so...
Proper identification
The leaflet that came with my tree only gives the english common name of Chinese Elm. If there is more than one species of Chinese Elm I don't know what the latin name would be.
Poster's Location
Based in Oxford, UK.
Tree's age and history
The Tree was given to me as a gift 3 years ago, and I believe that it was about 12 years old when I received it although this could be wildly wrong. Originally it was bought from a specialist dealer in Bonsai trees in Brighton, UK.
For the first six months of my ownership, my tree thrived gloriously as I closely followed the instructions in the booklet that came with it. However after about 6 months things took a turn for the worse and the tree began to look pretty ropey despite me not changing anything. I checked the internet to see if I was doing something wrong but found what seemed to be lots of contradictory advice. So, I pressed on and the tree has gone through phases of seeming to be on the verge of recovery and then plummeting back towards oblivion.
This time the oblivion seems deep. For the last few weeks it has had only a handful of leaves and suddenly all of those seem to be on their way out and are turning brown.
Watering care & Soil info
Right, this is where I think the problem lies. Having read a few of your other threads I think I may have been consistently overwatering for 2 and a half years. As previously instructed, every 7 to 10 days I stand my tree in a bowel of water for 10-15 minutes, I usually put some soluble bonsai food in the water which completely submerges the soil. After I have let it stand for 15 minutes I pour the excess water from the pot.
The tree is still in the original pot so I don't know what the soil type is, but under the current watering regime the soil remains permanently damp and has begun to smell mouldy. This is a picture take this morning, you will see that the soil is still wet even though I last watered 10 days ago. Oh, and there are two thumb sized holes in the bottom of the pot.
[img]https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4085/4951398360_08962ca85a_z.jpg[/img]
Lighting and location
The tree has lived on several windowsills in natural light. Our house is quite well shaded by large trees but the window faces South East so the Bonsai gets direct sunlight in the mornings and ambient light in the afternoon.
Outdoors?
The tree currently lives indoors and I prefer it this way, but if moving it outside is necessary to salvage it then I'm happy to do this. The only problem is that we also have goats and chickens so the tree would be at risk of being eaten! I will soon be moving back into a city so this will cease to be a problem.
humidity trays
No.
back to my blurb
As I say I've had this tree 3 years and it also has quite alot of sentimental value so I'm pretty desperate that it shouldn't die. I'm also a complete novice when it comes to these things so I'd very much appreciate any help you can offer as to how to restore it to glory.
My tentative diagnosis is that I have consistently over-waterd and thereby caused some sort of rotting in the roots. How do I solve this and in what order. I guess I should repot, and also that I should allow the soil to dry out. Will repotting in it's current state be a stress to far, or am I already on the last throw of the dice so need to take urgent action?
Any advice much appreciated!
Oh and a couple more photos of my very dilapidated tree!
The whole thing:
[img]https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4951398584_947ac7f3b7_z.jpg[/img]
and the few deteriorating leaves up top:
[img]https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4951398912_a99bf4c341_z.jpg[/img]
