I guess I will post the rest of the shots here.

: )

Rob

Congratulations, it looks very healthy! The leaves are so green and glossy.

Wonderful! Mine has lots of little buds too, how do I make sure they will open nicely??

Hi David, I fertilize twice a month at 1/2 strength. The flowers usually open within 3 or 4 days & last about the same.

Good luck.

Rob

Beautiful tree! Good job persevering.

Very inspiring!

I joined the forum today because I need help. My new f.tea bonsai (I only received it 3 weeks ago), arrived a pretty green -- like yours -- but now is turning yellow. I was so concerned about letting it dry out that I fear I have over watered! I have not watered it more than every other day, only when the topsoil is dry and the gravel tray is too. The soil it came with is rather fast-draining, so I didn't think it was a bad mix.

Do you have any advice for how I can stave off or correct damage? Even if I have to take a long view as you did?

Note I am a *total* gardening novice, and once killed an orchid by overwatering so I'm concerned. I do better with low-maintenance indoor plants: I have one money tree at the office that's doing well after 2.5 years of weekly watering, and one arthurium in my bedroom that gets about the same water. (Neither of them seem to need fertilizer.)

Thanks!

Welcome to the Garden Web awinns.

Yellow, dropping leaves are usually due to over watering. Even with fast draining soil you shouldn't have to water more than every 3-4 days, FT's like to dry a bit between watering's. If by gravel tray you mean humidity tray, unless it is quite large, IMO they are unnecessary. I am assuming the pot does have drain holes.

Perhaps you could provide a photograph('s) so we can see the tree, pot & what type of soil it's growing in, that would be helpful.

BTW, bonsai's are not low-maintenance or like any other plant you've ever cared for. (But don't be discouraged.) It can be an enjoyable & relaxing hobby.

One last thing, ALL plant's need fertilizer. If you don't know how to use/choose one, don't hesitate to ask, The Garden Web/houzz is a wonderful tool for the novice & experienced grower alike.:-)

Rob

P.S. Sorry about my delayed response, I had an internet service outage for most of the day.

Thank you for your response - not a significant delay at all! Yes the pot drains well. I last watered it Sunday (a friend did actually while I was away), and previous to that was Thursday. Today makes 5 days, so it's probably due. The trunk is green, and only a few leaves dropped off today so I think that's a sign it needed a water break! I'll get some fertilizer this weekend.
OK I will give you some pictures, a few angles plus close on the soil. Taken this afternoon.

Ok... The pot & soil look adequate. Hold off on the fertilizer, I see there is a crf (controlled release fertilizer) already incorporated into your mix. (Your other plants still need some though.)

I don't like crf's because they break down (release nutrients) erratically, so I would re-pot sometime this summer into a higher quality soil mix. Ironically "bonsai soil" has no "soil" in it. A good bonsai mix is made up of only 3-5 ingredients.

Example: 1 part Turface, 1 part grit, 1 part pine bark fines. Aeration & drainage are key.

How do you water your tree? Watering can, hose, sink etc...?

FT's can be finicky & need time to acclimate. Don't move it around from place to place.

What direction does that window face? Does the tree get enough light?

If I may ask, do you know from where the tree was purchased?

I'm sorry, but my cat is asking for her supper.

I will have to get back to you later. Try putting your finger (gently-not to disturb roots) about 1 inch into the soil, if it feels dry, then it's probably time to water. Over time you will be able to tell just by the weight of the pot when lifted.

Rob

Thank you, this is excellent. Please don't feel obligated, but I do appreciate it. :)

Glad to hear that I can wait a bit on repotting. Are the green granules the crf?

I have kept it in the same spot since its arrival, only moving it from the window sill to a shelf just below when I thought it might be overexposed to light. The window faces west and it gets several hours of sunlight in the afternoons (probably a few hours of fairly direct light).

The tree was sent from Proflowers (probably a specialized affiliate) and was very smartly packed with a solid base and space around its branches. Still probably a *lot* of bumping in transit though.

I have been slowly pouring water into the soil at the base of the tree from a cup until the gravel tray is full of water, checking to make sure that there is space between the water level and the pot's drainage hole. I did the finger test and it was dry almost to the bottom so I did just add a cup of water. It's been five days so I think it was due.

Amy

awinns,

yes that's crf, probably Osmocote.

A good (& very popular here on the GW) liquid fertilizer is: Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, you could also use Miracle-Gro 24-8-16 at one quarter to half strength (it will probably be easier to find). these both have a 3:1:2 ratio of nutrients which is about the same as a plants natural uptake, although FT has micro & macro nutrients that MG does not. Since you water bonsais more often than the average house plant, you have to adjust accordingly.

Proper drainage means that, it should take no longer than 2-3 seconds for water to exit the drain holes, from the time you poured it onto the soil.

At the same time though, you want to make sure the entire soil mass is being saturated, not that the water is running over the top of the soil, and down the inside side of the pot and out the bottom in 2-3 seconds.

