I have just been given a Chinese Elm, It looks to the un
educated eye to
have been cared for intitialy but the leaves are turning yellow
and I am
concerned that there is something wrong.

I have no experience with bonsai and am completly lost as to
how to care or
look after it.

Please can you recommend books or directions as to what might
be causeing
this problem.



1. Get it outside! Morning sun and afternoon half sun (partial
shade).
2. If there are rocks or large gravel firmly attached to the
surface of the soil, remove them. Fill the resulting void with
potting soil.
3. Do NOT overwater. Let the soil go ALMOST dry before you
water. It's best to water with a fine sprinkler attachment on
your hose, rather than by submersion, but whatever way you do it,
water thoroughly then don't water again until the soil is ALMOST
dry again. You can keep a stick (a broken-off piece of a
chopstick works fine) jammed deep into the soil about half way
between the pot and the tree. Remove it daily and feel the dirty
end. If it is damp do NOT water.
4. Give it a weak (half-strength) solution of a houseplant
fertilizer now, then a normal strength application in two weeks
and every two weeks afterward.
5. Visit your public library and check out a couple of books on
bonsai. Read them each. Twice. Check around to see if there is
a local bonsai club in your area. A local "expert" is the best
help.

You don't say where you live, but if it doesn't get TOO cold
there in the winter, this tree should be outdoors. (But we'll
worry about that in a few months -- unless you live in
southernmost OZ).

If it is JUST turning spring where you are, yellow leaves are not
unusual on a Chinese elm. It is a deciduous tree, but its leaves
hang on for most of the year.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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I have just been given a Chinese Elm, It looks to the un educated eye to
have been cared for intitialy but the leaves are turning yellow and I am
concerned that there is something wrong.

Where are you keeping it? It should be outdoors for the summer, but in the
shade initially. The Sunset Bonsai book is easily obtainable & good for
beginners.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)