with the other trees so I'm not gonna bother doing a full status report, but, did want to ask some questions about the maples specifically - mainly the tall one, as it's the only one whose immediate survival I think is still in question. Apologies for the god-awful picture quality - lighting was not optimal tonight & had to use the flash.


In a nutshell: the tall guy's looking real bad. The trunk is dying from the top down (possibly rotting? not sure), many of the leaves are crinkly, dry, and developing brown, bruise-like splotches - meaning they are presumably dying or dead - and even the ones that aren't still don't seem to be in great health. My first instinct is to trim off what's clearly dead, removing the dead portion of the trunk right above the highest still-green nodes, as well as pruning off the bruised-looking and assumedly dead leaves at the halfway point of their stem, as has been recommended in the past. Trim point for the trunk:


All that said, I'm also keenly aware trees struggling like this generally want to be left alone, and that in particular, lopping off parts of the trunk seem to be a big no-no unless the tree's in good health & the season is right - I know full-well the advice is usually to stop fiddling & let them do their thing, but if we're looking at rot or the likes I suspect leaving it alone is certain doom.

Should also mention that I have not yet fertilised any of them, the extent of their care has been misting the leaves every few hours when they're starting to dry out during the daytime, and occasional (i.e, usually once a week or so when the soil's actually getting fairly dry) watering, and still not sure I should fertilise yet - given their condition they may yet want to heal for another week or two before being fed.

Would appreciate thoughts on what to do (if anything) about the tall guy, about waiting on vs. fertilising now, and if I should let up on misting & the likes in case that's actually part of the problem here.

 

[leatherback]

leave it alone. If it wants to live, it will. But it looks like a seedling that has given up.

It is not rotting. It is drying out.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 30, PARTIAL STATUS REPORT==
Not a ton to report, been mostly leaving things be of late. Going to target some specific plants instead of all the things with today's post.

==THE MAPLES: THE TALL GUY==
In a surprising twist, this guy seems to be changing his mind. All of the dried-up dead leaves have dropped, and the remaining ones have high pressure in both the leaves & stems, and are doing their best to face towards the sun they get in the afternoon. Pics from a few days ago vs. now:


I still have yet to fertilise any of the maples, but may do so later today or sometime tomorrow - since it's officially been about a month it may finally be time. Open to opinions on this front.

(Also, a note: I am under no illusions that this means all's happy and dandy. They need to be gathering up enough nutrients to survive the winter sleep, not struggling to stay alive in the first place, and AFAIK it wouldn't be viable to transfer them indoors over-winter to give 'em time to keep sucking up nutrients, even with high-power lighting and such just since they *need* that winter sleep in order to rest and recover from growing over the summer. It might not kill 'em immediately, but it probably won't make 'em any stronger or more ready to face down freezing weather.)

==THE FUKIEN TEA==
The drama everyone says FTs are known for seems to have finally come for me: it's getting yellowed, black-spotted leaves that it's usually ready to let go of within a day or two. From Aug 29th, when I moved it into quarantine in my window:


I was usually seeing about one or two a day ready to go, but it looks like a bumper-crop is coming in - a whole branch is starting to show yellowed leaves now. By my understanding, this is a sign it's not getting enough light; the leaves are leaking sap, which's then getting either a mold or fungus infection. *Or* it's being harassed by bugs of some kind - which is not an improbable explanation as there's a fruit fly pandemic in our house right now, and even transfer to quarantine in a SW window in my space may not have shaken all of 'em. Some leaves are also showing softness & low water pressure near the top of the canopy, without much of the usual waxy sheen - they aren't yellowed or anything, just weird and a bit different.

It is worth noting that almost all the leaves in question are in the side that *doesn't* usually face the window, as it's the bushiest part of the canopy and I'd like to encourage growth on the opposite side, which is pretty empty right now.
I plan to get some LED growth lights soon, both for seeing if they'll help stop the FT from dumping leaves like this, and to hopefully help make some happier P. Afras as well.

