kelseyannejane wrote:

Thanks for the more helpful response.?

Questions about elms being kept indoors dropping leaves are asked so frequently that it is not funny anymore.

Try the search option.

I did search but didn’t find exactly what I was looking for, so I set up an account to give some context and ask a question for some personalised advice. If you find it so dull perhaps it would be in your interest to reply to something more challenging in the future as clearly you are more experienced than myself. Being belittled and patronised isn’t exactly what I was expecting.

Hi, I've got two small Zelkova Nire (chinese elms) - actually the typical mallsais - and indeed this species is often advertised as indoor but it is really not.
I live in downtown Milan, northern Italy, temps range between -10°C in Jan to 35°C in July. In winter, only below freezing temps, I wrap pot and tree with a kind of non-woven fabric whic lets light in and cold out, but just for a few days (my balcony is protected anyway from strong winds).
In my (very little, please note...) experience, Zelkovas have several cycles of budding and losing leaves during growing season. So your tree may drop leaves and even some buds at intervals but they are quickly replaced by further new ones.
Of course if proper care and watering are applied. Repotting now probably did not help.
Now, let your tree rest and take it outdoors soon if you have not done it yet.

Okay, I currently do not have access to a suitable outdoor space (I live in a student house) so I’ll be keeping the Bonsai indoors with an open window until I go back home for the summer next week where I will keep it outdoors. Thanks for the advice!

Ricky73 wrote:

Hi, I've got two small Zelkova Nire (chinese elms) - actually the typical mallsais - and indeed this species is often advertised as indoor but it is really not.
I live in downtown Milan, northern Italy, temps range between -10°C in Jan to 35°C in July. In winter, only below freezing temps, I wrap pot and tree with a kind of non-woven fabric whic lets light in and cold out, but just for a few days (my balcony is protected anyway from strong winds).
In my (very little, please note...) experience, Zelkovas have several cycles of budding and losing leaves during growing season. So your tree may drop leaves and even some buds at intervals but they are quickly replaced by further new ones.
Of course if proper care and watering are applied. Repotting now probably did not help.
Now, let your tree rest and take it outdoors soon if you have not done it yet.

Do note that zelkova is NOT an elm. It is a zelkova. Chinese elm is an ulmus.
Trees that regularly drop their leaves in the growing seasons have a problem. So look at your care because something is not going right.

Hi Leatherback, many thanks for your clarification.
I had understood that Zelkova Nire = Chinese Elm (at least a "variety" of), Zelkova Serrata = Japanese Elm, and UImus Parvifolia = Chinese Elm (another variety, normally NOT sold as a mallsai...). This is what they are usually named (right or wrong...) here in Italy! Not at Ikea or Dept Stores but in quite famous bonsai nurseries as well as in books I've bought and read. Pls accept my apologies for the confusion!
Regarding my own two trees (which are indeed Z. Nire) I was not probably clear in my comment: they are not "regularly" dropping leaves, but they just drop a few (normally from the previous season's growth) though I had also seen, to my initial disappointment and despair, a few buds dropping as well, here and there.
But all were promptly replaced by even further vigorous budding, and still my 2 littles trees (both repotted in akadama, one last year and one this year in early spring) are growing well and vigorously.
What I was pointing out is that I noticed that my two Zelkovas tend to have more than one strong "growing cycle" in the spring, compared to other little trees of mine as my Acer or on little Ginkgo trees). They have budded in early spring, then stopped for a while, now they are budding again...
I have just reported my little experience and I'm not claiming to be an expert at all!!

I would be keen to see some of those zelkova;'s you have. I am guestimating these are ulmus.

OK many thanks Leatherback - let me take some pictures and I'll post them ASAP... this is becoming quite intriguing!

As Elms coming from Asia were suspect of bringing Elm's disease to Europe, vendors kept selling those Elms as Zelkovas (the leaves look very much alike).
So...

I see you are not the only one who has been ridiculed... people here are arrogant AF.