Sick Jaboticaba

coltranem

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A little history. My daughter and I took a beginners Bonsai class the first week of July. Part of the class pruned up a small jaboticaba from a nursery container and then repotted in a small bonsai pot with bonsai soil. We each got a plant. The plants went home and were placed on our deck.

After a month, so early August, we could see new growth on my daughter's but mine was still unchanged. In the middle of August mine missed a watering and started to wilt. I watered and placed in a more shaded location. The leaves seemed to recover but the plant still looks unchanged.

A few weeks ago night time temps were consistently hitting low 50s F. So I moved both of our plants to the basement under a grow light. The basement temp has been 65 to 68 F. My daughter's continues to thrive and mine just looks sad. The light is a Solarflare 110 and is about 18 inches above both trees.

Any ideas on what could be wrong?

He are some pictures

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Leo in N E Illinois

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Jaboticaba are in the guava family, the really grow best when warm, 70s F at night and 80s F during the day. They like moderate humidity and moist but not saturated potting media.

Most likely the hard drying out to wilt stage damaged the roots of your tree. It is still trying to re-grow a root system. That is likely why it doesn't look as good as your daughter's tree. Just give it time.

You might try top dressing the potting mix will a layer of long fiber sphagnum moss,( orchid moss). This will keep the surface of the potting media moist, and help get surface roots re-established.

Put back outside in spring when nights stay above 50 F.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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Bonsai potting media for fruit trees that don't like to dry out should have extra moisture holding components. More composted bark, or more akadama, or whatever organic you prefer to hold moisture. Less lava, less pumice, less turface.

Jaboticaba like mildly acidic soils, kanuma is also acceptable. Turface can hold and release a lot of calcium, Which acidic loving plants dislike. If you have turface in your mix, repot in spring and use a mix with no turface.

Diatomite - is okay, it is fossilized diatoms, all silica, not much calcium. Nappa 8888 is pure diatomite.
 

coltranem

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Thanks Leo. I have some spagnum moss I can add that and see how it goes.

The mix is pine bark, surface, and coarse sand. My local bonsai places standard mix. I can look at a soil update next summer.
 
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