mikeal
Seed
Hi,
I'm new to bonsai, I grew some BRTs and Spruce from seed some time in May (yes, I got a kit, but all I really used from it was the seeds, I bought bonsai soil, a heat mat, and seed trays). Everything seemed to be going fine despite me not knowing what I'm doing, and I had 5 healthy looking BRTs and even semi-successfully wired 3 of them into more interesting shapes. But then about 4 weeks ago, seemingly quite suddenly they started having leaves turn yellow and fall off.
They have been growing indoors, next to a south facing window, and still on a heat mat. I had been watering every day (but only a little and the soil drains really well). I had fertilized a couple times (probably should have more, but they seemed to be growing at a really good rate anyway).
I dug around these forums a bit and stopped watering on a schedule, now I am checking the soil and only watering when it is dry. I checked for bugs on the leaves couldn't see anything. I have noticed dimples in the leaves - they look almost like lighter spots, but on close inspection they aren't a different color it is like a dent or bump. And its a bump in the leaf itself, it's not a bug or growth of anything. Reading a bit further I thought it could be root knot nematodes (in my spruces although they are doing fine, when I water them I can see little clear worms wriggling around in the top of the soil), so I bought some nematicide and treated last week. Also tried having a mister fan to put a slight breeze on them and increase humidity for part of the day. And I tried putting the worst looking one outside for part of the day when it was sunny.
Outside seemed to maybe help a bit, and maybe the nematicide did too, they seemed to have picked up a bit (at least no new yellow/falling leaves even though new growth still pretty much at a stand still) but then this morning they all seem very droopy, lots of new yellow and falling leaves. Only other thing I can think of is that the change did seem to coincide with a cool down in the weather - I live in Raleigh NC so they have been getting a lot of sun through the summer, and we just started getting more overcast and the days are getting noticeably shorter now. It's also getting down to 40s so can't really put these guys outside until Spring (apart from maybe a few hours on the odd sunny day). Thinking about it, it's really only the weather that has changed (at least that I know about) since they were doing well.
Please help with how to fix them.
- Should I get a grow light? Any guidance on type/size/power etc. appreciated.
- Should I treat again with the nematicide?
- Anything else I'm doing wrong?
I'm new to bonsai, I grew some BRTs and Spruce from seed some time in May (yes, I got a kit, but all I really used from it was the seeds, I bought bonsai soil, a heat mat, and seed trays). Everything seemed to be going fine despite me not knowing what I'm doing, and I had 5 healthy looking BRTs and even semi-successfully wired 3 of them into more interesting shapes. But then about 4 weeks ago, seemingly quite suddenly they started having leaves turn yellow and fall off.
They have been growing indoors, next to a south facing window, and still on a heat mat. I had been watering every day (but only a little and the soil drains really well). I had fertilized a couple times (probably should have more, but they seemed to be growing at a really good rate anyway).
I dug around these forums a bit and stopped watering on a schedule, now I am checking the soil and only watering when it is dry. I checked for bugs on the leaves couldn't see anything. I have noticed dimples in the leaves - they look almost like lighter spots, but on close inspection they aren't a different color it is like a dent or bump. And its a bump in the leaf itself, it's not a bug or growth of anything. Reading a bit further I thought it could be root knot nematodes (in my spruces although they are doing fine, when I water them I can see little clear worms wriggling around in the top of the soil), so I bought some nematicide and treated last week. Also tried having a mister fan to put a slight breeze on them and increase humidity for part of the day. And I tried putting the worst looking one outside for part of the day when it was sunny.
Outside seemed to maybe help a bit, and maybe the nematicide did too, they seemed to have picked up a bit (at least no new yellow/falling leaves even though new growth still pretty much at a stand still) but then this morning they all seem very droopy, lots of new yellow and falling leaves. Only other thing I can think of is that the change did seem to coincide with a cool down in the weather - I live in Raleigh NC so they have been getting a lot of sun through the summer, and we just started getting more overcast and the days are getting noticeably shorter now. It's also getting down to 40s so can't really put these guys outside until Spring (apart from maybe a few hours on the odd sunny day). Thinking about it, it's really only the weather that has changed (at least that I know about) since they were doing well.
Please help with how to fix them.
- Should I get a grow light? Any guidance on type/size/power etc. appreciated.
- Should I treat again with the nematicide?
- Anything else I'm doing wrong?
