Bonsai dying after 4 years, any help?...

Sat Mar 09, 2013 1:01 pm

Hey everyone.

I have been reading a lot of stuff about Bonsai's, and decided to join this forum, as it was here where i could find the best information so far...

This will be a long post, so please bear with me, if you have the time.

Here's some background:
When i bought my house, between 4 to 5 years ago, i was offered this Bonsai as a gift. I never owned one or did i have any experience with one. As such i started to read and educate myself on how to take care of it...
Everything went very good until about one year and a half:

I went on holidays and, as usually left my Bonsai with a friend, for taking care of it. She accidentally let it fall down from the 3rd floor... When i got back, she already had repoted it. After i saw it i noticed it had just normal earth there and the pot was too small... I immidiatly repoted it again with some soil i bought specifically for Bonsai. After one month or so, everything was good again...

About 9 months ago all leaves started falling... i couldn't fin the problem absolutely... Again, after reading, looking, etc., i first learned about Asphyds, those green little devils I found he had hundreds on him, except i never noticed... After reading i did some home made soap solution, and solved the problem... or so i thought...

So my Bonsai was recovering well, when, a couple of weeks later (this was during Summer) all the leaves started to go black... I again was reading and found out this time it was a fungus... When to some shop, bought some remedy and it worked, as all i started to be well again (at this point it was already October... After this he never recovered fully as it also was starting winter and he always lost some foliage in that time...

Now we are in February...

Two weeks ago he started to loose all leaves (check the pictures).

I don't know what to do anymore... I think he has been over watered and i am trying to fix that... I partially repotted it: Took it out from it's pot, remove some of the base soil of the pot, cleaned the roots (they disintegrated as i passed my hands, both up and down) and put new soil (about 2 cm in the base of the soil) and again sat the bonsai. What i mean is, i didn't remove all soil, just about 2 cm in the base.

So my questions are:

1. What is this Bonsai type? From what i could read it is a Fukien Tea?
2. Have i done all i can? What else can i do?

Some facts:
I used to water it 2 to 3 times a day, he allways seemed to enjoy it.. now, i think it was too much?...
During Summer he is allways outside, but from November to April i keep is inside, as the temperatures are about 5 to 15 degrees Celsius, sometimes less... IS this a problem, should i bring it outside more times? Nevertheless, he is on the kitchen window, that get's a lot of sun after 12pm.

We live in front of the Ocean, the water is less than 30 meters away from our window. Is this salt water bad?

All pictures you can find here:
http://s171.beta.photobucket.com/user/r ... ary/Bonsai

Can you help me, based on the pictures, figure out what is wrong? What i could do to save him? If based in what i said here you could give me some advice on what i did wrong and how i could fix it right now?

Thanks in advance, Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ricardo.

Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:52 am

You are going to know your own minimum night time temperatures. If it stays above 50F at night I think your tree would keep as well outdoors as he would in.

Its probably time to pick out some soil and repot. I would also comb-brush off some of the moss. And use a small brush to curry the bark of your tree.

Once he rebuds start looking at secondary pruning technique to rebuild your canopy.

Moss is sort like acne, it probably won't kill the tree, but it makes it harder to keep track of soil moisture. AND you can never totaly get rid of it.

I am in SE-OH USA and my tender trees are going out for some day time sun for the first time this spring today. They are looking rather shop worn too, and need to bask in some sun.

Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:02 am

Thanks for you answer.

I removed the moss with my fingers... a lot of roots also came along together with it. I noticed the soil is much more wet than what it looked like, before removing the moss.

So, the general advice is just wait and see?

Thanks.

Also, am i right about type of bonsai?

Thanks again.