Chinese elm advice

[treehumper]

Hello, my Chinese elm has been sick for a while, it's been getting a couple yellows leaves a day for about a month, maybe 2 - last week i saw some webs strands on it, so i'm assuming spider mites - also getting these reddish brown spots on the trunk which i have no clue. It's an indoor tree, i put it outside 5 days ago, and spray neem oil all over it and gave it a bit of a soil drench with it. (Shaded most of the day, gets maybe 2-3 hours of direct sunlight) a couple days later i sprayed it again. Today i saw it had a fair amount of yellow leaves on it now and i don't know what to do. Any advice would be amazing!

 

[BrianBay9]

If you fill in your profile with your general location you'll get more specific advice.

Your tree look pretty good, especially if it's been inside for a long time. The yellow leaves would be expected if kept inside. It wants to be outside, at least for the summer. When you transition from inside to outside, keep it in dappled light for the first week or two to let it adjust. The spots on you trunk look like the natural Chinese elm trunk to me.

 

[Shibui]

Spots on bark are perfectly normal for Chinese elm bark. Eventually the outer bark will turn brown. Some Chinese elm develop thick, corky bark. Others shed outer bark each year and have fresh, new bark underneath.
Chinese elm are technically deciduous but in warmer conditions the old leaves don't drop off in Autumn. The leaves still only live for a year so eventually the oldest ones drop off. Do you remember if this tree dropped leaves last Autumn? If they did not fall then it is likely the yellowing leaves are just older ones reaching end of life.
As already mentioned, knowing where in the world you are helps us make some guesses based on seasons. Time of year and location is really important for most plants, even more so for bonsai.

Chinese elm are sold as indoor plants but reality is you need to have really good conditions to keep them alive and healthy indoors. Many just never make it long term without good light, moving air and humidity which are all lacking indoors.

Good work treating the possible spider mite problem. The tree may have a slight reaction to the neem and/or the change of position but they are pretty tough and it is highly unlikely either of those or the mites will kill it. Continue care. It still has plenty of healthy leaves and should recover easily.

 

[treehumper]

Thank you very much for the advice! That makes me feel much better! I'll keep it outside and will continue with the neem twice a week for a few weeks. I live in the UK so we're in late summer, but i'll fill my profile in more. Thank you again!!

 

[WNC Bonsai]

OK, so you just moved an indoor tree outside and started spraying it with Neem oil, of course its going to react to that and yellow leaves is a common reaction. Mine stay outside year round and all I do is water, feed, and prune back the extensions about once every 2 weeks. Trees like consistency and moving them around doesn’t help.

 

[pandacular]

you just moved an indoor tree outside and started spraying it with Neem oil, of course its going to react to that

to clarify, after treating a tree with Neem, it should be left in the shade, else the oil can act as a lens.