Chinese Elm's New Home

[zimmy jazz]

Forgive the inquiry, as I am sure this is asked frequently. I received a lovely Chinese Elm bonsai as a Christmas gift that was shipped from Mississippi to my home in Minnesota zone 4b. The tree showed up green and healthy in the middle of a midwestern snowstorm. Everything is dormant and leafless around here, and although it will be between 10 F and 30 F for the week, it will likely get very cold in the coming months.

I know that bonsai are happiest outside, but I also know that the trees need time to transition from season to season. I have a good book that says these smoothbark elm are easily kept indoors over winter, but the care sheet recommends it be kept outside. It's already losing its leaves in a sunny and cool window, so I just thought I'd ask ya'll before I kill this tree. What's my best move? Try to ease it outside, or use grow lights in the basement. I have room on a shelf in my dark garage, but it will get down to -20 F this winter, maybe for a whole week at a time.

Thanks for helping out a rookie! How do you go from a steamy greenhouse to MN winter in a couple of days? I have enjoyed reading about bonsai since covid started.....but wow..... it's a big topic...time to keep searching this forum.....

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site!

Chinese elms are one of the few species that I know of that can drop their leaves like a normal deciduous if you leave them outside, but can keep their leaves all year if you keep them indoors in a proper environment. However trees need a long period in order to go into and come out of dormancy. There is no way that you could introduce your Chinese elm to a Minnesota winter at this point and hope that it might survive until spring. If you have a south-facing window, you should be able to keep your elm happy enough until the spring when you can move it outdoors. It will do best outside, but I'm not 100% certain that a Chinese elm will survive a full winter outside in zone 4b without some protection.

Do not worry if your elm drops leaves in the short term as it gets accustomed to your new environment. Since it came from Mississippi, it is not only used to brighter light, but a longer photoperiod. The main thing aside from light will be to water it appropriately - not so much that the ground is saturated like a swamp, but you can also never let it dry out bone dry. Midwest homes get pretty dry in the winter, so keep your eye on the soil. Otherwise bright light and decent water is all that it needs. Do not fertilize at this time of year; wait until spring when you are ready to move it outdoors!

Did your tree come from Brussel's Bonsai Nursery?

 

[zimmy jazz]

Thank you Bonsai Nut! I am enjoying this site tremendously. Yes, the tree came from Brussels. It is in a south-facing window away from the heating vents and it gets misted in the morning and at night. I know it's the nature of the trees to lose leaves, but it's still a weird nervous feeling to watch. So, it'll be ok indoors without a LED light? I'll get the tree outside on the south porch as soon as the temps are high enough, but I imagine it could look pretty stressed by then.

In the fall, I collected seeds locally to try to start native species this spring. It is really sweet that someone wanted to help me out by giving me a fully developed tree. Unfortunately, I don't really know what I am doing yet.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

What do you play? I thought that was a bass for a second.

Sorce

 

[Bonsai Nut]

You can post photos so we can see if anything looks particularly out of the ordinary.

I just moved from SoCal to North Carolina. For the first time ever, I have had to move some of my trees indoors for the winter - all my full tropicals like ficus, Brazilian rain tree, Texas ebony, kumquat, Brazilian ironwood, etc.

The flip side, I am now able to care for many tree species that I was unable to keep in SoCal - because I couldn't give them enough cold. I am now loading up on Japanese white pine cultivars, Japanese maple cultivars and the like.

Check out our six year Japanese Black Pine contest to see all the people who are now three years into growing JBP from seed. It is a long process, but uniquely rewarding!

 

[zimmy jazz]

Fascinating! I will definitely check that out. Wow. I am a string bass player (I keep a keen eye on the humidity in the house-ha). It has a big ole chunk of mpingo ebony for a fingerboard which started me thinking about conserving exotic trees. I donated some money and thought that a bonsai of that species would be a great conversation starter for sustainable wood harvesting practices. A couple of Peter Chan books and videos later here I am trying to collect elms in my yard and germinate trident maple and juniper berries. Still mourning the loss of a spectacular elm that grew in my yard and died of DED. Little seedlings still pop up occasionally.

Here is a picture of the Chinese Elm. It follows along with what you have described but just looks less happy than when I got it. I'd probably be a little bummed if someone put me in a box and I ended up here too I keep ficus, orchids, and jade really happy outside from March to October. When they come in over winter it feels like they take over the whole dang place.

Congrats on your move. Enjoy the pines and maples I am excited to check out more threads here and that JBP contest!