tubaboy wrote: That's what I meant. And it did move. This is a different bug. The other things sound like the gnats you were talking about.

Oh... I see. Very hard to tell, first impression is that it's a scale insect - but that's a really wild guess. It would be on the trunk, not in the soil, hardly visible, and if it is a scale bug, there are probably quite a few.

Let me know if that makes sense.

I've looked at the info on scale insects. There aren't any on the trunk or branches. I'll let the soil dry out a bit and deal with the algae first and we'll see what happens.

If I can get a picture of the bugs I'll post them.

Thanks for your help!

Do the needle like bugs look anything like the one in this picture, if so it is a green lacewing that feed on most common pests which in turn is a positive and negative sign!

It would mean that yes you do have an infestation of some sort (negative aspect) but the green lacewings will control or eradicate the infestation depending on how many there are (positive).

I'm not sure, I haven't seen any in a long time, and the tree is doing a lot better. I'm thinking part of the issue with loosing leaves is/was water and light. I'm using a lamp to set off the darkness of German winter and I've given the tree more humidity but less water. I'm also considering repotting in better soil. The stuff it is in looks like regular potting soil. Water can run out fine, but it looks like the roots might not be getting enough air. Any ideas?

So as my frankensai is still alive, and actually backbudded the original foliage, I thougt I would post a couple of pictures.. while this is not a good tree, it was the tree that started it all for me.

in the second and third pics you can see the difference between the grafted and original foliage.

How Nice! Not everyone have their first tree still. This reminds me to make an update on my first tree as well.