Would you wait to change soil?

[BuddingBonsaiBrother]

So my Serissa has had a rough life, back in the fall, it took a fall; my wife caught it with her purse, and hurled it down the stairs. It was knocked out of it’s pot, and broke a major branch reducing it by almost half.

I put it back in it’s pot with the same soil which was fairly new, I had just re-potted it about a month prior to this incident.

Anyways, it seemed like it recovered from this, with time I moved it inside and put it under a light ( I live in New England btw), and it still seemed alright. Well, after about two months it just started dropping it’s leaves, not sure what happened. I’ve had it under the same light (in the same place) before and it did alright. I was giving it “Dr. Earth” 2-4-2 for a bit because I thought the roots had been damaged. only for about a month I was feeding it this and usually in the winter I slow down from weekly to every two weeks or even less. Once again this was just a short while normally I go with a higher nitrogen. I did switch it up eventually to “joyfull Dirt” 8-3-5. And it started to shoot up some leaves.

Which is where I’m at now, below there should be a picture of the tree now, I’ve had it for about 7-8 years, and never have seen it look this bad.

So not sure what went wrong, the light (which I also included a pic of.) maybe I need to change the spectrum?
Maybe it’s the feeding, I should also mention that it has always been granular fed, and that this winter there was a lack in feeding, I’ve always have done organic and just didn’t have time to pick up fert.
Also maybe I’ve over watered, it’s always liked a wetter foot. But maybe with all that happened it just couldn’t dry out enough?

so my question is should I leave it be, and see what happens, or give it fresh soil? I usually wait till it’s pretty hot to transplant but, with it’s condition it’s in now maybe I should rush that order?
Any suggestions?

 

[Mikecheck123]

"changing soil" is too traumatic for a sick tree.

When a tree is struggling, I usually slip pot into well draining bonsai soil without disturbing the existing roots. It fixes several possible problems, so it's not critical to figure out exactly what's going on.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Crap lamp made in china. Thank you for supporting makers of covid virus.

 

[sorce]

Oh....I was gonna say it's a Chinese light so it SHOULD be fine!

Welcome to Crazy!

Cough.

Sorce

 

[BuddingBonsaiBrother]

Well the site is called BonsiNut... And I was assuming the creators of that name were referring to loons and not edibles or reproductive organs when they chose that name. so not surprised to run into one.

And for the record I wasn’t questioning the lamp I was questioning the spectrum of the bulbs. And I would by that lamp again, course I would support an American company if I could, and in a way I did, because I bought it from a small grow store here (the NE of USA) And yes the owner is American. But, that’s what was available to me at the time and that’s what I have.

anywho; to Mikecheck123, thanks for the response, I’m considering the suggestion, I’m just worried that the roots have not filled out enough, and that upon removal the soil might fall away so much that it will be more of a transplant than a slip. The soil does have a lot of turface in it, which at times I find tends to pool at the first watering of the day, but that’s only after it gets old, as of now it still drains pretty freely. just for the record not arguing with you, and appreciate the input, it’s just that’s my worry.

 

[JudyB]

I think that I'd let it be for a while, seems like it's snowballing from all the trauma so far. Serrissa are finicky plants, and don't like a lot of messing with. Best to wait to do anything more to it at this point, and keep it watered properly. I would try a heat mat under it if it were in my care.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I agree with @JudyB , just let the Serissa be for a while. Good news is it looks like it has buds on branches and little shoots starting at the roots. Its alive!!!. You could have been over watering, or under watering, it is hard to tell, either will damage the root system, and can result in wilted leaves. You will just have to use your judgement. It is important to check daily to see if it needs water, but only water if the soil is approaching dry. Indoors it might not need water every day. It is possible you were overwatering. Note that as new growth expands its watering needs will increase. So watering frequency will vary with the seasons, and with the amount of active growth.

By the way, I think the lamp is fine, the spectra looks fine.

