I need some fukien help!

[glass_shark]

Hello all, I'm having issues with a fukien I have. i repotted it when i brought it home from lowes, but shortly after that i discovered some bugs. aphids i think, thats not why im here though. i removed the leaves, in hindsight probably not a good idea, but i figured if the leaves were gone the bugs wouldnt habe anywhere to hide. i think the bugs are gone now, but now it's struggling to keep leaves on it. its had a few grow back in the months since i trimmed them off, but they all end up falling off. i have it inside currently, humidity in my room is closely watched, its hovering around 60%. theres currently no leaves and no buds forming, what should i do?
ive cut back watering a bit, but it still seems to be going down hill. its sitting on top of my indoor setup, under a light and near a humidifier.

 

[EricInSD]

I'm a beginner so take this with a grain of salt...

I have 3 fukien's that I acquired in spring to summer 2022. the bigger two were in growers pots. They all did well indoors in San Diego in well lit rooms. These were from Brussel's bonsai and the mid sized one, in a grower's pot, had a lot of extraneous branches so I trimmed those over the late summer. In late fall, I got a bit eager and repotted it into a Bonsai pot. It wasnt happy. It didnt lose all the leaves but lost quite a few and the rest were wilting. I decided to place a plastic bag over it, for high humidity, and place it in my sunny bathroom. That did the trick. That was the other day and about a month later, it's really on the mend. Here's a pic.

I think it would have continued to go downhill if I hadnt done that. These tropical trees really like humidity and warmth.

Good luck!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Lights & humidity - good.

Fukien tea, Botanically known as Ehretia microphylla and in older literature as Carmona retusa. It is in the borage family (not obvious, eh?), but like the family namesake borage, Fukien tea prefers nearly full sun. It will tolerate about half sun on the shady side. So if your lights are bright enough to grow marijuana or hot peppers, the Fukien tea will do well.

If the output of your lights is not up to "marijuana standards" you can to some extent make up for low intensity by increasing the length of time lights remain on. I keep cheap T-8 shop lights on for 18 hours, off for 6 , year round. A timer is helpful to turn lights on and off.

A fan in the same room, keeps the air buoyant, the breeze is directed across and above the plant shelf, thin grassy leaves wave a little constantly. Fan is on 24/7/365. Helps keep pests down, and roots healthy.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Generally heat and humidity of late spring thru summer are when repotting is done with Fukien tea. It can be summered outdoors once temps stay above 40 F at night. Bring back inside well before frost in autumn.