Hi,
we've got two bonsai from Japan in March last year. They were doing pretty well despite being in a very small pot. They even made flowers last June.

We re-potted them into bigger vases a few months ago, and they still looked fine. However, a month ago, their leaves suddenly dried and crumpled. They are still strongly attached though. Here are a few pictures of before and after.

We thought we may have forgotten to water them for three or four consecutive days, so we did our best to keep them in humid earth and under the sun (we live in the UK so not so much of that), but we didn't see any improvement whatsoever.

We read somewhere to check if they were green inside, and they seem to be, even though it's very difficult to see because their branches are tiny.

Could you please help out? Are they dying? Are they dead?
Thank you very much,
Ilaria

Hey
Serissas need special watering. At night, they hate to be wet on the roots, but they need humidity on the air. If the soil made from big particles, the roots dries out too fast, if the particles are too small and constantly wet the roots will suffocate. They could loose all the leaves while still alive, but you need to react within short time to revive them. If they lost the foliage months ago, no chance.
If you think it still have hope, put them outside (without a tray), let the top 1 inch/2,5 cm completely drying out before you watering.
You can see new green growth within 3-5 days if they’re still have life on them.

Felidae wrote: Hey
Serissas need special watering. At night, they hate to be wet on the roots, but they need humidity on the air.

Felidae, have I told you I hate Serissas?
Fiddly creatures.

That is extremely dead. sounds like lack of water at some point.

Clicio wrote: Felidae, have I told you I hate Serissas?
Fiddly creatures.

Yup, you were right. I almost feel myself badass to keep them... Plus it needs almost inhuman efforts to get good ramification... :pinch:

m5eaygeoff wrote: That is extremely dead. sounds like lack of water at some point.

I bet for, but costs nothing to try . I lost one and I balanced back an other one from similar state.

Yes m5eaygeoff, unfortunately we forgot to water them for a few days, so that explains it. Thank you.

Thank you Felidae, we will give your method a try, even though I understand there is little hope. They've been like that for a month now, no change at all

These were the first bonsai we bought. I guess we were a bit ambitious considering how fiddly this species is, but they looked so cute with their flowers on

ilaria wrote: Yes m5eaygeoff, unfortunately we forgot to water them for a few days, so that explains it. Thank you.

Thank you Felidae, we will give your method a try, even though I understand there is little hope. They've been like that for a month now, no change at all

These were the first bonsai we bought. I guess we were a bit ambitious considering how fiddly this species is, but they looked so cute with their flowers on

Sadly one month is too much for those tiny little seedlings. Geoff is right.
But don’t worry We, beginners kill more trees than the more experienced people on the “hobby”. It’s really on a different category than keeping house plants. If you want bonsais, stay there and read/ask anything what’s in your mind about.

ilaria wrote: These were the first bonsai we bought

If you want to proceed with bonsai, it may be a good idea to do a bit of research and try and find what a bonsai actually looks like.