I was thrust in the direction of this forum by someone recently, as they told me that all my Bonsai woes might be solved here, so here goes.
I was bought a Bonsai tree about a year ago, but the person who bought me it couldn't remember exactly what sort it is. Thanks to the miracles of Google and Wikipedia, I think I've found out:
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmona_%28plant%29]Pictar here[/url]
The trouble is, I think it's dying. When I first got it (during last winter, while it was quite cold) I kept it indoors, not really knowingif it should be indoors or outdoors. I was told that it had been kept outdoors at the garden centre, so it was probably OK to leave it in the garden, but I kept it indoors anyway.
It thrived for a few months I have to say, but near the end of the summer it got infested with bugs and pests. After many a treatment with industrial strength bug-killer, it was still a sorry sight to behold, and so every two days or so I'd wash the bugs off with water to keep it reletively bug free, and then I'd put it outside. I figured that by keeping it outside, where it got colder at night, the bugs might not have quite so nice a time of it, and sure enough, the infestation cleared up nicely.
The trouble is, I've since left the tree outside permanently, and I think that with the recent drop in temperatures, I've almost killed it off. So I've brought it back indoors.
The leaves have died and dropped off of almost every branch, with the exception of the bottom two branches, which are growing more leaves still. So I have a couple of questions:
- Should the leaves be falling off in the first place?
- If so, why are there still some growing?
- If not, will the fact that the plant is still alive mean that it might yet recover?
Even though I've had the tree for a year, I'm a complete novice still. If it helps, I live in the UK, so the summers are fairly warm, and the winters hit minus 5 to minus 10 degrees celcius.
Thanks for reading!
