White spots on leaves and yellow leaves falling. What's the problem?!

[Tsveta]

Hey guys,

I've had this tree for two weeks now, when I got it it has recently lost all its foliage and had really many, many new buds. Consulted all of you here and was told to keep it outside and water properly. Thanks everyone for the useful tips. As you can see almost all buds have very quickly turned into well growing leaves, but I do have a concern. Some very pale green/white spots started to appear, I've attached pictures. It was suggested that may be fungicide so I was advised to leave the tree strengthen in good conditions.
What happened next though really concerns me now. Some of the leaves have started to turn yellow, including some new leaves. And they started falling among with some green ones... The picture was taken few days ago, now some of the leaves are proper yellow. For what I understand, that's a watering problem, underwatering or overwatering but which one?!
Also, I find the soil really awful and difficult to water. It's very compacted and I'm sure it is suffocating the roots. I have two problems though, first - it is midsummer here and for what I understand the season is not suitable for repotting (and the tree is already in full foliage) and second - I live in Bulgaria where bonsais are not very popular so no one imports bonsai soil, not even cheap one, let alone good quality... so I don't know what to do... I was thinking that may be orchid soil, which is widely available here, will be better than this stuff it is in now… that is large peaces of bark only…. What do you think?
Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[Tsveta]

I have updates... All the yellow leaves have now dropped and no new ones appear so I hope to have corrected my watering problem (it seemed like it needed a bit more water than what I was giving). White/pale green dots stay but no new ones appear so I assume it was calcium deposits from the water I was spraying it with, as some people suggested. If you have any opinion, advice or recommendations, I would love to read them. Thank you!!

 

[JudyB]

I left you some watering advice in another thread of yours, so I won't repeat it here. But some trees will drop leaves when they are stressed out by a change of location or light conditions. Could be that is what happened here. Be patient, water properly, and don't do too much to your trees until you have studied each variety and what they each need to keep them healthy.

 

[Poink88]

Check under the leaves...you may have spider mites. They are really tiny so try the paper trick. Shake some of them on a white paper and check with magnifying glass or jeweler's loop.

Good luck!

 

[Tsveta]

Check under the leaves...you may have spider mites. They are really tiny so try the paper trick. Shake some of them on a white paper and check with magnifying glass or jeweler's loop.

Good luck!

Oh, dear!! I think you may be right! That makes a lot of sense as I saw few spider webs about 10 days ago and just removed them with hands not making much of it... I am a complete beginner and it didn't cross my mind that this may happen. There are some pretty tiny stuff on most of the underleaf... Right... what should I do now? I saw another thread here about spider mites where homemade mixtures were praised but how do I make them? I'll ask there as well. Is that why I've had those white/green spots on top of the leaves?!

I was about to prune as I thought my tree has grown too much recently and sun cannot penetrate on the inside... I assume I have to treat the mites first, wait and then prune?!

Thanks!!

 

[Poink88]

I posted my mix here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?11270-Need-advice-on-my-Fukien-Tea

"I just spray them with 50% water/50% milk/ 2 squirt dish washing liquid on a liter spray bottle"

Be careful using oil on your mix with elm. I read they can react rather negatively. If you must, try it on a branch you don't mind loosing leaves on first.

While my mix is tested on aphids (and works very well)...I haven't used it on spider mites until last night. I can let you know the results in a few days.

Good luck!

 

[Tsveta]

I posted my mix here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?11270-Need-advice-on-my-Fukien-Tea

"I just spray them with 50% water/50% milk/ 2 squirt dish washing liquid on a liter spray bottle"

Be careful using oil on your mix with elm. I read they can react rather negatively. If you must, try it on a branch you don't mind loosing leaves on first.

While my mix is tested on aphids (and works very well)...I haven't used it on spider mites until last night. I can let you know the results in a few days.

Good luck!

Dario, thanks! When you say two squirt dish washing liquid do you mean ANY type of washing liquid or I should be cautious about some ingredients? Also, do you think it worked? Should I go ahead spray it now? I haven't done so still as I was not at home the last few days. The bonsai looked like it needed water so I watered the other day and now like a third of the leaves have gone yellow again!! I don't know what to do, I am panicking now. I posted a new thread for people to see here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthr...d-panicked-help-please!!!&p=143615#post143615 ... Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Tsveta]

I posted my mix here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?11270-Need-advice-on-my-Fukien-Tea


While my mix is tested on aphids (and works very well)...I haven't used it on spider mites until last night. I can let you know the results in a few days.

Good luck!

Dario, what's the result? Does it work??

 

[sikadelic]

I found these symptoms on a small boxwood I have. I didnt notice until tonight because yellowing leaves seemed normal to me for the cold season. It barely has any foliage at all and looks pretty poor. I will try the mix mentioned above and see if I get any improvement. Is scale common on boxwood?

I had planned to repot into a grow box but I will wait to see if it regains its health first.

This tree was the second one I ever bought and has had a host of problems. Poor initial soil when I repotted, too shallow of a pot, and underwatered by a friend while I was away for 2 months for training.

 

[Beng]

Bad water, or a root rot problem is my guess. Probably the former.

 

[Paradox]

@tsveta: Spider mites dont make webs, they are mites, not spiders

@sikadelic: sclae can be a common problem on just about everything

 

[Poink88]

Dario, what's the result? Does it work??

Sorry to miss this.

Yes it did. Worked like a charm on my Cedar Elm. YMMV

 

[GrimLore]

@tsveta: Spider mites dont make webs, they are mites, not spider

Incorrect, they can and do sometimes construct protective webs

Grimmy

 

[discusmike]

Yep, bad infestations, you will see something similar to spider webs.

 

[Paradox]

Incorrect, they can and do sometimes construct protective webs

Grimmy

Wow, news to me. There is my learn something every day thing.
Guess I never had an infestation bad enough to see this.

 

[Poink88]

Wow, news to me. There is my learn something every day thing.
Guess I never had an infestation bad enough to see this.

Count your blessings.

https://www.google.com/search?q=spi...=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

 

[Dav4]

Wow, news to me. There is my learn something every day thing.
Guess I never had an infestation bad enough to see this.

I've never seen the webbing while standing in front of any of my afflicted trees (junipers) but could see it when holding the foliage under a hand held magnifying glass.

 

[Dav4]

Count your blessings.

https://www.google.com/search?q=spi...=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&imgdii=_

...and if you let your bonsai stock end up looking like this, you need to find another hobby...

 

[edprocoat]

I usually catch the spider mites by noticing a leave hanging on a fine piece of thread. I see this on my Elms when I get it and my Junipers too, a normal piece of foliage that has died and would just fall off suspended by a fine piece of silk and I know its spider mites. The last two summers have been insane with these bastards, every month I get a new infestation, nothing like the pics that Dario posted though.

ed

 

[Poink88]

Just to clarify, that is from Google images. I believe that is a pic of a marijuana...probably being grown inside.