First Repot Did Not Go Well - Fukien Tea

[KingJades]

I picked up a Fukien Tea Tree from a club member to practice my first repot yesterday and I'm pretty sure I just killed my tree! It was in a ~1/2gal nursery type pot.

The tree was apparently in the pot for a while since the long roots at the bottom of the pot went around like 3-4 times. For a 7" tall tree, the longest roots were like 2.5ft long.

I've watched quite a few videos of repotting so I felt like I knew the basic idea. I removed the tree from the little nursery-style pot, gently raked the root ball with a skewer, identified the long, thick roots that I needed to cut and cleaned out the feeder roots of the old potting soil. I even left like 6" of the longer roots just to give me a little buffer.

I wired the tree in, got the bonsai soil massaged into the remaining roots and watered quite a bit as the water drained through the pot. To rest and recover, I put the tree on an awning where it wouldn't get much direct light and piled the following in front of it to block direct rays: Snake plant, reasonably sized jade, and a small trident maple.

We had a 90+ degree, 80+% humidity, sunny day and went I got home the leaves and the green shoots were drooping badly. Soil seemed a little dry so I watered again. I also cut a large branch with pretty bad reverse taper back to just after a horizontal bud pair. I removed quite a few leaves on a region of the tree I didn't want, anyway.

I wanted to keep the tree outside, but I brought it inside to my bathroom where I could better protect it from the stress of the sun/high heat since I felt like that was stressing the tree a lot. There, it gets dappled light and I filled the bathtub up with water so the humidity is pretty high. I know it's not recommended to keep it inside and Fukiens have all sorts of problems transitioning but it seemed like it was the best idea for the next few days until I see if it stabilizes.

Lessons learned: I likely didn't have the feeder root support that I needed prior to removing the root structure. I *probably* should have taken the tree out, cut back the longer roots and then repotted into a non bonsai pot to encourage better root development instead of moving directly into a pot.

I guess we actually do start out as tree killers! I hope my little guy makes it, but I'm pretty sure I know what I did wrong if it doesn't.

 

[_#1_]

You probly don't have enough roots to support all the leaves. Maybe some leaf reductions? I really don't know what I'm talking about mind you lol.

 

[aml1014]

I've only reported 2 one lives no problem and went on to a buddy of mine, they other was crunchy in 2 days. They are know to be finicky after repots, you must leave a solid root structure to support the tree. Ive killed a good few many when I started by trying to put them straight into a bonsai pot. I learned to wait. On any tree I get, during the first repot I go to a smaller container to regrow new roots close to the trunk, when the tree is ready for a bonsai pot, the roots should be too. Then it can go into a nice pot.

Aaron

 

[Carol 83]

Good to know. I have 3 Fukien teas. 2 in bonsai pots, 1 not. They are all doing well. No repotting for me !

 

[VAFisher]

I've never had a fukien tea but I have had leaves wilt after a repot on other species. I defoliated the tree and all was good. Leaves grew back in short order.

 

[KingJades]

I've never had a fukien tea but I have had leaves wilt after a repot on other species. I defoliated the tree and all was good. Leaves grew back in short order.

When I was looking more closely the worst affected leaves were the new growth that hadn't hardened of yet so I removed any droopy looking and particularly unhealthy looking leaves. Perhaps that reduction might put us in a recoverable place when combined with the branch I took off.

 

[Carol 83]

It might surprise you. I got a Fukien Tea a couple months ago, and all of it's leaves promptly turned yellow, and fell off. I thought for sure it was a goner. I just kept watering it, and it has come back, even has a bunch of flowers. First pic, is before, second one now. Second one is kind of blurry, I was in a hurry.

 

[KingJades]

When I was looking more closely the worst affected leaves were the new growth that hadn't hardened of yet so I removed any droopy looking and particularly unhealthy looking leaves. Perhaps that reduction might put us in a recoverable place when combined with the branch I took off.

Another super hot and sunny day - my tree played indoors about 4 ft from the my main windowsill.
Came home to tree with only 4 dead/yellow leaves. I removed them and moved the tree outside into the open since it's cloudy now.

Not dead yet! Will snap a few pics.

 

[Lobaeux]

The Fukien Tea is quite tough. I've had mine for about a year now, it's gone through bugs, under watering, overwatering, iguanas and emergency repots. Still going strong.

I would like to see some pics.

 

[Carol 83]

The Fukien Tea is quite tough. I've had mine for about a year now, it's gone through bugs, under watering, overwatering, iguanas and emergency repots. Still going strong.

I would like to see some pics.

