I recently purchased an eighteen year old elephant tree bonsai and it is worrying me because I have noticed a bit of yellowing and a few leaves have started dropping off. The place where I purchased it had it growing in a greenhouse and the humidity level was unbelievable and it was very hot. Could it be that the tree is just adjusting to it's new environment or should I be concerned about the change in light level and put it under supplemental lighting because it is in my sun room. Any advice would be most appreciated, thank you and God bless, Brian.
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arboricola
- Senior Member
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- Location: Minnesota zone 4
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arboricola
- Senior Member
- Posts: 224
- Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:07 pm
- Location: Minnesota zone 4
Have a great day! Brian.-
Gnome
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
- Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A
brian,
I also keep Elephant Bush or, more accurately, Portulacaria afar and have found them relatively easy to manage. My main problem with them is that I have very little natural lighting available to me during the winter and I am forced to rely on fluorescents. This usually causes some leaf drop as they overwinter but they recover nicely when I move them outside the following summer.
Bonsaiboy has given you sound advice WRT watering, water infrequently but thoroughly. His advice on location is sound as well, no point in moving it about (I move things as little as possible) especially since cold weather will soon be upon us and this is a tender species.
Do not be discouraged if you see minimal growth over the coming months, get it outside next summer though and really watch it take off. On a related note I fertilize very little, if any, during the winter. Perhaps if your lighting is better you could fertilize minimally.
Two other thoughts, you have acquired a very nice specimen and this species is very easy to propagate. Any clippings you may take can be rooted and soon you will have more than you know what to do with, I know I do.
Norm
I also keep Elephant Bush or, more accurately, Portulacaria afar and have found them relatively easy to manage. My main problem with them is that I have very little natural lighting available to me during the winter and I am forced to rely on fluorescents. This usually causes some leaf drop as they overwinter but they recover nicely when I move them outside the following summer.
Bonsaiboy has given you sound advice WRT watering, water infrequently but thoroughly. His advice on location is sound as well, no point in moving it about (I move things as little as possible) especially since cold weather will soon be upon us and this is a tender species.
Do not be discouraged if you see minimal growth over the coming months, get it outside next summer though and really watch it take off. On a related note I fertilize very little, if any, during the winter. Perhaps if your lighting is better you could fertilize minimally.
Two other thoughts, you have acquired a very nice specimen and this species is very easy to propagate. Any clippings you may take can be rooted and soon you will have more than you know what to do with, I know I do.
Norm
Thanks Norm,
On a different note, my sarissa that I showed you before has met a terrible fate, the problems it was having were related to a spider mite infestation that because of my inexperience I didn't catch in time.(a mistake I will not make again) by the time I figured it out the tree was almost completely dead
, I was amazed at how quickly this happened. I examined al of my plants closely and found that the problem was spreading so I sprayed and bagged all of my plants and it seems to have worked. Do you have any experience with these nasty little buggers? If so I would appreciate any info you can give me to prevent it from happening again. Thank you and God bless, Brian. 
On a different note, my sarissa that I showed you before has met a terrible fate, the problems it was having were related to a spider mite infestation that because of my inexperience I didn't catch in time.(a mistake I will not make again) by the time I figured it out the tree was almost completely dead
, I was amazed at how quickly this happened. I examined al of my plants closely and found that the problem was spreading so I sprayed and bagged all of my plants and it seems to have worked. Do you have any experience with these nasty little buggers? If so I would appreciate any info you can give me to prevent it from happening again. Thank you and God bless, Brian. -
Gnome
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 5122
- Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
- Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A
Brian,
I have not had much trouble with Spider Mites in this area so I can't offer much on that front. There is no real need to make an effort to remove fading leaves on your Portulacaria. Eventually they will get to the point that they will fall at the slightest touch.
The real question you should be asking yourself is why are they fading. Mine don't usually drop many leaves until after I am forced to bring them inside for the winter where I feel my problem is low light levels. During the summer I keep them outside. I just looked at them and found no fading leaves whatsoever. Perhaps yours is still getting adjusted to the new environment or you are still getting used to watering succulents.
Norm
I have not had much trouble with Spider Mites in this area so I can't offer much on that front. There is no real need to make an effort to remove fading leaves on your Portulacaria. Eventually they will get to the point that they will fall at the slightest touch.
The real question you should be asking yourself is why are they fading. Mine don't usually drop many leaves until after I am forced to bring them inside for the winter where I feel my problem is low light levels. During the summer I keep them outside. I just looked at them and found no fading leaves whatsoever. Perhaps yours is still getting adjusted to the new environment or you are still getting used to watering succulents.
Norm
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This is what it looks like right now as you can see there appears to be new growth that is healthy but there are a lot of older leaves that have turned yellow and some are brown on the tips? Any thoughts?
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[img]https://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm19/brianscooby123/IMG_1100.jpg[/img]
This is what it looks like right now as you can see there appears to be new growth that is healthy but there are a lot of older leaves that have turned yellow and some are brown on the tips? Any thoughts?
I went right to the grower to get the tree and he is a very established bonsai person so I don't think that is the problem. there seems to be new growth that is very healthy so I don't know if it is just an environment issue or something else that is causing the yellowing. It has only been with me for a little over one week and coming from a greenhouse it is probably pretty stressed right now, I just don't want to mistake that for something more serious. Thanks for the advice and God bless, brian