Chinese Elm (Sebastian)

In January 2023 I came across a website for a company that sold a wide range of Bonsai trees at very reasonable prices. I immediately ordered a small Chinese Elm bonsai for £30, including delivery. I was very pleased to not only receive the tree the next day but also that the tre was a very pleasing shape. 

The tree will be kept in my office, underneath a full spectrum LED grow light which is on 12 hours per day. Reading guides online suggest that the Chinese Elm is well suited to indoor life but really thrives when give 2-3 months outside during the summer months, this will work well for me as I have a small growhouse that it can be kept in.

There seemed to be plenty of roots as they were pushing up above the soil, too much for the small 15cm pot it came in. The plan is to let it acclimatise for 2-3 weeks before repotting it into a larger pot with fresh soil.

After a couple of weeks I decided to repot Seb into a larger pot, first I removed it from the pot

Then I combed the roots free of the soil 

I had to drill some drain holes in the bottom of the pot, I then added some wires to help hold the plant in place.

I trimmed off the long thick roots and placed the plant in the pot before adding some bonsai soil.

Sebastian sits underneath a full spectrum LED grow light with 12 hours of light per day. I'm hoping that in another couple of months he will start to grow again

After just a couple of weeks (at the start of February) I realised that Sebastian was growing already, following a guide online I trimmed all of his branches that were 50mm or longer, reducing them to just the first 4 leaves. I had to repeat this process a couple of weeks later.