Hello helpers,

I have a chinese elm bonsai that I like, and hope one day will be fairly impressive. it used to be very vigorous and healthy. then, it dropped its leaves for the first time. it dropped them all. I thought it was dead, but held onto it and continue to water it. One day it started to bud and grew a whole new set of great leaves. I let them grow and did not prune them. that lasted for about 1-2 months, and then it dropped them all again! A friend told me that it might have been getting too cold and thinking it was time to go dormant, but then coming out of it. This makes sense to me, so now its warmer. IT grew back some leaves, but then after a short period of growth, it stunted, and did not grow all of the leaves. in fact, many that were starting to develop just stopped in mid development, which looks really weird and worrysome. the leaves that did develop look good, a bit pale perhaps.

I wonder, should I give it time in the sun to do photosnythesis? should I put it into hibernation? at this stage, im worried that if i were to put it into hibernation, it would drop its leaves (fine), but then it would be really, really weak the next time it tried to grow. conversely, it might be a better choice, because the hibernation is super important....? I am certainly uncertain. for now, it has been doing OK in the sun, the leaves that did develop look good.

please leave some advice.

It is hard to tell from your picture (On my screen it is very small) ut it lokos like the leaves are now healthy? I see no traces of small cobwebs, or silvery discoloration on the leaves that could be an indication of specific animal infestations.

Are you keeping this indoors? That makes it hard. Plants belong outdoors, and certainly most temperature species have a very hard time in our living rooms. It is too dry, too warm and too dark. IF you HAVE to keep them indoors (As you have to now that we are in the d=middle of winter; Only in spring you can bring it outside, and then leave it outside. Do NOT bring it indoors for winter) make sure it gets lots of light. Do not put it on top of a heater. And water when the roots are starting to dry out (The top of the soild should be turning dry before you water them again).