Iguanas? Lol, we just have squirrels here

 

[Lobaeux]

Iguanas? Lol, we just have squirrels here

Yep, iguanas. We've got them everywhere! My Jack Russell usually takes care of them, but he went on holiday for a month. I think it was because of the organic fertilizer I had used, but they were munching on the leaves. They totally decimated my papaya, it's still trying to recover.

 

[Carol 83]

Yep, iguanas. We've got them everywhere! My Jack Russell usually takes care of them, but he went on holiday for a month. I think it was because of the organic fertilizer I had used, but they were munching on the leaves. They totally decimated my papaya, it's still trying to recover.

Wow, rethinking moving to Florida, lol. The squirrels just steal the fruit from my patio citrus trees.

 

[KingJades]

As requested, some photos.

We're now greater than 36 hrs since repot and not obviously dead yet! I had a few more yellowing and dying leaves, but I am keeping the tree inside since we're experiencing sweltering days right now and pretty sure that outside would be worse.Yellow might be par for the course.

I have been moving the tree closer to the direct light each day. Tomorrow it's on the windowsill where I grow my jades which has been lovely for them. I have an unobstructed direct sunlight for about 6hrs there? This will probably be its home for the rest of this season.

I do have the option of getting this outside under some decent shade, but I don't know what would happen.

Continuing to water when the soil appears dry and misting the leaves occasionally to try to keep leaves moist. Apparently overwatering is a bad thing on these guys, especially with the root cut so I'm trying to balance watering to not be too much or too little.

More to come but hopefully not a dead tree!

 

[Anthony]

Fukien tea likes full sun from - all around - so remember to turn weekly and a gentle breeze.
Look out for bugs, it's a bug magnet, especially aphids / ants.
See if it needs to repot every 2 years.

Talk to folk growing them in your area.

Let branches extend to 6 or 8 leaves before trimming back.
Best of growing.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[KingJades]

Moved it outside in the shade since we have a humid, overcast day with spotty sun here and there. Hopefully that helps.

Removed like 5-8 yellowed/dying/dead leaves this morning. Hopefully this is just a self-prune to balance against the root prune and not the tree dying off. We shall see.

 

[Lobaeux]

That tree looks healthy to me. Overwatering can be a concern, but usually from soil that is not well draining. I tend to water mine nearly every day, I take a look at the tree/leaves itself and the condition of the soil to help me determine whether to water or not.

Bugs love these trees though. Watch out for ants, aphids, mites, spiders and others. I had a couple of little, very little worms in mine. I spray with a neem oil and a malathion spray to help keep the bugs in check.

I like the pics, I'll try and take a pic of mine tomorrow.

 

[ColinFraser]

Is the peak of summer even an ok time to repot these?
I don't have personal experience with the species, but here's a basic guide that suggests spring repotting: http://www.bonsai4me.com/SpeciesGuide/Carmona.html

 

[KingJades]

Here's a source with "mid-summer".

http://www.the-bonsai-tree.com/repotting-tea-trees/

And another with spring and summer as best times to do a root prune.
http://www.bonsaimary.com/bonsai-fukien-tea.html

These suggested to me that mid-summer was an okay time. Many people suggest repotting tropicals in mid-summer. When I see many different "this is the best time to do this" it often means that there are a lot of "OK" times and your mileage may vary.

Mark D'Cruz of Ma-ke suggests late Spring.
http://guide.makebonsai.com/BonsaiPrint.asp?SpeciesID=5063&Name=Carmona_microphylla

 

[petegreg]

Here's a source with "mid-summer".

http://www.the-bonsai-tree.com/repotting-tea-trees/

And another with spring and summer as best times to do a root prune.
http://www.bonsaimary.com/bonsai-fukien-tea.html

These suggested to me that mid-summer was an okay time. Many people suggest repotting tropicals in mid-summer. When I see many different "this is the best time to do this" it often means that there are a lot of "OK" times and your mileage may vary.

Mark D'Cruz of Ma-ke suggests late Spring.
http://guide.makebonsai.com/BonsaiPrint.asp?SpeciesID=5063&Name=Carmona_microphylla

It should be OK, I can see some new growth undergone.

 

[KingJades]

It should be OK, I can see some new growth undergone.
View attachment 112109

I think that growth was there before I did the work on it, but perhaps because it's still on the tree we have a good sign.

The photos I took were post removal of yellow leaves. Yesterday I had about 5-10 more yellow leaves. I removed the ones that were basically ready to drop off.

The tree is outside today and will now be staying outside under my bench where it will get some light but not much direct.