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Looks like I posted twice on this one sorry about that :( unintentional

Cheers Ewan for posting :) I have joined the forum now but still in nursery area so can't PM but feel free to email Ewan on my behalf or when I'm out of newbieness to PM me about the cannondale.

Cheers
Paul

I've been growing bonsais for years have a nice collection and been through some moments where I've needed to revive others bonsai trees.

So for a chinese elm you are actually probably better off keeping it outside they really need the change in seasons to store up the sap. So in the winter they should loose all of their leaves which tells them its time to start storing up sap for the spring if they are left inside during the winter they can often die due to not knowing this cycle. I'd recommend a larger grain of soil mixed 50:50 with bark you can get treated bark that won't have the problem of using home made stuff eg fungus and disease. There are some nice websites out there I'd recommend kaisen (sp?) I won't link to it but google will let you find it :) They tend to be fairly good and will give you advice on soil mixtures and best repotting times.

Quick way of telling if the soil is too moist or needs watering is by using a wooden chop stick...put it into the soil pull it out again, if there is no soil clinging to the stick then its probably a bit dry. Also humidity is majorly important get a drip tray with a gravel on it and leave it full of water pop the tree on that and it usually keeps the surrounding air moist. (aswell as spraying). If you do decide to leave the plant in doors don't keep it near a radiator or central heating this dries the air out far too much and isn't good for the majority of bonsais.

Chinses elms are fairly hardy and do stay alive much longer than you'd expect without leaves. In the off chance you think it's really dead try planting it outside directly in the ground. This is a technique used to strengthen bonsais particularly early in life to thicken the trunk and also helps revive "dead" plants. Don't worry about it growing too much that you can't bonsai it again...it sounds like it could do with a non restricted growth for a while (maybe a whole year) when it's healthy again repot it and prune the roots (plenty of books out there).

Paul

Hey I'm the friend of Ewanamacdonald thought rather than going through him I could just get to signing up and having a look myself :)

Ride across india sounds awesome, do you know which areas you will try to go through? Only interested as I might be heading there at some point early next year :)

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I'd post a quick hello. I'm oxford based want to get into cycling and was recommended this site by a friend. Looks like you are all a friendly bunch :)

Unfortunately there seems to be a few pages on this site that are blocked by my works proxy, not sure why but trying to read all the rules / nursery requirements. If I've missed something I do appologise.

Cheers
Paul