Hi All,

It's me again! A friend from the Bonsai Club thought she would try sprouting some Fukien Tea seeds, just to see if she could and...she was successful. To my delight she brought me a few of the tiny seedlings planted in a pot. They have grown a 1/4" since I got them. I have to keep it constantly moist otherwise, if the root ball dries they will 'bite the dust' and be gonners. So far, so good!
Here are two photos...

Sounds like you are off to a great start; Just keep up the work and in some 30 years you'll have some great bonsai!

Hi J!

Thanks for dropping in! It's great to hear from you! In 30 years???...egads, that would make me 85! If I'm still around then! I've already told my two daughters they may be inheriting my Bonsai trees...so they have to brush up on their studing!

These little Fukiens are still doing well and have grown even more since I posted them.

Good luck with those tiny babies, haha! They're looking very healthy, good to see that

Let them grow and see what you can make of it, I'm sure you can do it!

30 years naa! feed em heavy and you'l have good stock in 5 .if it took 30 you wouldn't see all those "Mallsai trees" in the supermarkets
...for those who don't know "Mallsai" are mass produced sell them before they die bonsai trees

Thank you Youri & Keith,

Oooooo...it would be wonderful to see actual trees in 5 years!

Hahaha...great way to describe "mallsai" Keith!

manofthetrees wrote:

30 years naa! feed em heavy and you'l have good stock in 5 .if it took 30 you wouldn't see all those "Mallsai trees" in the supermarkets
...for those who don't know "Mallsai" are mass produced sell them before they die bonsai trees

I was actually under the impression leslie was after bonsai, not mallsai, so not a tree completely inbalanced & ready to die rather than train...

I personally very much doubt you will have something representing a tree in 5 years. It will take that time to create decent trunk, I think. But well.. as long as you have fun growing them, the time it takes to come to a developed tree is irrelevant right?

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would update my Fukien's progress...it's not great news.
They were doing so well until they got the Fungus Gnat infestation. Leaves started going black on a two of the five seedlings and they were looking poorly. I repotted them into a clean pot with a clean soil mixture. I decided to use half diatomatious earth and half compost this time rather than the seed starting mix I had them in before.

The two seedlings that had black leaves and were doing poorly died and, by this time the remaining three had two bottom leaves gone black. I then put a plastic dome over them with ventilation holes cut in the top. Then a third one died. I finally had time to research the Fukien Tea only to find that they do not like direct sun...I'd had them in direct sun from the very beginning...and yet, they were doing so well at first! Now that I had them covered with the plastic dome I realized I may be "cooking" them to death.

So...now I have two seedlings left out of the original five! ...sigh... What I have done is carefully snipped off the two lower black leaves on each one and I have placed them in bright, indirect light with the dome still over them. These two were the biggest of the five. It's been about two weeks now and they are looking quite perky and upright. Hopefully they will make it!

I welcome any ideas or suggestions. Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

LB sorry about the misunderstanding...thats why i said "stock" something to train. yes a specimen bonsai will take 30 years or more but techinically a 1 year old tree in a pot is bonsai.just didnt want to discurage anybody into thinking it takes that long to get somthing to work with...by the way mallsai aren't always a bad place to start if you know what to do with them

Het Leslie,
That is soo sad! I know you loved those little trees! You are not having any luck are you? I wish I could give you some good advice, but I have no idea re. these trees and would not know which steps are right

manofthetrees wrote:

LB sorry about the misunderstanding...thats why i said "stock" something to train. yes a specimen bonsai will take 30 years or more but techinically a 1 year old tree in a pot is bonsai.just didnt want to discurage anybody into thinking it takes that long to get somthing to work with...by the way mallsai aren't always a bad place to start if you know what to do with them

No harm done. Was all in good mood . I have some seedlings of 2 years old that are ready to go to their pots as shohin next year. On te other hand.,. I have seen plants that have taken 50 years before going into their pot. It is all about patience for the price-winning pieces, and enthousiasm to get the plant to a display-state as soon as possible. I think nursery stock can get you really nice treas in a few years.