Lately, Jim and I have been agreeing to often. It's not healthy. So:


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.


I prefer the "Knuckles" Vrooman method of poking a finger into the
soil (up to the first joint) and checking if the soil is *barely*
moist at that depth. If a Serissa is moist on the surface, I'm
thinking it's being over-watered, and it will do that
drop-all-its-leaves thing that Jim so tactfully did not mention.

As a general rule, underwatering is better than overwatering, but not
to the point of the plant wilting. A person has to learn what the
soil looks like just before it gets dry enough to wilt the plant.
Unfortunately, the way to learn this is usually by making a mistake.

I think there should be "master indoor gardener" courses where people
are given indicator plants that function as canaries in a coal mine.
I'd give everyone two plants potted in the same mix: a Clivia to
teach them not to over-water (Clivias that are overwatered get
unsightly scabs called Oedema), and a Maranta (prayer plant) to teach
them not to underwater (Maranta leaves roll up when under-watered,
but tend to recover). An added bonus is that both of these are very
attractive houseplants, much prettier than Serissas.

JUST JOKING,
--
Nina Shishkoff

Frederick, MD

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