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JohanSweden
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Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:46 am
Location: Arvika - Värmland - SWEDEN

About the Chinese Elm in wintertime.. (inside)

Hey Treelovers!



My name is Johan and I live in the middle of Sweden and we have about 10 to 25 CELCIUS + in summer and 5 to 18 - CELCIUS in winter (it can get really cold sometimes..)

About 6 months ago (midsummer) I bought a healthy and perfect bonsai tree (Chinese Elm) from UK (England). My tree is about 9 years old.

It has been growing inside my house in the kitchen ever since then with 100% placement at the window. I have never taken it outside, only opened window sometimes for air draught..

I understood early that the tree is forgiving, cause I gave it to little water and leafs turned browned and the tree became naked quickly.. I started to water it and it bloomed back quickly with healthy green leafs and also starting to make new shoots!

Now we are going in to December and my tree has slowly dropped alot of leafs.. They have gone from bright green to yellow tones slowly, then falled of. The leafs this time has never become brownish like when I overwatered it.

Only the newest shoots / small branches are still flexible with green and healthy leafs right now ( these came later in summer) The tree has about 25% leafmass left ALMOST only/on newer shoots / small branches.

Questions:


1. Is my tree trying to find some kind of Dormancy cause the lack of sun hours? (Is this slowrate "leaf dropping" normal for the time of the year ? How are your inside Elms reacting when kept indoors wintertime?)


2. How much water should I give it given the information I now have? ( Wait until soil turns almost dry before wateringsessions? )


3. IF the tree is struggling to survive, what am I doing wrong?


4. If the tree needs a new place to rest, is it risky to move it to colder/air-like place cause its not used to - CELCIUS ?


5. What kinda of region has my tree been living if for all these years, was these Elms imported from northern/southern china? Is there some way to look or know where your tree is from (Can it take a cold swedish winter?)

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Gnome
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Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2006 12:17 am
Location: Western PA USDA Zone 6A

Johan,
Is my tree trying to find some kind of Dormancy cause the lack of sun hours?
I don't think so. Mine really have a tendency to hold their leaves even outside with winter approaching.
How much water should I give it
It's never about quantity which should always be copious. The trick is learning how long to wait before watering again.
IF the tree is struggling to survive, what am I doing wrong?
My guess is lack of bright light. most trees will struggle indoors without some form of supplemental lighting. Are you able/willing to provide such?
If the tree needs a new place to rest, is it risky to move it to colder/air-like place cause its not used to
Yes, it is not appropriate at this time. Trees that are indoors have not made the necessary transition to colder weather.
What kinda of region has my tree been living if for all these years, was these Elms imported from northern/southern china? Is there some way to look or know where your tree is from
I don't know of a way to tell. Do you have a cooler space to keep it that is not outside?



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