Help me with my new bonsai

Rich dp

Seed
Messages
1
Reaction score
1
I got my bonsai last December, and I’m quite not sure what kind of bonsai it is since the seller wasn’t able to tell me. At first I was trying my best to water it when the soil gets dry and I was misting it. But I already stopped doing it recently when I found out that it might be the cause of the leaves browning. Now, the leaves are drooping. I am quite desperate to save it. I don’t know where to place it as well for optimal sunlight.I can see that there is still new leaves growing. I live in Melbourne so it’s quite tough to put it outside bc sometimes we do have strong winds. I need some tips to take care of my bonsai and for it to recover.image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
The quickest, cheapest way to check soil moisture is a wooden chopstick stuck all the way to the bottom of the pot and left there. Water as soon as the chopstick is dry. My inexperienced guess is your tree is an azalea.
@Shibui is down under, he can probably give you good direction.
Adding your general location to your profile will make you more likely to get the best possible advice for your specific climate, and you won't have to continuously remind everyone where you are.
Welcome to the forum!
 
You have an azalea. Not sure where you bought it but I would be very wary of buying plants from someone who does not know the names.
Azaleas rarely do well indoors. Getting the correct conditions indoors is really hard for experts let alone beginners. Despite the sun and wind, outside will be much better.
There's nothing for scale in the photos except leaves. I'm guessing it is a very small pot and that alone makes it really tough for a beginner to keep any tree alive. It took me nearly 20 years to gain enough experience to keep trees alive in little pots like that. Medium and large bonsai are much easier to learn with.

Without being able to see and feel the pot and given it's summer and the small pot I'd say you're not watering enough. I water all my pots every day through summer and twice a day on hot days. Small pots like this dry out in just a couple of hours so they sit on a tray of wet sand to help them stay damp until I water in the evening.
If your potting soil has dried it is very hard to rewet. When you water normally, the water runs through and around and doesn't soak into the middle of the pot. Try soaking the pot in a bucket of water for half an hour each week to make sure it's properly wet occasionally then water as normal on other days.

Azaleas also need acid conditions. Most town water is pH adjusted to be slightly alkaline so the pipes and taps don't dissolve. That's not so great for azaleas but we can counteract the water by using azalea fertiliser which is a little acidic.
 
Back
Top Bottom