Hi everyone, I've been having trouble with the health of my Fukien Tea bonsai and while it's recovering, I don't know what went wrong. I got the tree almost 2 years go, February 2011. The pamphlet I got with it said it was 35 years old - it's quite large. It was fine for the first year. After that (spring last year) it stopped growing.
Beginning of summer-
My mom happened to see it around June and said it had aphids. I used some pray and it recovered immediately, growing like crazy.
End of summer-
Around September it started losing leaves. From summer through September I kept it outside in partial sun and we happened to get a lot of rain - maybe water every other to every three days. I brought it inside to a sun room when it got colder out and the leaves started falling. They would turn from the hearty dark green to lime green, then to yellow, get crusty, and fall. That sun room still hit like 50 degrees at night and it was being watered twice a week or so. By the end of September about 70% of the leaves were gone and I brought it inside where it was a constant 65-75 degrees.
October-
I researched this all over the internet and it seemed like 25% of people said the tree wasn't being watered enough and 75% said it was being watered too much, so I opted to only water it once the soil dried (which takes about two weeks). It lost up to about 90% of the leaves, but then by the end of October it started getting new sprouts that have been slowly growing.
Now-
So the tree is still in 65-75 degrees, partial sun, I water it once every two weeks when the soil dies and I spray it with a water bottle every day. I have this plant food http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/dyna-gro-orchid-pro-7-8-6 but I'm nervous to use it as I hear trees in not great shape can get stressed. I know this was a very long winded post, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding definitive care for this type of tree and although it seems to be recovering, I want to make sure I'll get a full hardy tree back.
Oh, and one random thought - the sun room had a propane stove in it that got used occasionally at night. Could that have possibly caused the leaves to fall?
Thanks in advance for all help, I really appreciate it.
Beginning of summer-
My mom happened to see it around June and said it had aphids. I used some pray and it recovered immediately, growing like crazy.
End of summer-
Around September it started losing leaves. From summer through September I kept it outside in partial sun and we happened to get a lot of rain - maybe water every other to every three days. I brought it inside to a sun room when it got colder out and the leaves started falling. They would turn from the hearty dark green to lime green, then to yellow, get crusty, and fall. That sun room still hit like 50 degrees at night and it was being watered twice a week or so. By the end of September about 70% of the leaves were gone and I brought it inside where it was a constant 65-75 degrees.
October-
I researched this all over the internet and it seemed like 25% of people said the tree wasn't being watered enough and 75% said it was being watered too much, so I opted to only water it once the soil dried (which takes about two weeks). It lost up to about 90% of the leaves, but then by the end of October it started getting new sprouts that have been slowly growing.
Now-
So the tree is still in 65-75 degrees, partial sun, I water it once every two weeks when the soil dies and I spray it with a water bottle every day. I have this plant food http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/dyna-gro-orchid-pro-7-8-6 but I'm nervous to use it as I hear trees in not great shape can get stressed. I know this was a very long winded post, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding definitive care for this type of tree and although it seems to be recovering, I want to make sure I'll get a full hardy tree back.
Oh, and one random thought - the sun room had a propane stove in it that got used occasionally at night. Could that have possibly caused the leaves to fall?
Thanks in advance for all help, I really appreciate it.