MY FUKIEN TEA

BEEMERW · Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:17 pm

This is doing well. I have repotted it and it has been fine. I keep her inside on not so good days, awaiting the temperature to rise. it has been blooming, but inside, the sun is good in the early morning, then goes for the afternoon. outside, it is there all day long. So I tyruly have been teetering because this weather is so unstable and the temperatures dip, but the gardenias I have survevd even at 43 degrees the other day. So I do not know how far I can push.

Gnome · Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:36 pm

Barbara,

I think I noted earlier that I don't grow Fukien Tea but I think I would err on the side of caution with this one. No need to rush it outside before the weather is settled. I had my Ficus out for a week or so and the now that the weather has taken a down turn so they had to come back in.

Norm

BEEMERW · Thu May 01, 2008 11:55 am

Ok. then I will keep by my instincts. Sorry about the ficus...They have awesome deals now for them.

BEEMERW · Thu May 15, 2008 12:17 pm

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the fukien tea is doing well. it is blooming off and on, just the weather has been shaky, so I have it in and out. the buds are coming out more now that I have it out more.

BEEMERW · Fri Sep 26, 2008 12:53 pm

my first Fukien Tea was a gift. My friend was told it was a Fukien Tea and I really loved it. The unusual thing was the flowers were not white and yellow. They were purple with a maroon center and it was shaped loke a topiary. it had the red berries. I am wondering if it was a different species, because I know there are different species of these trees. She got this at a mall.

BEEMERW · Sat Oct 11, 2008 1:48 pm

I have my Fukien tea inside on a ledge with a bay window and do a watering once a week. she is good. Does she go dormant? I read you can prune year round. I think I will just let her enjoy getting leafy. She is very bright.

BEEMERW · Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:19 am

I took my fukien inside when it got cold and kept her on the front window. Well my mother in law wanted all my Bonsai's moved for Christmas so the only lighted area was in the familt room at the sliding glass dorrr, so I kept her far to the right on the plant stand. All the indoor plants did ok, one strated wilting but I got her and the rest moved and she sprung back up. My mother in law keeps her house at 67 or 68 with a air vent below the plants now. but the Fukien lost all of her leaves and has brown soft fuzz at her tips. no berries developed. now what?

Gnome · Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:06 pm

Barb,

I'm not sure what to make of the 'brown soft fuzz at her tips' it does not sound like either fungus or flowers. You've found out that keeping plants near a heating duct is not a good location. The temperature you cite is not the issue as much as the dry air.

You've had the tree long enough by now to know what care it requires. Keep doing what you have been doing. Make sure to adjust your watering practices accordingly, a tree without leaves will not be using water at the same rate as it was before.

Norm

BEEMERW · Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:31 am

It stays moist a lot longer than the other trees. Now as I have tried to research about this, the only thing I could find iit could be a fungus because it is a velvety soft feeling and it may be at the root. the site said you can scratch the trunk and see a bbug come out. I have not seen this. But all the leaves just literally died. it was definitely when I first brought it in, then it calmed down, then when I brought it near the sliding glass door, but I placed it further away. now we also had a bed bug problem. could she have been infested. It would be the only tree. Alle of the other ones are absolutely reovered and fine. one cuphea wiltes a bit, but recovered and the verigated durante had odd brown round things under her leaves I easily pulled off, the treated with that bug mixture. now I have no more problems. But the fukien I spray everyday, and this stuff disappears a little, but I do not know if I should chech her root and use a q-tip and try to treat the whole plant with something like alcohol and dishdrops with water...I know I want the plant to live, but I am willing to sacrifice a sick plant to find a cure. Barb

Gnome · Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:53 pm

Barb,

I just had a thought. I wonder if they might be [url=https://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=mealy+bugs&btnG=Search+Images]Mealy Bugs.[/url] Sorry, it just did not register until now.

Norm

BEEMERW · Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:59 am

Well I have been using the combo of 1 part water, 2 parts alcohol and 2 drops dish detergent and dousing it and this velvet stuff is literally going awy. I just do not know how to tell about the tree health unless I actually take it out of the pot, look at the root, and repot if the look good, or even change the soil if this may be from the soil and literally wash the plant down. I have done that before for sick plants.

BEEMERW · Thu Jan 08, 2009 2:35 pm

Well, I was about to spray the plant again and noticed the brown velvet on the tips looks like spores of some kind. So I had to check the root to see if theere was life. the bark is a light tan, but still. so the tap root was fexible...in fact she had 2 small ones comingout and some outgrown feeder roots. I noticed an old wire left around her, so I took that off. And I also noticed the oddest thing..crystal like salt all over the soil...everywhere.So the only thing I could think of at that moment was to clean the tree completely bare, change the soil, clean the pot and give a base of Peat moss for the roots and good bottom growth for the tree. then I filled the rest with soil and sje has not been fertilized in a while and since this weakening of her system with whatever is going on, I figure the fertilizer will strengthen her as well. So either I should see a good change or bad change.