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#1
22-07-2004, 06:23 PM
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[IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
Fukien tea does tend to drop leaves occasionally. I wouldn't worry about
it, unless two other possibilities occur: 1. It has not been transplated in the past two years. 2. It is kept indoors. Although it is tropical, it should be kept outdoors all summer. Marty ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Soukal" To: Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:55 PM Subject: [IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree Hello, I just wanted to ask somebody with experience in growing Fukien trees for an advice. We noticed sudden increase in the rate with which the tree loses its leaves. We were surprised by that because - to our best knowledge - nothing has changed in the way we care for the tree... We water the plant as required (never letting it to dry out completely nor leaving to stand in water) as we always did. We feed it regularly. We fought and killed (with help of this community) the mealy bugs that attacked it. But recently, the number of leaves on the floor has increased. If I blow a little bit of air from my mouth on the tree, there will be several leaves - seemingly healthy - that fall off. It seems as if the leaves were not hanging tight onto the branch... they will fall off easily on touch. (Not all of them though.) There were always leaves that would fall off but these seemed dead and dry. The new ones and young and green. I also think that all the leaves are little bit lighter that they used to be. Though they are still green not yellowish. But then again, the tree still has many dark, lush leaves. It still grows buds and has fruit as it always did. Overall, it seems to be doing fine. We didn't notice anything odd otherwise. No parasites, no physical damage. We haven't moved or repotted the tree. We did prune it a little bit. The only thing I can think of as a culprit is that the weather hasn't been that good lately. We had a lot of cloudy days with colder temperature (but still about 70). We were just being curious whether this is reaction to the weather change only or a symptom of something else/worse (under/overfeeding, too little/much watering...). Thank you for any comments! David & (Eva) ************************************************** ************************** **** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ************************** **** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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#2
22-07-2004, 07:23 PM
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sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
Hello,
I just wanted to ask somebody with experience in growing Fukien trees for an advice. We noticed sudden increase in the rate with which the tree loses its leaves. We were surprised by that because - to our best knowledge - nothing has changed in the way we care for the tree... We water the plant as required (never letting it to dry out completely nor leaving to stand in water) as we always did. We feed it regularly. We fought and killed (with help of this community) the mealy bugs that attacked it. But recently, the number of leaves on the floor has increased. If I blow a little bit of air from my mouth on the tree, there will be several leaves - seemingly healthy - that fall off. It seems as if the leaves were not hanging tight onto the branch... they will fall off easily on touch. (Not all of them though.) There were always leaves that would fall off but these seemed dead and dry. The new ones and young and green. I also think that all the leaves are little bit lighter that they used to be. Though they are still green not yellowish. But then again, the tree still has many dark, lush leaves. It still grows buds and has fruit as it always did. Overall, it seems to be doing fine. We didn't notice anything odd otherwise. No parasites, no physical damage. We haven't moved or repotted the tree. We did prune it a little bit. The only thing I can think of as a culprit is that the weather hasn't been that good lately. We had a lot of cloudy days with colder temperature (but still about 70). We were just being curious whether this is reaction to the weather change only or a symptom of something else/worse (under/overfeeding, too little/much watering...). Thank you for any comments! David & (Eva) |
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#3
25-07-2004, 05:54 PM
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[IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
Hello,
we haven't repotted the tree yet. But we do keep it indoors. This is our first bonsai and the book we bought said that it should be kept inside, since it is, supposedly, sensitive to draft. Also, we don't have garden, since we live in an appartment... We could buy some extra light and / or open the windows more. At least give it as MUCH light as you can. A fluorescent light right overhead for a LONG day is about right, according to the indoor growers on the list. Beyond that, I don't know diddly about growing inside the house. Another thing I forgot to mention is that we removed about a half inch of the soil from the top and replaced it with another one. The reason why we did that was that the soil was full of rotting leaves and flowers... Only later, we found out that the soil we purchased doesn't probably have the right composition. It was about 70% of fired clay and only about 25% of pine soil. That sounds almost EXACTLY the right mix for bonsai. What kind of soil was underneath? Bonsai soil wants to be large particles and relatively small amount of organic material. This is a good time to repot most tropicals (but let a fukien tea expert advise you on whether it is right for one of these, please. I'm NOT the one whose advice you want to take for trpicals.). I noticed that this layer probably prevents the rest of the soil from breathing so it's possible the we kept that plant overwatered for a several hours.. Could that be the reason? Nah. It would take more than "several hours" of wet feet to cause a problem. Some trees just complain when fiddled with. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests are like genealogists: We know our roots! ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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#5
26-07-2004, 01:15 AM
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[IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
Hello,
