55) How to Care for Tree of a Thousand Stars - Serrisa foetida - Bonsai Trees for Beginners Series

This video shows you how to identify and care for this species. The Tree of a Thousand Stars or Serissa foetida is a popular bonsai tree for beginners, and is a very pretty tree especially when in flower as it it literally has Thousand of little star shaped white flowers all shown off against a back ground of tiny small dark green leaves. It can be finky tree to grow, as it like a lot of light and does not tolerate being dry. If you have nice bright humid spot it will thrive with little to no fuss. As a tropical tree it is not frost hardy so will not survive out doors over winters and as such is often grown as an indoor bonsai.

The tree of a thousand stars, the Serrisa foetida has a lot, a lot of flowers on it, literally hundreds of tiny little star shaped flowers on it when it’s in bloom. It has small little leaves, darkish green to light green, usually between 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. It
has craggly barky, dark brown bark and it makes it good for bonsai. It’s a highly
sought after as a bonsai. However, it's not a first tree. It’s a little difficult to manage.

The Serrisa foetida can take more or less any shape to be controlled and it's
very commonly grown as a serpentine shape or an S shape or an informal upright style

Location. It needs a bright window. It likes a lot of light so an east, a west or a south
facing window is ideal for a Serrisa.

Serrisas don't like to be over watered and they don't like to be dried out either so you must water them regularly with little amounts rather than with lots of amounts.

Feeding, Because Serrisas flower a lot and have small, lots of leaves, it needs a
balanced feed, so 444, 555, or a 10,10,10 is an ideal feed.

Pruning. Serrisas grow continuously so they need to be pruned throughout the year. Let them grow to the extent of about seven to 10 leaves, leaf nodes and then prune it back to 3. When in flower, try not to prune. Best to prune after flowering.

In terms of repotting, Serrisas reporting don't like to be repotted too often so every
four to five years is good, and when repotting, use a well-drained soil. Akadama and Pumice will do just fine. 50 / 50 is a great combination.

Wiring. Serrisas are a little bit brittle so be a little bit gentle on wiring them. They don't really need to be wired. You should be shaping them with clip and grow.