I should also note none of the flower buds on it have taken beyond that first one from a while back. I think it probably needs fertilised ASAP, and not sure what would be good to use - AFAIK FTs prefer slow-releasing & gentle solid fertilisers as opposed to a feast of diluted liquid fertilisers when watering, but I've also heard a lot of conflicting advice on this front, so...eh.

==THE PORT CUTTINGS==
Mixed news on this front. Some of them are definitely rooted, even growing at this point, but not all. Unfortunately, I was horrified to find earlier that one of the Variegata cuttings had dropped a *bunch* of otherwise-healthy looking leaves, and closer inspection revealed the presence of what I believe are mealybugs on two leaves. Swabbed them off with a Q-tip, removed the dropped leaves, and moved it into quarantine in my bathroom window, where I'll be watching it closely - can try spraying it down with a 50/50 water/ISO alcohol mix as I've heard that recommended for mealybug treatment on the Potrs. One of the other Variegata cuttings had dropped some leaves as well, though I saw no signs of insects on it.
This ultimately also leads me to believe that the original pot of Variegatas I picked up at Lowes may be the source of the infestation - it has intermittently been dropping healthy-looking leaves as well, so it's now quarantined in a window in a room without plants to ensure no spread can occur.

Otherwise, not much to report. Took a couple more prunes off the regular P. Afra a few days ago and it's responded by pushing out new growth *everywhere*, and even said cuttings seem to be growing already, in spite of clearly not having roots yet. No pictures here, unfortunately - didn't think to take any when removing the mealybugs or the likes, and don't want to spam yet another ten bajillion pictures of sticks in eyesore-inducing 3d-printed pots

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 31, FUKIEN TERRIBLE NEWS==
As the terrible-pun title would imply, today brings bad news on the Fukien Tea front.


Seven more dying, spotty leaves with what I could only describe as burst-looking veins (note: this may be from bunching them up in a paper towel when moving them to a better-lit position, subsequently squishing them together & crushing them somewhat) were more or less ready to come off tonight when pulled, and there's two or three more yellowed/spotty leaves on the tree not yet ready to go. Low water pressure is visible across the entire canopy. Of note: the dropped leaves seem slightly sticky - they don't *feel* particularly so, but cling to your finger when pressed against, which could again just be a sign I crushed them a bit, either in transit or when pulling 'em - none have come off as easily as the first two back on the 29th, admittedly.

All I can think of is that it's in mild shock from losing so many leaves, possibly combined with being in a lower humidity/temperature zone in my room. As the issue primarily still seems to be low light, and maybe low humidity, my initial instinct here is to move it either back to its original spot, or outside with the maples during the day where it can get some direct sunlight in the late afternoon - although it's finally cooling off & getting less muggy out there, which is the opposite of what it wants right now, I'm sure. I'm also inclined to start misting it again, as the low water pressure in the leaves seems to indicate they're not drawing in enough moisture from the air.

Advice, treatment suggestions, or diagnosis as for what it's actually unhappy about would be appreciated.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 32, FUKIEN TERRIBLE NEWS CONT'D IN THE AM==
I was up late working on stuff & have been checking in on the FT every few hours. TL;DR: in the course of six hours, water pressure across all leaves has dropped even further. Visible degradation has occurred in some of the yellowed leaves. An area on the trunk that has always looked odd (though I wrote it off as an ugly scar or the likes) is looking odder. I'm moving it back to its original spot for the time being, and putting a makeshift humidity chamber over it via a clear plastic bag.


I'm assuming this is one of the legendary Fukien Tea temper tantrums I've heard so much about. As with earlier, still in need of advice or treatment suggestions - AFAIK I pretty much just want to leave the bag overtop it to help maintain humidity, giving it a light mist & some time to breathe every day (not unlike with its cuttings) & just let it be for a while until it's decided to stop throwing a fit, but I'm not 100% certain of that, and the bag strikes me as a seriously non-optimal setup that could actually hurt it more than help it.

