Inside Bonsai Development

When Bad Things Happen to Good Trees

First aid for the dwarf schefflera is a good thing to know if you are going to raise indoor bonsai. It is not easy to put years of thought into a tree, just to let it die the first time you do something stupid. It is only a matter of time before you do something stupid. In my case it actually seems to happen quite regularly, so I have become somewhat adept at rescuing my little trees.

Case in point, my first tree, only recently survived a near death experience last week. This tree is about five or six years old. Until recently, it really was quite beautiful. The problem was that over the years, mineral deposits had built up on the lava rock. I was determined to remove these unsightly white marks. I looked into the problem and found that vinegar is probably the best solution for removing the stains. Unfortunately, I did not find any information about what constitutes a reasonable dose of vinegar for a small plant. Sufficed to say, I got the stains off, but within 12 hours, the leaves started falling off. Within a week, every leaf but two were gone!

As you saw from the picture, truly this tree is a sad sight.


What could be done?

If you ever find yourself with a truly sick dwarf schefflera this is what you do. You clean the tree as best you can. I rinsed the tree and rock for thirty minutes.

Then you water the tree.

Now, this is the really important part. Enclose the tree inside a plastic bag. In my case I used a very large ziplock bag. It looks very odd, but actually makes sense. These plants are from the tropics, they are at home in a rain forest. By putting the tree inside a plastic bag you will be dramatically raising the humidity. Within a day it should start fogging up. This means you have a good seal, and your plan is working. Usually within a day or two I start to see results, little buds will start showing up. This is the result after a week of being shrink-wrapped. Not too shabby.