My Bonsai is sick… HELP!!

Posted on Oct 14, 2010 in DIPLO Home, My Mini Garden | 5 comments

Yellow and brown spots on the leaves

I purchased my first Bonsai a month or so ago, and since the vendor outside Taman Safari couldn’t speak a word of English I couldn’t ask what specific Bonsai it was. I only asked for an indoor Bonsai and he gave me this.

When we first got it, we kept it indoor, but the leaves started wilting and falling off. So we had to move it out to the verandah and it began flourishing, so much so that it was getting rather overgrown. I  gave it it’s first trim last week and while I was researching on how to do this I stumbled upon some photos of the Ginseng Ficus Bonsai which my Bonsai looks very similar to. What do you think?

Sorry for the quality, I took it with my mobile phone. I hope I'm right and that it's a Ginseng Ficus. What do you think?

Last week it only had a few yellow leaves falling out, now there are so many!

Even the smaller leaves are turning yellow, spotted and dying

Some leaves that don't turn yellow/spotted, but just go from green to black. Even the freshly sprouted baby leaves!

Does anyone know what is wrong with it and give any recommendations? It’s so hard to inquire in the gardening shops here because they cannot speak english anyway and even with my mobile translator there is so much miscommunication going on.

This reminds me of my perpetually sick Parsley. We've been placing Dane Organic Pesticide on it, which was recommended on one website for when this happens to the leaves. The parsley gets better but when we stop placing the pesticide, it just comes back.

Dane 100% Organic Pesticide contains 0.14 ppm azadirachtine and 0.11 ppm euphorbin. I tried this because this was the only solution I could find after scouring many websites and forums regarding my problem. Please pardon the ignorance, I really am a newbie at gardening. I also try to use organic and natural as much as possible because we have a dog.

Another problem since we got the Bonsai is that ants love it! There are these brown ants that continuously go up and down the tree. None of my other plants have this problem. We wipe down the plant everyday and it’s reducing the number of ants, but I don’t know if it enough. I’ve also started it on the Dane Pesticide.

I have a sinking feeling it’s going to die, just like my Hydrangea that had the exact same thing happen to its leaves. We tried to save it for a few months, but it finally died. =(

I’ve never had plants before except for 2 cacti that died due to over-watering. I was excited though because my horsetails have flourished (I’ve rooted and planted many new ones) and my day lilies have bloomed twice already. But this disease that’s spreading from my hydrangea, to my parsley, to one of my horsetails and then to my bonsai, is discouraging me. =( Should I give up?

Has anyone experienced the same thing with their plants? Any suggestions and info would be appreciated!