thank you for your help. We will try the extra lighting. Do you recommend some particular model or brand? So far, we are using my wife's magnifying glass which has light bulb on it and can be bend to almost any position  Regarding the soil. We bought it in nearby garden shop as bonsai soil. The truth is it does not look like the rest of the soil in the pot. It does resemble (on touch, look) the layer that was there before, that is the clay pieces... As I wrote elsewhere in this thread, we draw our information on the book "Simon & Schuster's Guide to Bonsai". Their ideal mixture for *repotting* is 60% humus-rich soil, 10% peat and 30% of coarse sand. Since we removed about an inch of the top layer, we thought we'd replace it by the mixture above but its composition is quite different. I'm getting a bit confused here... Unfortunatelly, there's no bonsai club or dedicated garden shop where we could bring the tree and discuss it. Anyway, we'll do our best to keep the beautiful tree alive and prospering! Thank you for your help David (& Eva) ps. Our university has shut our news server down, so I'm using http://groups.google.com. It's tedious since my new messages and your replies are not listed together. Could you, please, recommend me some free usenet server? THANK YOU! (Jim Lewis) wrote in message news:004e01c47268$0dd5d7e0$bb102cc7@pavilion... Hello, we haven't repotted the tree yet. But we do keep it indoors. This is our first bonsai and the book we bought said that it should be kept inside, since it is, supposedly, sensitive to draft. Also, we don't have garden, since we live in an appartment... We could buy some extra light and / or open the windows more. At least give it as MUCH light as you can. A fluorescent light right overhead for a LONG day is about right, according to the indoor growers on the list. Beyond that, I don't know diddly about growing inside the house. Another thing I forgot to mention is that we removed about a half inch of the soil from the top and replaced it with another one. The reason why we did that was that the soil was full of rotting leaves and flowers... Only later, we found out that the soil we purchased doesn't probably have the right composition. It was about 70% of fired clay and only about 25% of pine soil. That sounds almost EXACTLY the right mix for bonsai. What kind of soil was underneath? Bonsai soil wants to be large particles and relatively small amount of organic material. This is a good time to repot most tropicals (but let a fukien tea expert advise you on whether it is right for one of these, please. I'm NOT the one whose advice you want to take for trpicals.). I noticed that this layer probably prevents the rest of the soil from breathing so it's possible the we kept that plant overwatered for a several hours.. Could that be the reason? Nah. It would take more than "several hours" of wet feet to cause a problem. Some trees just complain when fiddled with. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests are like genealogists: We know our roots! ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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#6
26-07-2004, 01:33 AM
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[IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
ps. I have another question, if I may. I'd like to buy a bonsai for my
wife as a birthday present. As I mentioned, there's no bonsai nursery in the neighborhood (New York upstate). Do you have any experience with on-line shopping? I was told, in the garden shopmy wife bought the Fukien tree, that on-line shopping won't hurt the plant. But you don't have much control over the plant selection of course. I would appreciete any suggestion as to what shops are good and what aren't. For example, I've read somewhere that BonsaiBoys.com isn't the right place. But what is? Thank you! (Jim Lewis) wrote in message news:004e01c47268$0dd5d7e0$bb102cc7@pavilion... Hello, we haven't repotted the tree yet. But we do keep it indoors. This is our first bonsai and the book we bought said that it should be kept inside, since it is, supposedly, sensitive to draft. Also, we don't have garden, since we live in an appartment... We could buy some extra light and / or open the windows more. At least give it as MUCH light as you can. A fluorescent light right overhead for a LONG day is about right, according to the indoor growers on the list. Beyond that, I don't know diddly about growing inside the house. Another thing I forgot to mention is that we removed about a half inch of the soil from the top and replaced it with another one. The reason why we did that was that the soil was full of rotting leaves and flowers... Only later, we found out that the soil we purchased doesn't probably have the right composition. It was about 70% of fired clay and only about 25% of pine soil. That sounds almost EXACTLY the right mix for bonsai. What kind of soil was underneath? Bonsai soil wants to be large particles and relatively small amount of organic material. This is a good time to repot most tropicals (but let a fukien tea expert advise you on whether it is right for one of these, please. I'm NOT the one whose advice you want to take for trpicals.). I noticed that this layer probably prevents the rest of the soil from breathing so it's possible the we kept that plant overwatered for a several hours.. Could that be the reason? Nah. It would take more than "several hours" of wet feet to cause a problem. Some trees just complain when fiddled with. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests are like genealogists: We know our roots! ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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#7
26-07-2004, 01:33 AM
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[IBC] sudden increase of leaf loss of our fukien tree
ps. I have another question, if I may. I'd like to buy a bonsai for my
wife as a birthday present. As I mentioned, there's no bonsai nursery in the neighborhood (New York upstate). Do you have any experience with on-line shopping? I was told, in the garden shopmy wife bought the Fukien tree, that on-line shopping won't hurt the plant. But you don't have much control over the plant selection of course. I would appreciete any suggestion as to what shops are good and what aren't. For example, I've read somewhere that BonsaiBoys.com isn't the right place. But what is? Thank you! (Jim Lewis) wrote in message news:004e01c47268$0dd5d7e0$bb102cc7@pavilion... Hello, we haven't repotted the tree yet. But we do keep it indoors. This is our first bonsai and the book we bought said that it should be kept inside, since it is, supposedly, sensitive to draft. Also, we don't have garden, since we live in an appartment... We could buy some extra light and / or open the windows more. At least give it as MUCH light as you can. A fluorescent light right overhead for a LONG day is about right, according to the indoor growers on the list. Beyond that, I don't know diddly about growing inside the house. Another thing I forgot to mention is that we removed about a half inch of the soil from the top and replaced it with another one. The reason why we did that was that the soil was full of rotting leaves and flowers... Only later, we found out that the soil we purchased doesn't probably have the right composition. It was about 70% of fired clay and only about 25% of pine soil. That sounds almost EXACTLY the right mix for bonsai. What kind of soil was underneath? Bonsai soil wants to be large particles and relatively small amount of organic material. This is a good time to repot most tropicals (but let a fukien tea expert advise you on whether it is right for one of these, please. I'm NOT the one whose advice you want to take for trpicals.). I noticed that this layer probably prevents the rest of the soil from breathing so it's possible the we kept that plant overwatered for a several hours.. Could that be the reason? Nah. It would take more than "several hours" of wet feet to cause a problem. Some trees just complain when fiddled with. Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Bonsaiests are like genealogists: We know our roots! ************************************************** ****************************** ++++Sponsored, in part, by Chris Cochrane++++ ************************************************** ****************************** -- The IBC HOME PAGE & FAQ: http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/ -- +++++ Questions? Help? e-mail +++++ |
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