I recently bought a Chinese Elm. This last week I noticed that the tree has dropped about 10-15 green leaves and 5-10 are starting to turn yellow. Is this just the tree acclimating itself to a new environment or a sign of a watering problem? I have been fertilizing it since I got it and it has been getting ~5 hrs of sun per day.

also- any styling tips or ideas are welcome!
Thanks for your help!

I think you have a serious root problem! The soil it stands in holds way too much water. If you have been keeping the soil this wet since you got it and fertilizing it heavily it may have lost a lot of roots already. You should repot it right away on a mixture of 2/3 akadama and 1/3 kiryu (no regular soil!). Wash out all the old soil from the roots and then wash a bit more to rinse out any old fertilizer. Take out all the rotten roots (if there are any) but don't prune any other roots. Follow the steps shown on this page (except for the pruning part):
repotting

Really? I was concerned about repotting it out of season, wont repotting stunt the growth of the tree for the rest of spring? I also only have standard bonsai soil (organic with a little bit of inorganic pebbles) should i go buy a less organic mix as you suggested? The tree hasnt been kept this wet the entire time, i just watered this morning but it hasnt dried out nearly as quickly as my juniper.

Yes, it's not the best time to repot a tree, but you should be more concerned about leaving the tree in this kind of soil than about repotting it. As long as you don't prune any roots and taking a bit more aftercare you'll be fine.

The soil it stands in just holds too much water. On the pictures it looks completely wet. That's a bad thing even when you have just watered. If a soil is this wet, it takes too long for the soil to dry out. You even have a change that the top of the soil dries quicker than the bottem, making you think the tree needs to be watered while in fact it doesn't. It's exactly this kind of conditions that causes the roots to rot. Especially in combination with aggressive fertilizing. (I read on another thread that you use a deluded fertilizing mix to water your trees)

To be sure the roots are rotting just smell them. Does it smell like normal dirt, or does it smell swampy?

You could use cat-litter as a replacement for Akadama. You do have to use an odor-less type that is hard baked so it won't fall apart. On this site you can choose the right one that is available in your country.
Cat Litters

dont know about chines elm but i live in a tropical region. I start bonsai last year, i cant find wetfeet a problem untill now unless if halp of the roots or half of the pot is isnt expos to air.
I hope this idea can help.

The humidity in the area you live in is also a factor in what soil mix to use. I live in a high mountain desert and my mix for elms actually has more moisture holding materials. I use a mix of 40% organic potting soil, 30% pea gravel, and 30% ant sand. Sometimes I throw in some dry sweep. The potting soil I use is mostly composted wood shavings.
Elms should not be fertilized alot, or the internodes will grow too far apart. It will get leggy if you fertilize too much, or die.

Alright so I went ahead and repotted. They only had sand at my local nursery so I did a mix of about 50/50 sand and organic bonsai soil. It drains much quicker now, when I watered a test batch the water flowed out the bottom in about a second. I noticed one interesting thing while repotting, the roots for the tree had grown very long (4ft+)! So i did cut back the roots about 1-1.5 ft. Thanks for all the advice!

Looks like there weren't many feeder roots on it. If the water is draining really fast you might have to water wait a bit and water again so the moisture holding part of your soil can have enough water to absorb. I read in a few places that your mix should be able to hold enough water for a 24 hour period.

Don't worry if the tree starts losing it's leaves. repotting it might have put it into shock.The leaves will grow back this year.

Hi,
How is your tree respondig?