Another Fukien Tea Post UPDATE

Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:28 am

When you go to the nursery ask for Fred. Tell him you were talking with Len from NJ (I just bought two trees from him) and ask if someone can show you how to tell if you tree needs water. They will show you dry soil and soil that does not need watering.
This will help you determine whether to water or not.

Good Luck. They are very nice folks down there.

Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:13 pm

Its doing a bit better today I guess I decided to take the plant tomorrow I'm hopping for it too live what are the chances?

Thu Oct 22, 2009 1:19 am

Definitely take it in and they will fix it up for you.
Have you decided what you're going to go for housing when you bring it back home?

Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:47 pm

I took it in today and strangely he said it was dried up not over watered! Anyways I will situate it in a place with direct morning sun and indirect filtered to screen the rest of the day on a large bonsai stand.

Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:44 pm

Good news and bad news
First thte bad news: I called today and they said it had gone through a lot of shock and would need a very long time to recover its original state if it eve survives

Good News: They will now let me pick one out my choice to recompensate!

What should I look for? How should I inspect and see which one is best?

Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:10 am

I myself would choose a Ficus. They can make gorgeous bonsai because they are sort of viney. They a tropical, and thrive beautifully in sunlight. They drink it right up. They also go a while without water. Not to mention, they do well with the branch to tree transplant/clone.
What you can do with them is cut off a 2-3" bit of branch. Then, you stick it in soil, and cover it with a clear jar. The jar makes it humid, a perfect environment for growing the beginning of a bonsai. I am doing this with my mom's non bonsai Ficus, and now have started my own from a branch clipping!
So, besides a Fukien, I would choose a Ficus. They tend to style them like this...

Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:35 am

josh1812@live.com wrote:Good news and bad news
First thte bad news: I called today and they said it had gone through a lot of shock and would need a very long time to recover its original state if it eve survives

Good News: They will now let me pick one out my choice to recompensate!

What should I look for? How should I inspect and see which one is best?

Josh - let them pick out a nice healthy one for you and before you leave with it make sure you understand how to see the signs that it either needs or doesn't need water.
Also, check out the set up they have their trees in and try to emulate that at your house in some way.
I personally would prefer to see you take it home and get a nice light for it and mist it as needed.
I'm having problems with what I believe is scale on my original Fukien tea.
The one I got from Miami Bonsai is clean and very healthy. I have to find a way to get rid of this scale cause the tree is going to fail if I don't.
I need to get it away from the other trees and find a safe spray for it, which will not be easy. They are very picky as to insecticides.

Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:00 pm

I had some scale on my ficus. After removing the two I could see (I removed the leaves they were attached to as well, though this may not have been necessary), I gave it good spray with a Neem oil mixture (mixed per the directions on the bottle). I have seen no sign of scale since and that was several weeks ago.

Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:29 pm

Thanks Rosaelyn -

I found a product right here in the house called "Garden Safe Fungicide" and it's 0.9% Neem Oil. I worried all night as to how I was going to find Neem Oil.....lol. But we had this stuff right here.

It's a "Fungicide; Insecticide; Miticide" all in one product made by Schultz.
What a relief!!! The plant went from looking clean and happy in a matter of a day or two, to an infestation of these little white, unmoving things and the leaves were coated with sticky 'honeydew'. I know that Fukiens can be very finicky about being sprayed so I'm hoping I don't kill it with this 'cure'.

I will let everyone know.
They are so susceptible to all this stuff that I hope this will do the job.

I also wanted to apologize to Josh for hi-jacking his thread.

Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:45 pm

It seems there was a mistake when i went to go look for another bonsai found mine! It was beautiful an more pret

Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:15 pm

A happy ending!!

Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:02 pm

Wow i just looked back at his post and i just had a flush of memories and began to see how over time i seem to be getting a bit better

at this. Well heres an update its growing in the ground to thicken the base hopefully 5-7 inches I know its a bit over ambitious but im prepared to wait and because of my location it might take around 3-4 years it was also fitted with a small pot around two large roots that fan out to try to stimulate downward roots to grow from it to create a neagari style I plan when lifted to cut back all the branches and regrow them from better placed areas.