Hello,
I just bought a Chinese elm online for my boyfriend for christmas. the owner of the company was concerned about shipping it because of overnight temperatures between Iowa (where the company is) and Wisconsin (where I am). Upon talking to the shipping company he made the decision to ship it... and it got pretty cold. I received it on saturday and put it in a window in my house waiting to give it to my boyfriend. I noticed it was yellow when I got it and it has been turning even more yellow over the last few days. My house is very cold, so I put it in a room with a window and a heater to keep it warmer.... it kept turning yellow.... So I bought a small grow light (my boyfriend has a full grow room in his house so it only made sense to get a small one) and hooked it up near the tree thinking that the diffused light coming from the window maybe wasn't enough.... and its still turning yellow. None of the leaves have fallen off yet, and I've been checking to soil everyday to see if it needs watering, but almost the entire tree is yellow now... did I kill it somehow? or could it have frozen during shipping? is there anyway to keep it from dying? someone please help!!
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maveriiick
- Senior Member
- Posts: 154
- Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:06 pm
- Location: Toronto
Do a search on Chinese Elm (CE) in this forum, there is lots of info on circumstances like yours. The thing with CE is that are either tropical or sub-tropical/temperate depending on how they where raised. If you bought it and it was kept in a green house, then it would likely require similar conditions to thrive (I.e. artificial lighting, humidity, and wind/fan). If it was kept in a cold room on a nursery then it would likely be transitioning into dormancy and would likely drop it's leaves.
Window lighting is generally poor in the winter so supplemental lighting is best (I.e. fluorescent light close to leaves). Lastly, try not to water it too much or to schedule. Let the top of the soil dry out a bit before watering.
Window lighting is generally poor in the winter so supplemental lighting is best (I.e. fluorescent light close to leaves). Lastly, try not to water it too much or to schedule. Let the top of the soil dry out a bit before watering.
This topic covers essentially what your plant may be experiencing.
[url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20689[/url]
I don't think your elm will perish, they should drop all their leaves during winter/fall anyways. If it is going into dormancy the watering should be severely restricted if not stopped entirely.
As in this link I posted it seems as if the company your purchased this tree from was growing it inside instead of doing it the proper way...
Best of luck!
[url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20689[/url]
I don't think your elm will perish, they should drop all their leaves during winter/fall anyways. If it is going into dormancy the watering should be severely restricted if not stopped entirely.
As in this link I posted it seems as if the company your purchased this tree from was growing it inside instead of doing it the proper way...
Best of luck!
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rseese
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:48 pm
- Location: south eastern wisconsin
I have had trees before (I have a ficus and a few junipers) and have not had this problem before... I bought them in the summer so they were never exposed to the extreme temperature change the CE was. As for the watering I am aware that I should let the soild dry out almost completely before watering again... I guess my next question would be then... if it's going into dormancy I have a place to put it... but how does the watering schedule change? my boyfriend takes care of the Junipers now that they are in dormancy, and I don't know what he's been doing with them so what should I be doing with it between now and christmas? there are also no new buds that ive seen which concerns me, shouldn't there be buds before it goes dormant?