AusBonsai

ok so this chinese elm i grew from seed and it first popped in july, its growing on a rock i got from work with potting mix around it in a tray of water so it can soak the water up from the tray but its only been in the tray for a week, before that the rock was in a pot and i hand watered it with a squirty bottle
anyway as the pic shows the leaves r turning brown, any idea what it is? i have sprayed with confidor and with the copper stuff
any tips?

edit; it gets direct sun from about 7 to 10 then it is shaded by the house

Hi Arklan , mate its a young seedling and they can burn easily in the sun . It certainly doesn't need sitting in a water tray unless its mighty hot over there and then the sun would burn the new fragile leaves , if that's the case hence the little brown bit on the leaves .

Why has it been sprayed with confidor and that copper stuff ??? is it being attacked by bugs or something ???

Cheers Alpineart

Its hard to tell at this stage from this distance. Burnt leaves could be fungus or too dry or sunburn or crook roots or salt/ fertiliser burn.
The 'copper stuff' should have fixed any fungus. If it is sunburn the next leaves will be hardier and should not burn.

Whatever it is the leaves are permanently damaged and will not go green again. The plant will have to grow new ones and those damaged ones will drop off eventually.

You have this in a tray of water should be ok while the roots are small but be careful not to keep it too wet because that can cause roots to rot (which will also make the leaves go brown because the rotted roots can't take in water so the tree dehydrates and the leaves burn)

Chinese elms are pretty tough plants so it should recover - give it some time. Hope you have this one outside in the fresh air and some sunshine??

i had some myrtles that got taken down by fungus and when i asked the nursery they said it would be a good idea to give fungicide to all my plants incase it had spread/to prevent it from spreading. they said seedlings dont like that stuff so to give half the reccomended dose which i did, iv got a few plants with black spot (my desert rose is badly riddled with black spot) so i sprayed the entire lot with it and confidor to be sure.
the plant is on a rock, and the rock is in the water so it should be absorbing the water thru the rock for the plant, there is a little bit of a soil bridge from the water to the plant and its keeping it moist but theres no sign of yellowing leaves so i think it should be all sweet
the fertiliser burn could be it because it has some osmote around it, ill take the osmocote away