Hi,
I have inherited a rather poorly looking Bonsai from my elderly mother.

Looking at the photo's on this forum I reckon it is a Chinese Elm by the look of the four remaining leaves on it.

The thing is almost completely devoid of leaves,the soil it was in was rock hard dry.

I have repotted it,watered it and have it in our bathroom,thinking maybe the moisture in the air may help it.It is on a ledge,and gets sunshine during daylight hours.

Any advice on trying to save this rather neglected Bonsai would be very welcome.

Thank you.

joncairns wrote: Hi,
I have inherited a rather poorly looking Bonsai from my elderly mother.

Looking at the photo's on this forum I reckon it is a Chinese Elm by the look of the four remaining leaves on it.

The thing is almost completely devoid of leaves,the soil it was in was rock hard dry.

I have repotted it,watered it and have it in our bathroom,thinking maybe the moisture in the air may help it.It is on a ledge,and gets sunshine during daylight hours.

Any advice on trying to save this rather neglected Bonsai would be very welcome.

Thank you.

Wrong time to re-pot. The tree was probably let to dry out. Are the leaves still green and soft?. I don't think the bathroom would help, I would take it outside (as long as it is not to hot or to cold), put it on a shadow spot, and not let the soil go bone dry. Mist the leaves at least twice a day. Post a picture if you can

It is the wrong time, but sometimes emergencies like this happen. Was it being kept indoors or outdoors when you acquired it?
If you keep it inside, only do so for a short time ~ 2 weeks at most until it's strong enough to start moving outside. Outside is always best, but depending on your temperatures, it might be a shock. Acclimate over the course of a week or so. Then outside full time. If it's green, you have some hope. If it survives the transplant, the environmental changes, and it's lack of previous care, you should see buds starting to form & leaf out in the 4-6 weeks.
Be patient. Keep your fingers crossed.
Provide a picture for more info.

If it was dry for more than 24 hours then it is probably dead. It still should be outside in a semi shady spot, and waterd regularly. Then you need to hope. You might be lucky, but I would not bet on it.

Hopefully I have shown two pictures of the Bonsai in question.I have now put it out doors,but it has always previously been an indoor plant.

Having taken an interest in Bonsai,having acquired my mother's plant,I visited our local garden centre and bought this one.

It is marked as a Bonsai Zelkova Japanese Elm.

Can I prune the thin green shoots back ?

Thank you.

I'm a relative novice myself having really only started last year but have a superb teacher, I think his advice would be to prune back all the long shoots until you get to 3-4 leaves left on each. But then let them grow out again to about 10 leaves or so before you prune back again. Your tree looks fairly healthy, Make sure (as others have said above) that you either keep it outdoors & just bring it in if you're in a frost zone in the winter but even then, if you put bubblewrap around the pot you can help them get through a really cold winter. I've had one for 10 years and we get very heavy frosts so they're relatively hardy outside if you take care of them well.

Belfast bonsai,thank you for your reply.I will move mine outside today,as the weather is warming up a bit.

Funny enough,I am just back from a nice little visit to Belfast (I live in Kent).

I will also pop out today and get a mister for the leaves.

Hi, I'm from Kent too!-) where abouts are you, I started bonsai this year and have been attending Maidstone bonsai club. It's on this Monday. Both look like Chinese elm, they are often mis labeled as zelkova here.

I am in Swanley Kent.

There is a Bonsai club meets every month,but it clashes with another commitment,so have never been.

Must be a good place to learn about them.