Bonsai tree help needed!

[Inbedbynine]

Dc has a bonsai that I bought him at Easter and it’s dying.. all the leaves are falling off! Iv been watering it appropriately and followed all advice they gave me in the garden centre, what can I do? I haven’t had a chance to go back to the garden centre to ask them!

People who work at garden centres don't know the first thing about bonsai.

What species is it and can you post pictures, inc close-up of the leaves and one of the soil it's in. Can't give any advice without being able to see what the problem is and what sort of tree.

Where exactly are you keeping it?

It might be one (or several) of a number of things.

1 it was already on its way out when you bought it
2 it has dried out between waterings
3 it has been kept waterlogged and the roots have rotted
4 it has a disease
5 it has been kept in either too much or not enough light
6 it has got too hot or too cold
7 it has been in a draught
8 it is a species which is tricky to grow anyway
9 it is in unsuitable soil

Where there is life there is hope, but you need to find the cause before you can find the solution

I think there’s quite a few things wrong with it! I need to re-pot it, unless you don’t do this with bonsai? I had it a few days and it was on the dining table and leaves started to fall off, I soaked it for a little while in the sink and put it on the kitchen window sill. It looks quite mature looking at the roots? Should I re pot it, if so a normal compost? I’ll try to attach a photo...it wasn’t very dry today but it had been watered.

OK, I think it is a chinese elm, although it is hard to tell from the photo. It is an outdoor deciduous tree and from what I can see of the soil it is way too dry.

Dunk the whole thing in a bowl of water so that the soil is completely covered with water and leave it to soak for at least 10 minutes.

Then get it outside somewhere shady and sheltered and just leave it be. Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. It will need repotting, but it needs to recover a bit first. Hopefully in a week or two you might see some little green shoots appearing.

There's a book called Bonsai Basics by Colin Lewis, you can get second-hand ones on Ebay for a pound or two and that will explain how to repot and the type of soils to use. Ordinary compost is no good.

Fingers crossed

Oh no they said it was fine indoors!! I keep watering it but it is constantly dry. I have a big pot outside or does it need to be quite small whilst it’s ill? Are there any types that will live happily indoors in a smallish pot? None of the garden centres sell any other than this one we bought. Would I have to buy online?

I’ll have a look for the book thanks. My dc loves anything Japanese and really wants to keep a bonsai!

The garden centre would say that, wouldn't they?! They are selling them as houseplants.

There is no such thing as a 'bonsai'.

The literal translation of bonsai into English means 'tree in a pot'. There is no such thing as a species of miniature bonsai tree and you can't grow from so-called 'bonsai seeds' either. They are just ordinary tree seeds, and won't grow into a bonsai by themselves.

And trees and shrubs grow where? Outdoors. Some come from warm climates and need winter protection, others can live happily outdoors all year round. In fact they need the changing seasons in order to remain healthy.

The reason yours is constantly dry is that it is planted in Chinese mud, which is fine for growing in China (and where they grow them in the millions for the UK market), but not for our climate or indoors. Once it dries out it is really difficult to get evenly wet again. You pour water on, and it runs straight off and doesn't soak in.

For an indoors species look for a ficus ginseng (they sell these in Ikea quite often) or ficus retusa.

There are others that can be kept indoors, but they are tricky tropical plants and need a tropical climate to grow well. So unless you can provide a jungle environment in your living room, you won't have much luck.

To have a go at starting your own outdoor one, buy a small cotoneaster from a garden centre, and prune it into a pleasing shape. The book I mentioned goes into detail.

Fab thank you!

I had a Chinese elm which did this - purely because it dries out easily. Best thing to do is sit the pot in a tub of water overnight so it can soak in all the way through. Then let it drain & put it back in normal place. When you water it, water it by sitting the whole pot in water for a few hours rather than trying to water from the top , which is IMHO pointless. It will soon start sprouting new shoots again.

They are just ordinary tree seeds, and won't grow into a bonsai by themselves. What keeps them small is the restricted root space. So if you repot, don't repot into a huge pot.

Spray the whole thing with water.

Because of the restricted root space they appreciate any other water source.

After talking to someone with a display of bonsai at an RHS show last year we're considering bonsai'ing an oak sapling which appeared in our garden a few years ago but which is too close to the house to be allowed to reach maturity.

Apparently the procedure for a good specimen takes years - IIRC first grow a sapling to the desired trunk girth, then cut its roots esp. the big ones. Let it develop new fibrous roots and then restrict them in smaller containers until you end up with it in one of those shallow pots. Prune and shape it as you go.

And keep it outdoors!

#ErrolTheDragon - if you don't want to wait that long, then pop down to your local garden centre or Morrisons, buy a small cotoneaster and use that. You can turn one of those into a reasonably good-looking small bonsai in a year or so if you choose carefully and get one with good branch placement and a bendy trunk. They root from cuttings really easily as well.

Keep an eye on the wire, a lot of plants fatten up their trunks during August and the wire might suddenly start to cut in

I've been caught out a few times!