Hi - I have a Chinese Elm, 9 years, it's always been by the open window in my kitchen. The seller gave me some fertiliser pellets that were working fine, since I finished them and moved to liquid, but the plant has lost its leafs..
I was also told to that it should be re potted in 2 years, and it's now 2.5 years since bought. Can I do this myself?
It also gets attacked by small mite (tiny spiders) that create spider webs around some branches loosing all leafs.. I used bug killer by submerging the branches with water and pesticide and it has come back to life. But this issue keeps reoccurring, particularly during the warmer months.
1. Any ideas how to deal with mite on a regular basis?
Now the problem I have is that I see green buds and tiny leaves growing but the moment they grow bigger they simply dry out, it looks like it's not strong enough. 2. Could it be because of the weakened fertiliser? I will post a pic asap.
Thanks!

Image?

Here are the pics

pics now attached

That tree seems to have lost all hope. Also, it has endured quite an ordeal as per your insights on its backgrounds. Actually I´m amazed it has lived all this time.

Alain

It looks like the plant is struggling on all levels. Just looking at the soil makes me wonder how long it has been in the pot, and how hard your water is.

Is it frost-free in your whereabouts? Then I would move it outside in a spot where it gets natural rainwater, and not too much sun (Maybe an hour or two in the morning). Then just let it be there.

You could work the rootball a little and replace some of the soil. STOP using fertilizer. Plants in this stage absolutely do not use fertilizer. How experienced are you with plants? If not too much: Get someone to help you with the rootballl. In this case, I personally suspect the roots are in a poor state, due to poor soilcondition resulting in the poor topgrowth. But -and this is thr tricky thing- doing anything to the roots now can also kill it. catch-22 requiring someone with experience to clean up the roots & repot it. What you aim of it to get rid of 20% of the old soil all the way around, exposing the roots a little, and giving the outer roots a place to go. Repot using a suitable soil in a larger pot (Not much, but just enought to give the roots a bit of space). In this case use fairly organic soil, as the rest of the roost are in this too; so use something similar to what you have now. Then get the plant growing, and healthy. At that stage, which might be 3 month away, do a full repot, cleaning out the rootbal, and consider using a somewhat more open substrate, although notrequired, it is easier.

Not a loss yet, but very near the edge.
Getting the plant to grow healthy is in this case key to getting rid of the spidermites. After that, it is important to raise the air moisture. Elms can grow outdoors perfectly fine in most climates.