Beginner with a Chinese Elm

[whispywillow]

Hello!

Ok, so I bought an Indoor Bonsai this year, just at the end of winter, it came with a little book with basic info in it, pruning sissors and bonsai food. The book told me to water the plant either using rain water (which I don't trust as this is a big and busy city and the waters not very healthy) or filtered boiled water thats been left to cool with the recommended amount of feeder, and so this I have been doing. I have also been misting the tree twice a day with cooled filtered boiled water. I keep the tree on a cupboard directly facing my window (I'm not sure of the direction its facing), and it has between 2 - 3 hours of direct sunlight a day and its faily drafty as well. Now my plant has developed a yellowish crystal-like growth on the trunk and the leaves have started to fall off. I have had problems with the leaves going yellow and brown, but there are still new shoots coming through. Please can you tell me whats wrong and how to make it better!?

Thanks!

[opabinia51]

Hi Whispy, there isn't really such a thing as an "indoor bonsai." Bonsai are trees that are grown in pots and pruned to be a certain shape. For your tree to be healthy it really should be kept outside where it can achieve proper inorganic element content from the air and also recieve proper light levels for growth.

The crystals are probably the result of chlorosis which may be (Scott, correct me if I'm incorrect here) the result of using synthetic ferilizers. I don't know how often you are watering but, you should only water your tree when the soil has just started to dry out.

Try using an organic liquid fertilizer once a week, diluted as per the instructions on the bottle.