Maddalene said:
It's meant to be outdoor??? Are you sure? It's been inside for the last four years but the old house didn't have central heating and got pretty nippy where it was...
...also what nourishing does it need and where can I order it (pref online or via the phone). I've never repotted it either/ refreshed the soil.
yeh, it's a hardy spiecies so it will like it best outdoor. and the centrall heating will also dehidrate the air and most trees like a relativly high humidity. this can however be helped with what is called a humidity tray. a fancy word for a tray that is something like 5 cm bigger around the eges then the top of your pot that you can put the pot on and then make sure that there is always a bit of water in it.
the elm should make it indoors but in will never flourish. i've noticed this since i used to have mine indoors for many years, it's only the past year or so that i have had a chanse to have it outsid propperly the full winter and the result in the spring was breath taking
you can use regular plant feed (from your local flower shop/super market), as long as you delute it twice as much as in the instructions and feed it half the times it says in the instructions. you should probably not give it nourishing now though, or only very litle, since it should go into it's resting period quite soon. mine started to loos it's folige around mid october and after that yoo only feed it once or twoce untill spring and water it more sparingly as well if it's not outside.
repot it to a bigger pot next year, around march sometime. you can order a pot from the links above or from links on prevoius page. there were some nice uk made handmade pots there. you should go for a pot that is about twice the size you have now i think. or to be strict you should have a pot that is two thrids of the trees height or with depending on what is biggest. but if you go for that messurment you will need to change pots offen and that will become expencive. the soil i will try this sprin is 1 part regular indoor soil (good for drainige), 1 part compost (straight from my own compost), 1 part the soil from the prevoius pot and one part regualr garden soil. or something like that, roughly. i also use a metal mesh over the drainige holes and then some stones/sand in the bottom to improve drainige.
if you make a search on the net you will find many sites dedicated to care in temrs of soil mixture and pot sizes and the very expencive special tools you must have and so on. only part of it is important and most important of all is to know all you can about the tree you have and how it grows in the wild. such as that the chines elm is used as a hardy city tree in poluted city in the north of the US and in canada where winter tempratures a dropping as low as 20 below.
if you have a place outdoor for it you will need a big pot/flower bed for it in winter. what you need to do is to cover the bonsia pot with lefs or some such that can provide a bit of insulation. if not the roots may freez suddenly and then die. regular trees have there senstive roots so deep that when the chill hits it takes a while for it to reach them. to create the same for a bonsia you can either burry the pot in a flower bed or in a heap of dead leafs. i use the latter in a big plasic pot.