And I agree with you, there is no such thing as a ''gentle slip potting", in reality, no mater how "gentle" one thinks you are, "slip potting" usually turns out to be just as traumatic to the tree as a full blown repotting. So don't do it, this tree has had its roots disturbed enough for the year.

 

[BuddingBonsaiBrother]

Well, I’m sorry I didn’t Follow up with an update for you all sooner. Life just got kind of hectic.

But, unfortunately I did loose the tree, I would have liked to have tried a heating mat. Unfortunately do to the pandemic one did not come soon enough. I let it sit under the light, would have liked to have moved it outside but by the time the weather was warm enough I was watering a dead tree.

I was however able to procure a cutting from it a couple months prior to all that. So for now the Serissa lives on...We’ll see what the winter brings.

I think the ultimate demise of the original Serissa was it possibly fell into a cycle of over watering/under watering when it started to fall ill. It’s tough to say, but the plant did like a wet foot and there’s a fine line (well for me at least.) between wet foot and soaked Pot. Also I had it in a deep pot for most of its life, 3” deep.

Anyways I got seven good years out of the last one, course I don’t have any pics on this phone to back that statement up. But if I come across so I’ll post em, as for now I’ll leave you with a pic of the cutting.

Big thanks to everyone for being so generous with their knowledge and taking the time to post.

 

[Carol 83]

Well, I’m sorry I didn’t Follow up with an update for you all sooner. Life just got kind of hectic.

But, unfortunately I did loose the tree, I would have liked to have tried a heating mat. Unfortunately do to the pandemic one did not come soon enough. I let it sit under the light, would have liked to have moved it outside but by the time the weather was warm enough I was watering a dead tree.

I was however able to procure a cutting from it a couple months prior to all that. So for now the Serissa lives on...We’ll see what the winter brings.

I think the ultimate demise of the original Serissa was it possibly fell into a cycle of over watering/under watering when it started to fall ill. It’s tough to say, but the plant did like a wet foot and there’s a fine line (well for me at least.) between wet foot and soaked Pot. Also I had it in a deep pot for most of its life, 3” deep.

Anyways I got seven good years out of the last one, course I don’t have any pics on this phone to back that statement up. But if I come across so I’ll post em, as for now I’ll leave you with a pic of the cutting.

Big thanks to everyone for being so generous with their knowledge and taking the time to post.

At least you got a nice little cutting out of it! So it's not a total loss.

 

[BuddingBonsaiBrother]

I don’t know why this didn’t come to me sooner. But, this thought popped in my head last night; when I first started using this site I went by the name BonsaiWilly, but I lost the password to the site and, and also to the email I was using at the time. So I couldn’t access it any more.

Anywho, I have a new email and title now. But, I don’t want to flatter myself, but it does have to do with this thread; and if any one wants to check out a pic of the serissa that’s gone now (not the clone.). It’s from back when it was doing well. About a 3rd of the way through it’s life. Just look up that name “BonsaWilly” and the icon is a pic of that plant from that time.

It was a good little plant, I gotta say, it’s def missed, I’ve never had a plant that was so verbal (so to say.). That’s the only serissa I’ve ever taken care of, so I’m not sure if it was that cultivar, but man if you moved that thing from it’s usual spot to a different room or where ever. It’s leaves would turn yellow right before your eyes ( not all it’s leaves but some) it was pretty amazing, and thats what I mean when I say it was “verbal”. because by that action it would tell you it was unhappy. Thing was a pretty prolific bloomer too, twice a year.
Unfortunately I never really pruned it to a great, great shape. But it was decent.

anyways sorry to ramble, it was a tough loss. I’m gonna have to look around on the forums and see if there’s any threads on losing Loved Bonsai’s ha.

but once again thanks everyone for pitching in your two cents, it was appreciated.

 

[JudyB]

Serrissa are hard trees to start with, try a ficus! Better luck with your cutting....