 

[leatherback]

If humidity is the issue (Do not nkow as I have never owned one of these devil trees) the bag will work. HOwever, I would make some structure on the inside that stops the bag from draping itself onto the foliage completely

 

[CliffracerX]

If humidity is the issue (Do not nkow as I have never owned one of these devil trees) the bag will work. HOwever, I would make some structure on the inside that stops the bag from draping itself onto the foliage completely

I don't know if humidity changes are specifically why it's unhappy right now, but from my understanding FTs - and all other tropicals - rely heavily on humidity chambers when recovering from any sort of a shock, and are a necessary part of aftercare for traumatic operations. The bag's a temporary solution, but I'll see about trying to find some way of holding it up anyway if it's gonna be necessary for more than a few hours - hopefully I can find some local place selling proper humidity tents/el-cheapo growth chambers for germinating seedlings in tomorrow & move it to a proper structure. Was planning on getting such things for moving its offspring from their shared makeshift planter-chamber into individual pots semi-soon, but looks like that process needs to be expedited here.

(I should note I *don't* have a clear idea of what's stressing it out right now, which is another problem - most likely candidate is probably me fidgeting with it too much by plucking off the seemingly-molding yellowed leaves when it just wanted to leave 'em alone and drop them on their own time, likely combined with having been moved into a new space a week ago. Something tells me it's not gonna be too happy about all this extra fidgeting to react to its tantrum, but...not sure what else I'm supposed to do here.)

 

[Carol 83]

Sounds like you're doing everything you can but don't feel too bad if you do lose it. Many have come before you.

 

[CliffracerX]

==DAY 33: FINALLY, SOME GOOD FUKIEN NEWS==
I've more or less left the FT alone in its makeshift humidity bag since the last status update (though it was propped up by chopsticks so as to avoid it draping against the foliage quite so much), but finally took it off earlier to give it a chance to breathe & assess its state.



It's still definitely not where it should be, but most of the leaves have their waxy sheen and rigidity back again as opposed to feeling & looking like tissue paper. It dropped that one yellow leaf when I was taking the bag off, and I've learned my lesson about messing with the others, so I'm going to leave them be. I've also put the makeshift humidity tent back on for the time being, as a precaution against undoing the progress it's made & hopefully helping some of the remaining low-turgor leaves recover - though I am open to the suggestion of leaving it off for a while as well.



I did notice more of this weird black stuff on the trunk, but again, it may just be a sign of badly-healed cuts from its mass-produced mallsai stylings as opposed to a new development worthy of worrying about. The stuff higher up on the other side of the trunk doesn't appear much, if any different from when I last photographed it, which may suggest it's a nonissue.

==A BRIEF UPDATE ON THE VARIOUS OTHERS IN THE HOARD/HORDE OF TREES==
The maples are more or less unchanged from their previous update - tall guy's slowly losing another low leaf, but that seems to be the extent of things. I'm leery of leaving the dead portion of the trunk intact, as it's probably trying to throw resources at repairing it or pushing new shoots out the top instead of recovering lost leaves or getting ready to go dormant, but not sure what the best way of dealing with it is - last time I fiddled with it like that to remove dying leaves' stems, it had the catastrophic fall leading to the dead trunk in the first place.

Parent ports are doing fine, for the most part. I think the Variegata got a bit overwatered - its leaves are a bit pale, thick, and soft, with some having brown spots that look a lot like stock photos of unhappy ports. It's now living directly in a window, though quarantined in a plant-free room in case it's got a mealybug infestation I've not yet seen visual evidence of. A number of the cuttings are officially pushing new growth, although not all, and some of them are getting yellow w/ red-tipped leaves. The Variegata cuttings in particular haven't dropped any new leaves, but I don't think they've grown out any, either.

The FT's cuttings are still looking happy, far as I can tell. Haven't grown much vertically, but are putting out third leaves on some nodes, which I'm not sure what to make of - probably not a bad sign, just not sure what it's a good sign of.

