Good evening!

Newbie to bonsai ownership and have a question regarding bugs. Received a Chinese elm for Christmas and so far everything has been great up until about 2 weeks ago I noticed a sticky / shiny residue on the leaves of my tree and a fair few leaves turning yellow and dropping.

I can see very small white insects on the top of some of the leaves. From Google I gather it's aphids, however would love an opinion from those with more experience!

Managed to get a semi decent picture this evening:



Any input would be most welcome!

Thankyou

Yes, it is aphids. If you are in the northern hemisphere, they should not be active now. Are you trying to grow the tree indoors?

Thanks for your reply and confirmation!

I'm based in the UK and yes I'm trying to grow indoors, but I will try and move it outside once the temperatures start to rise a little more here, currently around -3c here!

As the tree haven't got a proper dormancy, you need to wait until it is safe above 10c. Make the transition to full sun slowly during the whole spring. Once it is outdoors, never bring it in again.

Until then, squeeze the aphids manuellt, occasional spray the whole tree in the shower. After shower, apply neem oil mix. Good luck.

Hey there, I hope you're having a dope time with your Chinese elm. Sorry, I'm new to this forum and just saw your post from a while back. Did you ever get rid of those aphids?