Hi All,

Asking for a little bit of advice from the experts!

I have this Chinese Elm, which is approximately 8 years old - I’d say it’s about 25cm high.

This was it in April (we live in the warmer climate of Southern Portugal) and it has only been indoors here right by a window. At the end of the summer we moved house (very close by though) and 6 weeks ago it lost all its leaves (I made a couple of small cuts in the trunk - it seems green & very alive) but feel it needs to be given some TLC and I would really like it to grow bigger.

What would be a good strategy now for it, to allow it to really give the opportunity to grow?

A couple of observations:

The pot seems very small for it, all the Chinese Elms I have seen are considerably bigger but I understand that I need to be cautious for the next size up

The soil it is in (which it came with when I bought it 18 months) does not seem to be the right mixture at all. It almost seems like garden peat.

From what I’m reading, this tree should not be inside at all!

Spring seems to be the better time to repot it

Any feedback would be welcome & appreciated; there are many sources of info out there but it would be good to get an actual “strategy” for it from one source as opposed to trying to piece together different thoughts.

many thanks

Does the tree now look like in the pictures? Or is this an older picture? Because you said all leaves where dropped?

It looks like this with no leaves! I'll take another photo & post when I'm back home.

It should be outside, it will not survive long where you have it

My understanding that if a Chinese Elm has acclimatised to a well-lit indoor environment in a warm country, you shouldn't just move it outside?

Why not? They are hardy enough and unless you are talking about going from 20C plus to freezing then there is not problem. Being in a house is the worse possible environment for them.