Hi,

I've been given a Japanese Elm bonsai for christmas and is
supposed to
be an indoor specimen. The tree is about 10" high and has a
nice
'corkscrew' trunk so I assume its quite a mature specimen.

I'm just puzzled if the tree really will survive indoors. Its
the
middle of winter here in the UK, but the tree still has all its
leaves. At the moment I have it on a kitchen window that gets
full sun
and I mist everyday.

Any help would be appreciated.
Its a nice tree and I want it to be happy ;-)

Chinese elms will survive indoors; some may even do well there.
In the spring and through the summer, however, it will MUCH
prefer to be outdoors. And, after it has acclimatized, it
probably would do best outdoors next winter, too. This winter,
the sudden shock of the cold would probably damage it.

Misting is OK. Watering every day may not be. You need to check
the soil. Water when the soil feels DRY. While your tree has
leaves, elms (all elms) WANT to be deciduous. This means they
tend to shut down a bit in winter even when they have leaves.
They won't use anywhere near as much water. Overwatering will
kill your tree.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Just in from
a 10-hour drive that lasted 14 hours; exhausted, but there were a
couple of things I had to do . ..

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