New to bonsai - Fukien Tea and several seedlings!

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Hello everyone!

I just started my bonsai journey about 5 weeks ago with some intensive research, reading books, and watching A LOT of videos on YouTube! I took the plunge and got a 6-year-old Fukien Tea, which I keep indoors and mist every so often. My mom also gave me some seeds she had bought in a store-bought bonsai kit that she had lying around - I wasn't confident the seeds would germinate but one has already, two weeks after planting! It is a pinus aristata - Rocky Mountain Bristlecone Pine.

I also have planted jacaranda mimosifolia, delonix regia, and Japanese cherry blossom (not sure on the exact species).

IMG_4289.jpg

My Fukien Tea the day it arrived and I gave it a preliminary pruning.

IMG_4292.jpg

The pretty flowers that have been blooming on my Fukien Tea!

IMG_4299.jpg

My Fukien Tea a few days ago in full sun. Need to do some serious branch pruning, but I want to wait until it has established itself for a month or so.

IMG_4294.jpg

The seedlings! In the bigger pots in the middle are delonix regia, pinus aristata, and jacaranda mimosifolia. The smaller cups are half jacaranda mimosifolia and Japanese cherry blossom. I planted the large cups on 27 March, and the smaller cups on 3 June.

IMG_4307.jpg

One of the pinus aristata pushing through a couple days ago!

IMG_4330.jpg

The little pine is standing straight up now, this is from today!

Anyway, this is my little collection for now. Lots of work to raise the seeds, but
 

NOZZLE HEAD

Shohin
Messages
381
Reaction score
362
Location
Willamette Valley, Oregon
USDA Zone
8b
Bristlecone pine! Good on ya.

That moss on the trunk of the tea isn’t helping anything. I use an old toothbrush to wipe the moss off of my trees.
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Yeah, I read that it will just trap moisture and ruin the bark, so I've already taken the toothbrush to it. I'll try to get a new picture once I do some more pruning on the tree - I don't like that branch that sticks out to the side and curves up, gonna shorten that up a bit.

I honestly wasn't expecting much out of the seeds my mom gave me, the seeds in the smaller cups I actually bought from a nursery. But they're still only a week in, so we'll see!
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
[QUOTE="SkyShep, post: 753118, member: 31352"

Anyway, this is my little collection for now. Lots of work to raise the seeds, but
[/QUOTE]

Haha looks like I got excited and hit the post button too soon... I know it's a lot of work to raise the seeds but I'm really liking the excitement and anticipation of waiting for them to sprout, and trying to manage my expectations with germination rates. My hope is to get a few nice-looking trees in the next 5-10 years out of all these little seedlings.
 

NOZZLE HEAD

Shohin
Messages
381
Reaction score
362
Location
Willamette Valley, Oregon
USDA Zone
8b
My favorite trees are my Japanese maple seedling projects.

With that new tea I’d wait until that new growth hardened off to do any severe pruning, let the tree get some energy.
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Oooooo I really want a Japanese maple, I'm super tempted to get some seeds going of that one, too.

So like maybe start of fall? I know teas are picky (I read somewhere that called them Finicky Teas), but did that stop me from getting one? ...No. ><
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
So, I did a rookie bad with my Fukien Tea (hereto referred to as “Princess Fuki”) and got over-worried with her. Long story short, I saw some black spots on the leaves, googled what might be wrong, saw root rot as one of the culprits, and went to check the roots. Found the tree was horrendously root-bound, with two roots longer than my arm wrapped around the root ball, crushing it. In my bid to untangle the roots, I ended up taking most the soil out of them. Since I didn’t have a bigger pot to put poor Princess Fuki in, we drove to a nearby bonsai nursery and after the staff looked at me like I was crazy, they helped me cut the long roots down and got her re-potted. We kept the roots moist throughout the process so she wouldn’t dry out. It was a hot day. As we left, the guy said, “Let us know if it survives!” 😂

This was Princess Fuki when she was first repotted. I took some branches and leaves off and took a picture of the nice setup before the inevitable leaf drop.

98284332-6885-463C-A0A4-846C94DCAF51.jpeg

Now, the progression as the leaves got more and more sad...
4C65D6C4-82D4-4084-B69F-81A683FEC4C4.jpeg
2F7C1972-8001-4206-A8EA-AED0750099CB.jpeg
74F215EE-05CD-4767-AAB8-1AF7E0948A82.jpeg

The first photo being a few days after re-potting, the last photo being the most recent, a little over 2 weeks post-repotting. She’s not losing as many leaves as she was a week ago, so I’m hopeful she’ll pull through. Watering every other day or so, I dip my pinky in the soil and see if it’s dry and if it is I’ll water. Also misting the foliage and rocks once a day. Just trying to take it easy with her and let her shake off the shock.

Hoping to inform the nursery of good news in the next couple of months. ☺️
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
In better news, my bristlecone pine seedling (which I have dubbed “Chris Pine” because I’m a huge nerd) is doing very well. He is the lone pine to sprout from the seed kit my mom gave me, there was only one other pine seed that could have been viable.

Shortly after my first post, he began to spread his needles.

11FB005A-F738-4C44-8B09-BDD4D9B400DE.jpeg
200DF062-5BF5-4833-82AB-02F2965CBB05.jpeg

He’s done so well, and just continued expanding and growing for the next week.

