Fukien Tea Crisis Update !

[edprocoat]

Its been almost a month since I repotted the Tea with the vanishing roots, its seems to be doing fine. I took Treebeards advice and put it in a coarser soil, actually I used black aquarium gravel with a little bit of the original soil watered into the stuff since I figured it would allow it to get more air and still have some of the organic stuff that it was living in for the past two years. I defoliated most of it and the leaves are coming back in nice, I even took a small branch off it and used rooting hormone and put it in the pot to root it so I could try a root graft on the front side in a few months as its only rooted on the backside. Here are some pics to show where its at right now.

Front, a tad blurry.


Side view.


Back side


It looks like it just may make it, when it gets a little more time to strengthen up I will try and graft that sprig onto the front side to add a stabilizing root there.

ed

 

[mat]

Those are some crazy angles in that trunk. Glad to see it has some healthy looking, new green leaves. You probably already have thought of this, but I'd definitely keep a eye on over-watering since it doesn't have many roots to take up moisture.

 

[edprocoat]

Those are some crazy angles in that trunk. Glad to see it has some healthy looking, new green leaves. You probably already have thought of this, but I'd definitely keep a eye on over-watering since it doesn't have many roots to take up moisture.

Yeah it has sort of unique "weird" angles, but I like it as its different. I got it at a flea market stand, it was like a semi cascade, the trunk which was about as thick as a thin soda straw at the time was bent over at an angle that looked as if it had fell over and was left that way. I bent it straight up, it made cracking noises as it was actually real hard. Later I bent it to the right a little and still later I then bent it back over itself to the left, mainly to keep the height down. The last bend broke the trunk and a branch growing off it died but it healed up and grew some more. The trunk has been getting thicker but it still wants to grow tall, it looks like a distorted "s" trunk, maybe a Picasso Bonsai.

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Its getting a bunch of new flowers on it now! I was thinking of what Stacy Allen Muse said about over pinching it as I was about to pinch a new little growth on a branch tip and left it alone, the next day it had opened as a flower. When I first noticed the missing roots I put it in its new pot using the old soil it was in for the past two years and about 4 or 5 days later I read Treebeard saying to put it in a coarser soil to allow more air to the roots. I thought back when I had it in a round black dish and was using dark green aquarium gravel for the medium to grow it, that was when it flowered for me, also at that time I had left it set for long periods of time. Even though I had just repotted it, having to wire it into the pot because of the lack of roots, I decided to try aquarium gravel again taking Treebeards advice . So I gently raked as much soil out a I dared and then washed the rest out with a fine spray of the water hose. I replaced it with the gravel and then watered in some of the old soil.

I guess this whole scare was a blessing in disguise as now I know the difference between new leaf growth and new flower growth. It caused me to pay closer attention to the plants growth habits. I think this tree being such a slow grower has had a lot to do with my pinching and of course the break I put on the branch bending it, I will stop treating it like my ficus and let it grow out for a while and see what develops.

ed

 

[stacy allen muse]

Let it grow for a while, then trim back... to keep the small size you want.
This will allow the tree to maintain its health... don't forget it is all about trying to find the perfect ballance of what works best for your tree.

If you are always trimming, your tree is always going to be spending time trying to heal, with little effort going to new growth.

 

[edprocoat]

This was another plant that really suffered from the freeze we got when i returned to Ohio this spring, all the leaves died and fell off on their own. Its came back strong, except for the branch I severed to try a root graft with, that did not come back at all, a shame as it had developed nice roots all around the base of it.

Come back photo.

Teanow by edsnapshot, on Flickr

I am hoping it has developed some nice roots on the tree, I will not know until I repot it, maybe this fall.

ed