Dear friends,

After several years of growing different cactii
indoors, I have decided to test my luck with a Bonsai
tree.
Today I bought a Serissa Seroides and immidiately i
logged onto the net to find out info about its care
etc...

I have to mention that I found only 2-3 sites that
actually talk about this particular species of
Serissa. Many others talk about Serissa Foetida and a
few others Serissa species but very few about the
Seroides.

There is only ONE species of Serissa and that is S. foetida. All
other names are bogus or obsolete (or both).


However, I downloaded information on Serissa care and
on general Bonsai care, but I would like to ask you a
few Serissa Seroides specific questions (I have read
the FAQ).

You've probably got what there is. The care and feeding of a
Serissa can be a terrifying experience (or so I'm told). ;-)


Q1. I live in Greece and there is plenty of sunshine
from April until October, although I would prefer to
grow my Bonsai indoors using artificial light. Or is
it better to leave the tree outside in the shade to
absorb more light ?

ALL plants prefer being outdoors. Some will grow OK indoors, and
Serissa foetida is one of those. It will ALWAYS do better
outdoors when temperatures are above freezing.

I could even leave it outside under strong sunlight
but I guess this would eventually burn the tree.

Not at all. Even in Greece, one of my favorite places
(especially Rhodos).


Q2. AFter reading all the texts I downloaded, I
decided (as with most Bonsai's) to water the tree as
often as to keep the soil moist throughout. Am I right
on this ?

Yes. Moist. NOT wet.

It is better to place the Serissa in a tray of water
until the tree is watered throught and then remove the
tray and leave any excess water to drain through,
right ?

That's OK, but it is best to use a sprinkler can and water from
the top -- like rain -- the natural way.

Q3. I plan to repot it to a slightly larger pot.
However I do not want to prune any roots because my
lack of experience my damage the tree. Is it ok to
repot it as it is without pruning any roots and
without removing the attached soil ?

Oh my. The answer is yes -- IF the tree has been in its present
pot for a while. This means if there are roots filling the whole
pot. If you can lift it out of its pot without a lot of soil
crumbling away from the rootball, it's OK. If it is loose in the
pot, however, and if it looks like a lot of soil will fall away
when you lift it out of the pot, this means (probably) that it
was just recently put into that pot. Moving it again --
especially if all or most of the soil falls away from the
roots -- could be dangerous.

(And, of course, testing to see whether soil is loose or not
could be dangerous; it's hard to put the soil back around the
roots if it falls away.)

So, frankly, I'd leave it in its current pot for this summer,
fall and winter and then repot late next spring.

Or shall I remove the old soil from around the roots ?

NO

jim lewis - Tallahassee, FL

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