8AF0F503-193F-4DB2-AD98-CEDE4E0EA0F9.jpeg

You can just start to see the second set of needles coming in. They have been coming along nicely this past week.

FB375868-24FF-4866-A2E6-C9F945281524.jpeg
5E2599E7-29F7-4A84-98E4-25A9BD47DFCB.jpeg
7ACA2B14-51CB-4EBE-BD78-2A1EB47335F6.jpeg

So he’s one month old, now! Going to be putting him in his own pot and slowly transitioning him to outside and a reduced watering schedule. I want to try and give the other seeds a chance to grow for another few weeks before I give up on them.
 

HorseloverFat

Squarepants with Conkers
Messages
11,356
Reaction score
16,220
Location
Northeast Wisconsin
USDA Zone
5a
Greetings, stranger! Come soil your soilless hands in the fertile substrate of the Tiny Forest! Always room for more caretakers ‘mongst the looming eyes of the woody dwarves.

I know EXACTLY “hypothetical zilch” of tea trees. And am quite excited to see the progress documented.

I just heard talk of trees from around the bend, thought I’d “mosey on over” and see what the all the ruckus was about.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance.
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
And another update post because it’s easier to manage fewer pictures per post because I’m on my phone.

I switched my other seeds (jacaranda and cherry blossom) from seed cups to moist paper towels because I was having mold problems. I had to throw out several of the cherry blossom seeds due to mold issues. The jacarandas were sprouting but then dying shortly thereafter. However, this one seems to be going strong, this week! (The brown stuff is cinnamon to help prevent mold.)

252815EB-FCF3-43CF-8B5C-19454F35654B.jpeg

I have ordered some organic seedling soil and planting kits to help try and get these to keep growing once they germinate, and those should be here by the end of the week. I also ordered more jacaranda seeds because they have been so tricky, and they’re cheap.

I will also be adding Chinese Wisteria and Judas tree seeds to the seedling collection. My husband fears I may be going mad, but he seems to appreciate that the ritual of caring for the plants helps me calm and focus my mind.
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Greetings, stranger! Come soil your soilless hands in the fertile substrate of the Tiny Forest! Always room for more caretakers ‘mongst the looming eyes of the woody dwarves.

I know EXACTLY “hypothetical zilch” of tea trees. And am quite excited to see the progress documented.

I just heard talk of trees from around the bend, thought I’d “mosey on over” and see what the all the ruckus was about.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Hey! Nice to see a friendly face.

I know that Fukien teas are finicky and as a newb, I probably shouldn’t have gotten one! Haha. But I am determined to nurse this one back to health, despite my terrible abuse. If not, I will probably go back to the nursery in shame and get a new tree. Maybe a Golden Gate Ficus. LOL. But so far the best advice I’ve seen is “if the soil is dry, water it, and for goodness’ sakes LEAVE IT ALONE!”

I also have a lot of seedlings I’m trying to grow, so those will be what I fuss over in the meantime.
 

penumbra

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
9,381
Reaction score
15,852
Location
Front Royal, VA
USDA Zone
6
I know that Fukien teas are finicky and as a newb, I probably shouldn’t have gotten one! Haha.
Yet when they are right they are outright righteous.
Best of luck with it. I recently took this path with fukien tea and I am getting some rather pleasing early on results.
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Yet when they are right they are outright righteous.
Best of luck with it. I recently took this path with fukien tea and I am getting some rather pleasing early on results.

She had absolutely GORGEOUS deep green foliage before my horrible abuse. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it when she gets better. ❤️
 

rollwithak

Chumono
Messages
717
Reaction score
726
Location
Central Valley California
USDA Zone
9b
Ha ha!!!! I’m going to “welcome you to crazy,” before @sorce has the chance to!

Welcome
To
Crazy!

You’ve come to the right place for answer. Very cool setup! I’ve heard the Fuckien Tea trees can be sensitive little things so make sure you do your homework!
 

SkyShep

Seedling
Messages
22
Reaction score
10
Location
Denver, CO
Ha ha!!!! I’m going to “welcome you to crazy,” before @sorce has the chance to!

Welcome
To
Crazy!

You’ve come to the right place for answer. Very cool setup! I’ve heard the Fuckien Tea trees can be sensitive little things so make sure you do your homework!

Thank you!

There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on Fukien teas but most of it comes down to lots of light (which she gets), don’t let it get cold, keep wet, but not too wet, and they’ll drop leaves at the slightest insult. The fact she’s still holding on to a third to half her leaves at this point is surprising me. Haha. I also read not to prune the roots more than 20%, so when we did the re-potting, I only cut the long roots down, nothing else. (Those things were easily 2-3 feet long.)

She’s still hanging in there and all the branches are still healthy, but it’s only been 2 weeks.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
Messages
32,908
Reaction score
45,579
Location
Berwyn, Il
USDA Zone
6.2
Ha ha!!!! I’m going to “welcome you to crazy,” before @sorce has the chance to!

Welcome
To
Crazy!

You’ve come to the right place for answer. Very cool setup! I’ve heard the Fuckien Tea trees can be sensitive little things so make sure you do your homework!

You fellas may have to take over for a couple months ........................

Sorce
 
Top Bottom