Thanks Al!

This spring should I put it in 511, or something else? What would you suggest here for a soil?

Here is a better shot of its current soil... And a closeup of the trunk

Something else. 5:1:1 will hold too much perched water in shallow pots. Though I can't say with complete certainty, that soil looks like it should hold at least 2-3" of perched water. That means that after a thorough watering with the plant in, say a 3" deep bonsai pot, 2/3 to all of the soil will be completely saturated until it evaporates or it's used by the plant. Since a lack of oxygen in the root zone limits root's ability to absorb water, you'd pretty much need to depend on evaporation, which can be a slow process in soils with limited gas exchange. Neither will the soil you're using fly, so you'll need a coarser soil that supports little to no perched water and will allow you to water daily or every other day without you needing to worry about root issues. My 'go to' soil for tropicals is the one in the picture. It allows me to actually water on a schedule, even in winter, with no need to worry I'll over-water. The particles are screened to size to ensure it can't hold perched water, or at least not enough that I worry about it causing mischief in the root zone. It makes fertilizing and life in general easier. Since I started using it, I've found I often need to shave twice a day, so it even makes my beard grow better!!!

Al

Al, you're posts are hugely helpful!

What is the mix in the photo? I'll make that mix and try it out when it's the proper time to repot.

I do not plan on making this into a bonsai, I want it to be big and healthy and smell delicious! :)

It is in a full south window, gets misted a few times a day, and I've been using Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed emulsion once a week....

This is one fussy plant! Its in a south facing window, right near the glass. As soon as it gets even the slightest bit dry on the top of the soil, it drops a bunch of leaves. I am watering it every 2-3 days. It has stopped flowering. The nickname "I dry, I die" has me very nervous about soil moisture.

Positive is I have plenty of leaves now to make some Mounjean tea. :)

The greenhouse it came from was 200 years old, it got plenty of cool nights and cold drafts.

Any advice?

I'd be cautious about using the leaves for tea because you don't know what the nursery was using for chemicals on the plant. It should be at least 2 years free of chemicals toxic to humans before you make tea with it; and then, you should only use young and healthy leaves.

Not sure where you live, but be careful about fertilizing - especially if the soil temp is in the 50s and you're using an organic source of nutrients. The combination (cool soil + organic nutrients) can cause ammonium toxicity. This is almost never diagnosed correctly by hobby growers, which means it's the vexation that keeps on giving. I'd skip the misting in favor of a fairly even RH something >50%, but not so high mold is an issue in whatever room it's in.

Al

Al,
Good call, I'll toss the leaves.

Big news! I've succumbed to your nudges and joined you on the darkside - Foliage Pro for all!

I have the pot on a saucer full of pebbles, should I make sure this always has water in it to up the humidity?

I've been using a wooden dowel as a tell, as you suggest to be sure it's not too wet. The soil it is in, combined with that rough clay pot, drains quickly.

Open to all suggestions for this and my Osmanthus fragrans..... These two woody plants are giving me a run for my money

I did an experiment to see how effective humidity trays are. We have a wall between the kitchen/dining area and the sitting room. There are no heat sources on the wall, and it faces north, so there is no direct light to affect temperature at that wall. I set a freshly watered plant on a plate and situated a digital hygrometer in the middle of the foliage mass. After an hour, I checked the RH and noted it. Right after, I placed a humidity tray almost twice pot size (10 x 14 & 5 x 8) under the pot. It was filled with peastone and room temp water. After an hour, I checked the RH and found it was .7% (7/10 of 1%) higher than. I checked it each hour or so from noon to about 4PM, during which time it didn't vary more than .1%. As the plant prepared to enter the dark cycle and stomata closed, slowing transpiration, the RH started to drop until it was more than 2% lower than the initial reading w/o the humidity tray. This might also be attributable to a drop in night temps or an increase in outdoor wind velocity causing the heat to cycle more frequently after dark. Obviously, the controls were very loose, but it can still be deduced that the humidity tray had precious little effect on humidity levels in the air surrounding the canopy.

What does 'joined me on the dark side' mean?

Al

"joined you on the dark side"

Synthetic fertilizer (foliage pro) versus the fish emulsion I was using.