==A STYLING QUESTION==
While I'm obviously not yet at the point with any of the cuttings where they're ready to be styled, I do have one question here - what's the best way to encourage branching from existing leaf nodes on the trunk? I know with the ports you can just snip off the branch/trunk above a node & they'll branch at that point, which is all well and good, but for something like the following concept art, it really needs to have a lot of branches on the existing trunk.


To a lesser degree, branching at leaves might be helpful in trying to make a good-looking Broom-style tree, probably especially Informal brooms, like this bit of concept art:


This also has some application to the parent Fukien Tea - there are some leaves on the trunk that, if they were to become branches, could be good candidates for filling in the nasty void in the canopy. I'm obviously not gonna touch it right now - it's clearly had enough of my nonsense for the time being - but when it's healthy & growing well again, I'd like to try and encourage it to fill in that space, and there are no current branches that'd suit that goal, nor branches I can prune to encourage additional branching in that direction.

==REPLIES==

Sounds like you're doing everything you can but don't feel too bad if you do lose it. Many have come before you.

While I'm well aware of this, especially with FTs (some of which weren't even that the tree died, if the /r/bonsai FT hate brigade is anything to go by), I'm still gonna feel bad about it if this little guy dies - especially if it's from something as avoidable as "whoops it tantrumed itself to death because I plucked a few dying leaves off", which is good material for a Dumb Ways to Die: Bonsai Edition compilation.

 

[BonsaiLuis]

Question: should I repot my Fukien Tea now ? I'm new to bonsai and my son buy me a Fukien Tea Treen. This was in June (fathers day). And I notice that the pot has no draining holes. The tree looks very good and its even blooming flowers. But im afraid that the moistures rotes the roots. Again, Should I repot my Fukien Tea now in September ?

 

[CliffracerX]

Question: should I repot my Fukien Tea now ? I'm new to bonsai and my son buy me a Fukien Tea Treen. This was in June (fathers day). And I notice that the pot has no draining holes. The tree looks very good and its even blooming flowers. But im afraid that the moistures rotes the roots. Again, Should I repot my Fukien Tea now in September ?

I am *far* from an expert on Fukien Teas - just happen to be lucky enough to have a house mine seems to like living in - but my instinct says that if there's no drainage holes in the planter, and it's having problems with wet feet, your best bet is probably to slip-pot it into a similar-sized planter at present. That said, I'm, again, far from an expert, and a lot of what you should do depends on where you're keeping the tree, what USDA zone you're in, etc. Adding your location + zone to your profile, as well as including pictures of the tree, the planter, and the soil would be a big help in figuring out how to move forward.

All that said, my general experience is that if they're happy - and you can be careful enough with the soil situation and whatnot - FTs are generally willing to wait. You've had yours since June, and it seems to be thriving even in spite of the lack of drainage holes, which is a better track record + length of time than I've managed so far, considering mine's been throwing a slow fit of late. If they're unhappy about something, you'll know almost immediately, as they'll throw a tantrum & drop leaves, lose water pressure, etc. While I appreciate the opportunity to try and help here, I would also recommend starting your own thread about it - that way people will know the specific help you need, instead of your message getting lost in the inevitable sea of sticks-in-pots I'll be posting pictures of in a day or two.

TL;DR:

1. Don't panic.
2. Update your profile with your location and USDA zone.
3. Post a new thread, including pictures of your Fukien Tea.
4. Continue caring for it as you have thus far while awaiting further advice - if it's not throwing a tantrum, you're doing something right, and loving it to death (changing up your watering/care schedule to be more intensive because you're freaking out it's gonna up and die instantly) is a very real and dangerous thing - FTs do NOT appreciate being overloved, as mine is displaying right now after I fiddled with it a bunch.
5. The resident Bonsai Nuts will swarm in with advice, and probably anecdotes about how fussy FTs are to care for. Focus on the advice & figure out your next steps.
6. Have patience, and again - don't panic.