Bonsai I.D Problems (sorry I know its typical)

[Emily Pendleton]

Hi hoping someone can help. I read Id crisis from mamfle and one from gabs. Really googled to find out what type of bonsai I have but I know nothing about them and just can't be sure. Afraid I can't send picture as don't know how! anyway I got the tree from a garden centre its said it was 35 years old but no other info. It has a thick trunk slightly mottled in places. The leaves start off light green and turn darker (but they are all falling off at the moment) they are mostly toothed or forked at the end. It had lots of little single white flowers all summer and only stopped flowering last month. It looks like a funkien tea from some of the pics I've seen on bonsai4me.com but then it also looks like a chinese elm on bonsaiweb.com! can't find out if funkien tea or elm have white flowers or not and no mention of forked/toothed leaves. know this is a long shot without a picture and really appreciate any help as I think its dying and don't know what to do. hubby says its probably losing leaves cause its autumn! thanks again.

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[Gnome]

Emily,

Afraid I can't send picture as don't know how!

I assume that you have access to a digital camera as you did not say otherwise. Go to this site [url]https://imageshack.us/[/url] Browse to the location on your computer where the picture resides and click "host it". Then choose the appropriate link, (thumbnail for forums will do ), then copy it and paste here.

The leaves start off light green and turn darker (but they are all falling off at the moment) they are mostly toothed or forked at the end.

It does not sound like an Elm to me, Elm leaves are serrated, (toothed), all the way to the leaf stem.

It had lots of little single white flowers all summer

Did the flowers look like this? [url]https://www.wafu.com/dictionary/az-900.htm[/url]

hubby says its probably losing leaves cause its autumn!

If it is a tropical it is not losing its leaves due to the change of season, you are doing something it doesn't like. A lot of problems with commercial bonsai can be traced to poor soil.

Read this: [url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3422&sid=c74c8b18edc9dc782c675056125b49a6[/url]
And this: [url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3530&sid=c74c8b18edc9dc782c675056125b49a6[/url]

Poor watering practices may also be a factor. Let the soil dry a bit between waterings then water well.

I'm not real big on tropicals and am somewhat out of my element. See if you can get a picture up, an ID is essential. Hopefully someone else can be of more help.

Norm

EDIT: Sorry I misread the subject line. I thought you wrote "tropical"

[ynot]

Please do google image searches on your two suspect species [Fukien Tea tree, Chinese Elm.] For more visual comparison, A bit more googleing [use their latin names also] will help you determine their flowering aspects.

As Gnome mentioned a photograph would be most helpfull, Please read the sticky in the bonsai gallery wrt to photographing bonsai to help you show your tree off to it's greaest advantage, Then post your photos in this thread.

good luck
ynot