New Bonsai Owner - Serissa Foetida

[Nera]

Hi all! New to the world of Bonsai. I have a little Serissa Foetida I acquired yesterday from a Bonsai nursery. When I got home with it and watered it, I noticed the water simply sat on the surface and just took ages to soak in. I tried poking down in the pot to create channels to the roots, but the roots are right there (pot is full up with them) so I made the decision to take it out, remove only the roots that were wrapping around (plus loosen the bottom roots) and then potted it into a bigger pot. I did not realise this is not the best season to touch the roots, oh no!

Here's the situation - I'm in JHB, South Africa and we are about to go into the last month of Autumn. My Serissa leaves are starting to turn yellow, can I just keep care as normal and wait for it to recover? I have heard these bonsais are notoriously finicky so with that in mind, I don't feel overly worried? Day time temps here now are still good, I just bring it indoors overnight because that's when the temp drops.

Thank you!

 

[Nera]

Here is a photo of it from yesterday before I repotted.

 

[RaginCajun]

They like water but they like fast draining soil. Mine gets a little direct early morning sun exposure and then under 75% shade cloth all day. How cold does it get in the winter in South Africa? I frequent Uganda in all the seasons and the winters are highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s around Kampala in the south and in Lamwo along the South Sudanese border in the northern part of Uganda it’s just slightly warmer and drier but still very tropical. I would not hesitate to repot a serissa anytime of the year in Uganda.
But I’m in the U.S.A in Louisiana..
if you can’t repot or it’s not good to repot in South Africa in the winter then I would just let it almost dry out before watering.. check the soil with a chopstick every day. Stick a chopstick in the soil until it touches the bottom of the pot and allow it 5-10minutes of time to soak up any moisture.. remove the chopstick and you will be able to see how wet or dry the soil is from the top of the soil to the bottom of the pot. What happens in a pot is the top half of the soil may dry out and the bottom be saturated swamp. This is very bad for just about any plant. It will rot the roots especially serissa.

 

[Nera]

They like water but they like fast draining soil. Mine gets a little direct early morning sun exposure and then under 75% shade cloth all day. How cold does it get in the winter in South Africa? I frequent Uganda in all the seasons and the winters are highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s around Kampala in the south and in Lamwo along the South Sudanese border in the northern part of Uganda it’s just slightly warmer and drier but still very tropical. I would not hesitate to repot a serissa anytime of the year in Uganda.
But I’m in the U.S.A in Louisiana..
if you can’t repot or it’s not good to repot in South Africa in the winter then I would just let it almost dry out before watering.. check the soil with a chopstick every day. Stick a chopstick in the soil until it touches the bottom of the pot and allow it 5-10minutes of time to soak up any moisture.. remove the chopstick and you will be able to see how wet or dry the soil is from the top of the soil to the bottom of the pot. What happens in a pot is the top half of the soil may dry out and the bottom be saturated swamp. This is very bad for just about any plant. It will rot the roots especially serissa.

Thanks for your reply!

In Johannesburg we can definitely get below 50 in winter, normally very early morning hours. Frost as well if the winter is a cold one. I will definitely take your advice and let the soil almost dry out, while checking with a chopstick. I have repotted in very well draining soil (yet also some water retention but not anything that creates soggy soil).

 

[rockm]

Expect it to drop most of its leaves after this. They don’t like shock and changing locations

Serissa are not easy. Don’t give up on it after leaf drop. It might recover.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Nigel Saunders has been successfully growing these in Ontario Canada for years and has a number of videos on his methods on his YouTube channel. Here’s a link

African style, Serissa Progression

I'm pruning my Serissa japonica (Formerly Serrisa foetida) to resemble an African Acacia tree. The style is inspired by nature and is often called the Pierne...

youtube.com

 

[Orion_metalhead]

I would bring it inside any time outdoor temps drop below 55deg F.

Outside the rest of the time.

Water when the top 1/3 of the soil is dry-ish. The timing may change based on plant needs. If all leaves drop, be more careful with watering.

If it croaks, get yourself something more forgiveable as a starter. @SeanS has great success with Trident Maples in your area. Look up his threads and see what works good for him!

 

[Nera]

Expect it to drop most of its leaves after this. They don’t like shock and changing locations

Serissa are not easy. Don’t give up on it after leaf drop. It might recover.

Thank you for the encouragement! I am definitely not giving up on it yet! Will check on it this morning when I move it back outside for the day and post a photo.

 

[Nera]

I would bring it inside any time outdoor temps drop below 55deg F.

Outside the rest of the time.

Water when the top 1/3 of the soil is dry-ish. The timing may change based on plant needs. If all leaves drop, be more careful with watering.

If it croaks, get yourself something more forgiveable as a starter. @SeanS has great success with Trident Maples in your area. Look up his threads and see what works good for him!

