Try just scratching the trunk with your fingernail to see if there is any
green there or not. Don't make a cut into it though as it may still be
recovering and that might be too much for it to handle. Good luck

-Tim-
"yngver" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I posted a while ago about a Chinese elm that I accidentally left
outside overnight last fall when the temps got down into the 20s. All
the leaves turned brown and fell off, but because there was green
inside when I broke a twig off, I have kept it indoors, watering
sparingly. Now it's warm enough that I've moved all my bonsai back
outdoors. The elm is still doing nothing. Some of the twigs are clearly
dead since they are completely tan when I cut them off but lower down
they are light green inside. Could it really be dormant this long? I
think it's dead but the color inside the branches doesn't look like
things I know are completely dead--solid tan or brown--but I also don't
see a juicy green layer the way I do on outdoor shrubs that are
starting to bud. I haven't tried to cut into the trunk itself, though.
Should I try repotting it? Or keep waiting? I don't see any signs of
buds although I have some other bonsai (a gingko, for example) which I
know are alive and they haven't started budding out yet either. I hate
to think I killed this bonsai but I guess that one cold snap was enough
to do it.
-Yngver