Hello,
I've been informally involved with growing bonsais (well, one bonsai...) for several years now. However, I am having trouble with a new tree I was given by my boyfriend about a month ago. It is a cherry blossom tree, and when it was given to me it appeared to be in good health. Unfortunately it did not come with a care guide, which is my big problem now. It has been losing leaves fairly steadily sense I got it back home. I have been watering it once every day or two days, depending on my schedule. I had placed it near a window (there isn't anyplace I can put it outside sense I live in a dorm), but I recently moved it wondering if the light coming through the window could be too intense. Additionally, this plant had to go on a flight back to my place (boyfriend gave it to me at Disney), but I did carry it on the plane with me, so the stress would have been minimal.

Does anyone know if there is a particular type of substrate which cherry blossoms do well in? I want to remove the rocks from on top of the soil layer to better monitor the wetness of the soil, but I also don't want to remove them if this type of tree does well with lots of drainage. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated. I want to figure out what I'm doing sooner rather than later, so that this little guy doesn't lose any more leaves!
Thanks. Live long and prosper!

The problem is obvious. This is a hardy species and will not survive indoors. It is as simple as that. You may save it if you get it out now, depending on how much damage has been done. Watering should be when needed not to a schedule.
You don't say what country you are in, but it would not matter Rocks are a no no, get rid of them.
Geoff.

I wasn't sure if the rocks were ok or not (didn't know if the company had put them in for aesthetics, or because it needed good drainage). I'll take them out asap.

I have been doing watering when it looked dry, which tended to be at the timeframe mentioned earlier. Although I live in MA, I can't put it outside as I live on campus at a college, and if it goes outside it would either be stolen, tossed out by faculty management, or any other random event. I've seen cherry blossoms growing inside at things like green houses. Approximately what temperature, and light amounts would it need? I can easily modify stuff inside to get it to live.

Question- Do you think transplanting it would be too much strain on the plant now? I really don't like the feeling of the soil that Disney put it into... It just feels unnatural, not like dirt, and doesn't seem breathable. I'd love to use some bonsai potting soil instead...

You are not going to keep it alive inside. If you must keep a tree inside then get a Ficus or Serrissa or similar. You may have seen a Cherry in a greenhouse, but that is not the same as a house. The light levels are totally different, and so is the humuduty, all of which are very difficult or impossible to do in a house.

Look, I already have the tree so its useless to suggest a different one. I have humidity gauges up in my dorm room for my pet frog. What humidity level is needed? It is generally much more humid in my dorm room than it is outside (live in MA), and reducing the amount would be easy. Also, light isn't a problem as I have a large window which gets lots of light from about ten am to eight pm.

I concur with Geoff regarding the difficulty in keeping this kind of tree alive indoors - if however you have a well lit room then the tree needs to be as close to the window as possible to make best use of the available light. Humidity levels indoors usually tend to be insufficient because of heating and air conditioning but if you have that sorted then it shouldn't be a problem, keeping the tree on a moist gravel tray to raise local humidity is always an option but I think the light issue is probably more important, also try to turn the tree every few days so all the leaves have a chance to benefit. A free draining soil mix is always best, the optimum time for repotting is past so I would be inclined to leave that for now, unless the existing soil is really bad. Good luck with this

Dave

So, yesterday I went to the local book store to pick up some bonsai literature, and the person at the cash register turned out to be someone that's been growing bonsais for years! He agreed with me that (in addition to the problem with the plant being stolen because of living in a dorm) that its still too cold to put this type of tree outside. I'm in MA... I just realized that some of your messages mentioned not being able to see this even though I had put it in my profile which shows up on the side bar thingy... I suggested, and he agreed with me, that the problem is that the tree was brought up from Florida (in full leaf, when it was warm out) to MA where there was still snow on the ground. I couldn't put the tree outside, and it probably got super confused from the sudden temperature change.

I've brought the tree out to my (now ) fiancé's house sense he has a window which I thought would be better than the one in my dorm room (I seriously think that the glass was making the light too intense. Some branches look like they are completely dried out even though I watered it multiple times a day). This window will give the plant lots of light, without intensifying the light too much. Hopefully mother nature won't send us back into winter again, and I'll be able to put the tree outside soon (going to be subletting at a place where this would actually be an option).

Hi Spock22a, The sudden climate change can put a lot of stress on a tree. Growing fruit/flowering trees inside is difficult, but possible. There are quite a few people that have successfully done it. One guy even grew a Juniper! But remember that the glass filters the light. You are giving it lots of filtered light, and have placed it on a diet effectively. If you take the thickness of the leaves of a tree that has grown indoors versus a tree grown outside, there is in some cases a noticeable difference. I have successfully grown trees on nothing more than 16 hrs of 40W CLFs (Daylight spectrum).
Good luck. I hope your tree makes it.
www.fukubonsai.com/2b2a2a.html

Glass lets through light in the color spectrum though, and from plant biology classes I have taken in college I know that's what chlorophyll takes in. Besides, between natural and light bulb light, these plants are getting at least fourteen+ hours of light a day. Could someone please give me a range for the temperature and humidity levels needed for this type of tree so that I can work on adjusting the levels around this plant? I can't optimize the environment until I know this, and I can't find it anywhere.

Also, in terms of weather changes could it just drop its leaves and then get them back again when it starts to warm up? Propably not very likely, but its a thought...