Prune? Not enough sun? over watered? underwatered?

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Deci22

Yamadori
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Yeah...so I'm getting yellow leaves on the CE ( I can post pictures in a few hours ) its not old leaves, those seem fine and its only maybe 5-8 a day. If i so much as look at them the wrong way they fall right off. The yellowing leaves also have green spots the color of the normal leaves and a tiny bit of the top of the leaves are brown. they seem to be located more towards the trunk, underneath bigger shoots. The tree is in well draining soil and gets watered when my fingers feel like its drying out. I have a couple bio gold nuggets in the pot.... I'm not sure what i am doing wrong :( Its an outside tree and receives direct sunlight from sunrise until about 11 am then some dappled sunlight throughout the day. I do have a bad habit of misting alot so maybe i'm doing that too much? or maybe the newer leaves arent getting sunlight? any advice or things to look for would be super appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Deci22 said:
Yeah...so I'm getting yellow leaves on the CE ( I can post pictures in a few hours ) its not old leaves, those seem fine and its only maybe 5-8 a day. If i so much as look at them the wrong way they fall right off. The yellowing leaves also have green spots the color of the normal leaves and a tiny bit of the top of the leaves are brown. they seem to be located more towards the trunk, underneath bigger shoots. The tree is in well draining soil and gets watered when my fingers feel like its drying out. I have a couple bio gold nuggets in the pot.... I'm not sure what i am doing wrong :( Its an outside tree and receives direct sunlight from sunrise until about 11 am then some dappled sunlight throughout the day. I do have a bad habit of misting alot so maybe i'm doing that too much? or maybe the newer leaves arent getting sunlight? any advice or things to look for would be super appreciated!
Click to expand...
You'll need to add some pictures to avoid any possible missed diagnosis, close up of leaves as well as a wider angle one to provide idea of the scope of the problem
 
eugenev2 said:
You'll need to add some pictures to avoid any possible missed diagnosis, close up of leaves as well as a wider angle one to provide idea of the scope of the problem
Click to expand...
Yes! Finishing up at work in a couple hours and I will post pics :) posted this as soon as I got into work, totally forgot pics were on an actual camera and not on my phone. Sorry!
 
It's not wide spread but its the interior leaves. Couple other things to note-I have seen what look like gnats, maybe 1 or two hanging out on the substrate, havent seen them in about 2 weeks tho. It was re potted about 4 weeks ago and a few leaves turned yellow but then went away, I also had some squirrel activity with my plants which i also keep outside next to my trees
 

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Deci22 said:
It's not wide spread but its the interior leaves. Couple other things to note-I have seen what look like gnats, maybe 1 or two hanging out on the substrate, havent seen them in about 2 weeks tho. It was re potted about 4 weeks ago and a few leaves turned yellow but then went away, I also had some squirrel activity with my plants which i also keep outside next to my trees
Click to expand...
So i think @penumbra is probably right.
But it can be a bit tricky with these type of things but always remember each action will have a reaction and its not always immediate with trees. To run through a list of possibilities this could have been residual shock from repotting, or even possibly not watering on time i've noticed that elms don't like being dry and quickly shed leaves (less than 24 hours) if not enough water is provided, but in saying this, they don't like sitting in water either, could also simply be a result of temperature fluctuations.
On a side note the interior leaves being the old leaves are only a rule of thumb...as this will be based on what where and how hard you pruned
 
One more thought: Has tree recently had big change of climate🤔?
 
Did this tree drop leaves in winter? CE are known as semi-deciduous and in warmer areas do not drop leaves all in one go but individual leaves can still only live for a year so any from last year go yellow and drop as the new ones open in spring. This is the most likely explanation for these interior leaves changing given Fl location and time of year. Interior leaves are more likely older leaves. Leaves at the base of a shoot are older than leaves at the tips of shoots. New leaves appear at the tip of a stem as it grows. Size of leaves does not indicate age.

Lack of light is another possibility. As new leaves open further out on new shoots they block light to interior leaves. Leaves with no light are deemed useless by the tree and shed. Trimming shoots to remove some outer leaves and allow more light into the inner areas can help in this case.
 
Deci22 said:
Yeah...so I'm getting yellow leaves on the CE ( I can post pictures in a few hours ) its not old leaves, those seem fine and its only maybe 5-8 a day. If i so much as look at them the wrong way they fall right off. The yellowing leaves also have green spots the color of the normal leaves and a tiny bit of the top of the leaves are brown. they seem to be located more towards the trunk, underneath bigger shoots. The tree is in well draining soil and gets watered when my fingers feel like its drying out. I have a couple bio gold nuggets in the pot.... I'm not sure what i am doing wrong :( Its an outside tree and receives direct sunlight from sunrise until about 11 am then some dappled sunlight throughout the day. I do have a bad habit of misting alot so maybe i'm doing that too much? or maybe the newer leaves arent getting sunlight? any advice or things to look for would be super appreciated!
Click to expand...
Chinese elm puts most of it's energy into it's growing tips. A photo of the overall tree would have been more helpful but it appears your tree is just shedding old unproductive leaves. Nothing to worry about. Remember to keep pruning those long runners, irregardless of whether you're trying to thicken out the trunk or not, large scars take a long time to heal over. Keeping the tree balanced with equal light distribution among all the leaves are best.
 
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