Bahama Berry HELP!!!!

dmckelvey11

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Hi all,

I'm in desperate need of help. My new bonsai is very quickly dying and I'm unsure what I can do to aid in it's recovery. I got it a few weeks ago and while it seemed healthy for a week or so, it almost immediately started dropping leaves (and quickly).

I've attached a few pictures from yesterday (where it looks somewhat healthy - no where near where it was) and today (BB1), where nearly all of the leaves are gone. I spritz the tree almost daily to ensure the leaves are rinsed and hydrated and water the soil twice a week, fertilize once a week with the watering. Anything I can do to bring this back to life? I tried to loosen up the soil and worry maybe it's too damp? Not sure how to dry the soil out without killing the plant in such a fragile state. Any help is so greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
Daniel
 

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dmckelvey11

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I live in NH - its been kept indoors due to the weather at the moment. I keep it in a south facing window with a heat lamp above it during the day. The room itself is about 70 degrees but the lamp provides some additional heat.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Bahama Berry scientific name is Nashia inaguensis. It is in the Verbena family, and is actually a tree with an interesting story. It was ''discovered'' by the south Florida landscape nursery at the point when there were believed to be no more than 4 specimens left in the wild in the Bahamas. I used quotes, because the Bahamians have used it as a local medicinal herb since the early days of colonization and sugar plantations. Many back yard gardens throughout the Bahamas have a few of these planted as medicinal or ornamental shrubs. It is now believed it was introduced to the Bahamas by pre-Columbian indigenous natives. Its original native source has not yet been identified, possibly Puerto Rico. But we in the USA only ''discovered it'' recently, maybe the 1960's.
Like most members of the verbena family, the foliage is fragrant, and a rare delight is that the flowers have a different fragrance. The flowers have a sweet vanilla like fragrance, where the foliage is more a spicy, herbal fragrance with a herbal plus citrus note or a pineapple note..

As a bonsai - it is a bit demanding. Being from the Bahamas, it does not appreciate cold temperatures. In nature it would rarely encounter temperatures below 60 F (+16 C), And because of the cooling effects of the ocean waters, rarely would it encounter temperatures above 89 F (+31 C ) In the south FLorida landscape it has proven moderately hardy to heat, but it resents a frost. One nick name for this shrub is ''I dry, I die''. It is notorious for being intolerant of drying out. Even a few hours of drought can start a downward spiral the shrub never recovers from.

It is pretty tolerant of soils, but seems to do best in a moist mix, with either akadama or organics like composted bark or peat based soils. A soil that is majority inert inorganic particles, like pumice or perlite or turface is not appreciated if it gets the least bit dry. A mix with organics or akadama is easier to keep evenly moist.

It likes full sun, or a very bright window exposure. On the windowsill, solar heating of the pot can cause the roots to dry out rapidly, with death resulting. One must make sure the pot and roots are shaded while giving the leaves full sun.

So you can see, it is a tricky plant to grow, not that any one factor is difficult, just that there is no margin for error when it comes to drying out.

Unfortunately I believe your plant is toast, but keep it evenly moist, not soggy and see if it recovers, you might get lucky.
 

dmckelvey11

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Thanks for the insight. I've read just about every document trying to salvage this poor tree and I'm struggling. One of the things I'm considering is if i'm drying the branches out from the light? I've attached an image here and the leaves turn a dark brown at the tip before they die and fall off. Interesting, I've clipped a few of the branches and they still have green wood inside - that's what led me to the potential of burning the leaves off?

The soil is a bit soggy, but I don't know if it would cause the leaves to fall off so quickly. I really hope it recovers, I've babied it and given it a ton of attention since I bought it but I think you may be right.
 

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Bonsai Nut

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I've clipped a few of the branches and they still have green wood inside

If you have a heat lamp on it, you might honestly be baking the leaves. I am not aware of any plant, at any time, that benefits from having a heat lamp on it. If the room is too cold, consider getting a propagation mat. It is the ROOTS you want to keep warm, not the leaves.

However the point is somewhat moot, since the room is plenty warm. What your plant needs is direct sunlight, not infrared radiation. If it isn't in full sun it is going to pout, at the minimum, or experience leaf drop and sparse leggy growth. It is extremely difficult to keep a tropical plant indoors in NH without a supplemental lighting setup that mimics tropical sunshine.

I don't want to sound too depressing because I think all you really need to do is get your tree into full sun, and water it regularly (without over-watering and turning the soil into a swamp) and I would think it would recover. Turn off that heat lamp! :)
 
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Leo in N E Illinois

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Agreed, that heat lamp looks like a tungsten filament conventional type, turn it off. Switch to a high output compact fluorescent if you are unable to put the plant outside. When you put your hand just above the leaves, you should not feel any significant amount of heat. It should just be bright light. Not heat. Remember, it comes from an island habit, ocean prevents heat above about 89 F. If you feel heat from the lamp, it is getting warmer than that.
 

Bonsai Nut

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There are now decent LED solutions that don't cost an arm and a leg. Even an LED grow bulb in a standard desk lamp can generate a surprising amount of the right bands of radiation for photosynthesis.

My daughter has a small freshwater planted aquarium that has a couple of LED light fixtures over it. She is growing all kinds of tropical aquatic plants and the lights draw 18 watts each :)
 
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