It sounds like some kind of fungal problem, usually brought on by watering too often... but you gave no info at all about that, about temps, hours of sun or soil mix, so it's hard to comment further.

Whoops sorry about that. I usually water it when the soil gets a little dry, in the afternoon. It usually gets a full days worth of sun cause it sits on my desk in front of an east facing window. I'm not sure what the soil mix is . I've checked on the website and the tag it came with and it had no information about the soil mix. It is usually kept at around 78° F. I also mix in liquid fertilizer to both my water and spray bottle as advised on the fertilizer package. Any tips on how to solve this problem? Should I just be watering less?

Well an east facing window in an office might work for a house plant, but it's not even close for what a Fukien tea (the more usual name of the tree) needs - try a high intensity fluorescent (or a good Daylite bulb) 6 inches above it for 15 hrs a day, Throw out any and all tags forever - they're worse than useless. The one thing your tree needs there (and do not confuse it with 'watering') besides not to live in a dry, often dark or too cold office, is a humidity tray - a high sided tray or whatever that's as wide or more as the foliage spread. Fill that with large pebbles, then with water, but never enough to touch the pot bottom because it'll get wicked in and rot roots. You have a very tropical tree, and you're treating it (I realize you didn't know) like an African violet or philodendron... which it is very much not one of. Google Fukien tea bonsai care but don't stop at the first or fifth note you see... get a real consensus because half the sites are trying to sell you, the other half are not knowledgable enough and the last half ( :) ) are more used to growing junipers in Colorado! And btw, let at least an inch or so of the soil dry between waterings.

Yeah, hard to over-emphasize light for FT's. And I let mine dry out a little more before watering..

ez

Thanks for the advice! I looked around for a good care guide and I found one from an actual owner of a Fukien Tea. I will make sure to water it better although it is hard to tell how dry the soil is because there is a small layer of rocks covering the soil surface. Are the tiny rocks necessary? Can a brush them off?

Absolutely get rid of them.... but make sure they're NOT the mix itself (bonsai 'soil' mixes are more gravel - for fast drainage - than soil). If it's just a thin layer on top, get rid of it, but be very careful - if it's the mix itself then you don't want to disturb roots near the trunk - start at the edges to see what's what. If it IS the mix, then I would be more careful about watering - that's always a matter of frequency, but don't be afraid to give enough to give all the roots a drink, so it comes out the bottom, but do it slowly no matter what.

You said you found 'one' care guide from an actual owner - doesn't sound much like the advice I gave you at all... you really need to learn and you won't do it that way and your trees won't live long without a knowledgable owner.

Terrific! Good for you!

Great willlago, and letting the soil dry a little more should keep the fungus away. And I re-emphasize a grow light to supplement. The more sun I give mine, the more they are willing to back bud on the lower parts of the trunk.

ez

Sorry for the bother, but I'm having trouble identifying what these new growths are. Are they branches? Should I prune them?

Yes they shoot out a branch several inches long, just like that. Whether or not to prune depends. If you want to thicken the trunk, let it grow long and shaggy. That takes time, is best done in the ground or in a larger pot- more room for roots. If you want to simply maintain it, prune the branch leaving just a couple leaf nodes. If you want to send the growth in the direction of that branch, then prune only the growth tip or don't prune at all.

Btw the distance between leaf nodes on that branch tell me it's not getting enough light for the compact growth desired in bonsai.

ez

What kind of fungicide did you use on your carnona microphylla. Lost all the leaves and the ones trying to grow back, come out curled and little white specks all over them. Then they die, before they even get fully grown. My friend bought a different type of bonsai, from the same place. Now their leaves are dying with little white specks on them too. 80.00 for this. I tried everything else.

"Little white specks" doesn't sound fungal. Fukien tea trees are scale magnets, so inspect carefully for scale. There are more than a few varieties that make their presence known through the appearance of little elongated white dots (witness euonymous and pine scale). BTW, this thread is about 2.5 yrs old, so don't be surprised if you don't get a direct reply from whomever you were addressing.

Al