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How do I rescue my indoor bonsai tree

Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57
in Problem solving
Help! not sure what I am doing wrong but all the leaves are falling off my bonsai tree and it looks like its dying. I only water when it looks a little dry and it is in a pot with a drainage hole. 
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Can you show us a photo please?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57

  • Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57
    Sorry its taken me a while to post a picture, I am not very technical!
  • Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Bonsai is usually inflicted on trees that normally grow outdoors.  They are not, therefore, suited to being houseplants with all the trials of heating, dry air, low light.

    I can't see the variety on that label so it may also be that yours is deciduous and would naturally lose its leaves in winter.

    I suggest you look up the variety on something like the RHS website to check that and then have a read of this info from them on bonsai care which includes outdoor and indoor varieties - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=586 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The label says ‘Chinese Elm ... semi evergreen’ so I would expect it to lose some leaves in the winter, especially in low light levels indoors. 
    It also will not be happy in a centrally heated house 
    it needs to be cool but frost free.
    Do you have a frostfree greenhouse or conservatory?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57
    I have a potting shed but its not heated. Do you think it would be happier in there?
  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    They do like a lot of water, it might be worth repotting in Bonsai compost,but as others have said they arent really a house plant. Find somewhere sheltered outside,or in an unheated space. In the summer find somewhere shaded.  Mine lived for years till I moved abroad and left them with my daughter who managed to kill every one of them.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • Claire.BeeClaire.Bee Posts: 57
    I have put it in my unheated potting shed so fingers crossed it picks up.
  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Bonsai are tricky things to look after and require specialist care. You would be well advised to get a good book on the subject so that you can look after your bonsai for years to come. Most of them are not happy indoors......they are proper trees after all even if they are very tiny.
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