Surinam cherry

[drp]

I received a Surinam cherry bonsai as a gift about two months ago. It lives outside on the patio in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. It is in partial shade but gets direct sunlight from 9-12. I water it every 1- 2 days although I did miss a few days a couple of weeks ago. I mist it regularly. It is now losing all its leaves and I'm worried that its dead. I don't have a green thumb although I have had two large desert roses for some years that have survived my attempts to bump them off. Any ideas on what is wrong? best regards, david

[The Helpful Gardener]

Surinam cherry (Eugenia uniflora) is a drought resistant plant that is very susceptible to salt; as you live on the coast I suspect that's the agent of destruction here. It likes to dry some between waterings, so the watering schedule may be a bit much, but try rinsing the soil several times to get any salts out and then let it dry for a while, keeping it out of the seabreezes. Hopefully that will do it...

Scott