I water my trees in the kitchen sink with the sprayer handle. That way I don't have to worry about excess water making a mess. It's also ideal for flushing my trees so salts & other deposits don't build up in the soil. Giving your trees a thorough watering also pulls fresh oxygen in behind the water & helps w/ gas exchange in the root zone. At this point, try to zero in on when to water your tree w/o overwatering, see if that stops the leaf drop. Like w/ my tree, even if yours loses every last leaf, the games not over.:-)

One thing that does concern me however, is the color of the trunk. FT bark is generally tan to greyish tan, yours appears to be green (as you said). Does that look like algae build up or something similar? If the tree came like that, I would call the seller and express my concerns about the color of the bark (and nothing else). As to not be blamed for overwatering etc... If the tree came w/ instructions, tell them that's what you've been following, and see what they say, but... that's just me.;-)

Well it's getting late, I hope this will be helpful.

Rob

You were so very helpful, I wanted to thank you 100x and share some good news -- my case also can be described by your title! :)

So here we are a month later and I seem to have corrected the overwatering problem in time.

As soon as I cut back on watering frequency, the yellowing was reduced and I was losing fewer leaves each day. Many small leaves have emerged to replace them and they are a healthy green rather than sickly yellow. The green hue on the trunk has also faded (I never did contact the seller about it). After experimenting, my tree now has me on a very strict 3.5-day watering schedule. That basically means alternating Friday and Monday morning/evening, which is workable and easy to remember. Sometimes I pour water in, sometimes I take it to the kitchen sink.

Last Monday, I was delighted to find that the little green buds had suddenly burst into the white flowers I had been so hopeful for! They seem to have a short lifespan, and may have been hurt by the earlier overwatering -- some open brown or go brown quickly, but there are lots of healthy ones too.

I have enclosed a few pics -- they are not as nice as yours but I think they get the point across.

with much appreciation for the support and advice,
Amy

ALL RIGHT AMY!!!

Look's like you might be getting out of the woods, the trunk looks much better, & the new growth is wonderful. Go ahead & remove any unhealthy leaves from here on out, also remove flowers when they begin to wilt, that way the tree wont waste energy on producing berries.

I haven't posted pics in two months, so I will show 2, one month updates.

My lovely little tree is still blooming & pumping out new growth like crazy!!!

So Here we go... MARCH:

APRIL:

I'm going to have to do some pruning pretty soon, I also just bought a great looking new pot for it. ( Forgot to take a pic though. )

Nice chatting.

Rob

Here's the new pot:

Later.

Rob

Looking good! Makes a change to see a healthy fukien tree

Thanks Rob!!

Wow, your guy is really roaring. :)

Hi there! I hope that i am doing this right and posting to the best source... but i’ve been trying to research all about FTs.. and am in hope that you can all help me!!

Mid Decemebr 2018 i was gifted a Fukien Tea bonsai and it was just thriving! All leaves were a great dark green color and i only watered it once a week with a spray bottle and sort of drenching it til i saw it coming out of the tray then stopped(watered from top of soil), i had it by a window sill with no draft coming through(not sure what direction it faced), and it was recieving if say about 5-7 hours of indirect sunlight. So with the positive results i thought i was mastering the art of caring for a bonsai! *Keep in mind that my green thumbs skills are newly developed so i guess you could still say i’m pretty novice at plants*

Anyways... fast forward and the leaves after me having it for about a month and a half- the leaves started to dry up and fall- (now i thought this was because of the seasonal change and weather climate) aboit a 1/3 of the leaves fell off on their own but then the rest were just holding on- they got really sticky for some reason- but would only fall off if you touched them or put a bit of pressure on them.

Now it’s completely bare- for about a month now( i admit i did help the leaves fall off by pushing on then- thinking that they were all supposed to fall by now)

My concern was raised because now i dont know if my tree is completely dead- it’s the start of spring and i thought i would have seen some new growth on it by now. and I haven’t even seen it start to flower!? When the person bought it for me he was told that eventually the leaves would all fall off and it would flower again- but nothing...

any advise!? I still continue to water it 1 time a week. here’s some photos of it in its current state unfortunately i don’t have any before photos.

It could be that by watering with a spray bottle; the water simply ran across the top of the soil and down the insides of the pot and out the drain holes; not soaking the entire soil mass. Remember, water always follows the easiest route, and due to it's cohesive nature; it's like follow the leader. I suggest using a watering can; and watering around the center of the pot w/ just a small amount of water. Let that soak in for a few minutes giving it time to spread out through the soil, then finish watering the entire surface of the soil until water is running from the drain holes.

FT's can be finicky trees to grow; but one of mine sat bare for months; but the branches remained flexible and alive, so even when people were telling me it was a lost cause; I waited. Months later; to everyone's surprise, it sprouted out healthy new foliage and bloomed shortly thereafter.

However, you mentioned that the leaves became "sticky". That's a common sign of Mealy Bugs, they secrete a sticky liquid called "Honeydew". It's always a good idea to keep a magnifying glass handy to inspect your plants for pests, especially the under sides of leaves. I own 3 of these; and they work great! https://www.amazon.com/Carson-MiniBrite-Slide-Out-Magnifier-Protective/dp/B00524H8MC/ref=sr_1_12?crid=2EAQP2ZFS0ZP9&keywords=lighted+magnifying+glass+handheld&qid=1553910396&s=gateway&sprefix=lighted+magni%2Caps%2C204&sr=8-12

Good luck,

Rob