I am hopeful it will recover, but if it doesn't this is the reason I only bought the smaller one from the nursery (not expensive and so it allows me room to learn).

Thanks so much for letting me know about Sean, I will check out his posts!

 

[Nera]

Nigel Saunders has been successfully growing these in Ontario Canada for years and has a number of videos on his methods on his YouTube channel. Here’s a link

African style, Serissa Progression

I'm pruning my Serissa japonica (Formerly Serrisa foetida) to resemble an African Acacia tree. The style is inspired by nature and is often called the Pierne...

youtube.com

Thanks so much, I'm soaking up any knowledge right now so I really appreciate video links!

 

[Nera]

Okay, here are photos of it now 2 days later. To me, it's looking okay so far. Can it really still go downhill? Ignore the hessian cover, this was just to help insulate it (a breathable and woven material).

 

[SeanS]

They like water but they like fast draining soil. Mine gets a little direct early morning sun exposure and then under 75% shade cloth all day. How cold does it get in the winter in South Africa? I frequent Uganda in all the seasons and the winters are highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s around Kampala in the south and in Lamwo along the South Sudanese border in the northern part of Uganda it’s just slightly warmer and drier but still very tropical. I would not hesitate to repot a serissa anytime of the year in Uganda.
But I’m in the U.S.A in Louisiana..
if you can’t repot or it’s not good to repot in South Africa in the winter then I would just let it almost dry out before watering.. check the soil with a chopstick every day. Stick a chopstick in the soil until it touches the bottom of the pot and allow it 5-10minutes of time to soak up any moisture.. remove the chopstick and you will be able to see how wet or dry the soil is from the top of the soil to the bottom of the pot. What happens in a pot is the top half of the soil may dry out and the bottom be saturated swamp. This is very bad for just about any plant. It will rot the roots especially serissa.

@RaginCajun Johannesburg (JHB) South Africa has a temperate climate with winter lows getting down to around 23°F in June/July. This week we have a cold spell forecast with night time lows of 37°F forecast. Uganda is right on the equator, JHB is more along the lines of Chile or parts of Argentina on the map.

(The blue dot is JHB, red pin is Kampala)

 

[SeanS]

@Nera I have 3 small serissa that I leave outside all winter. I’ve had them for 5 years and have had them in the same spot in my garden for 3 years now so they’re past the “don’t move me or I’ll throw a tantrum” phase though. They do drop a few leaves in winter but by spring they take off again and grow like crazy.

 

[Nera]

@Nera I have 3 small serissa that I leave outside all winter. I’ve had them for 5 years and have had them in the same spot in my garden for 3 years now so they’re past the “don’t move me or I’ll throw a tantrum” phase though. They do drop a few leaves in winter but by spring they take off again and grow like crazy.

Hi Sean! Really appreciate your reply. I feel so relieved to know I can actually leave it outside now, I was not feeling good about continuously bringing it in and taking it back out (no consistency for it). I'll keep it in it's spot outside on my patio now and let it recover.

 

[Nera]

@SeanS what would you recommend as far as getting my little Serissa to thicken up goes? This is also a reason I put it in a bigger pot, to let it grow out more. Should I let the canopy grow freely for a couple years before pruning? Or maybe get a couple sacrificial apex stems growing long?

 

[Nera]

@WNC Bonsai thanks again for the video link. I enjoyed watching Nigel's Serissa videos! Especially when he talked about the pot looking too big for his tree at the time (thinking of it in the future and filling out the pot in time). This is how I'm feeling looking at my little Serissa. In time, it will look more balanced.

 

[RaginCajun]

@RaginCajun Johannesburg (JHB) South Africa has a temperate climate with winter lows getting down to around 23°F in June/July. This week we have a cold spell forecast with night time lows of 37°F forecast. Uganda is right on the equator, JHB is more along the lines of Chile or parts of Argentina on the map.

(The blue dot is JHB, red pin

@RaginCajun Johannesburg (JHB) South Africa has a temperate climate with winter lows getting down to around 23°F in June/July. This week we have a cold spell forecast with night time lows of 37°F forecast. Uganda is right on the equator, JHB is more along the lines of Chile or parts of Argentina on the map.

(The blue dot is JHB, red pin is Kampala)
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I hope to visit one day.

 

[Nera]

@RaginCajun being from the USA, you would likely still wear a t-shirt in our winters compared to yours However, we do have a great climate in general here. I think you would really like South Africa if you ever visited.

 

[RaginCajun]

@RaginCajun being from the USA, you would likely still wear a t-shirt in our winters compared to yours However, we do have a great climate in general here. I think you would really like South Africa if you ever visited.

When I retire I will! I plan to relocate to jinja city, Uganda when I retire.It’s my favorite place in the world.