Help with Ficus.

[nitrofreak06@hotmail.com]

ok when we went to lowes yesterday I saw this bonsai all by it self next to flowers and it was 20bucks so my mom bought it for me. and this is the first time I own a bonsai. I'm good at watering things, I'm usually the only one in the house that water the house plants lol. that aside, heres a picture of it.
[img]https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll179/evilbeast07/bonsai.jpg[/img]
If you need any other info be sure to let me know. oh, this bonsai came with a tag but all it said on it was "bonsai" and the definition of it lol. so that did me no good. thanks in advance.

[nitrofreak06@hotmail.com]

well from what it I seen on the forum, it looks like a ficus.

[Gnome]

nitrofreak06,

Welcome to the site. I agree that you have a Ficus and as in the other thread you also have the same hard water stains so don't worry about that.

Taking your question from the other thread you posted in:

I'm going to water my ficus once a day at dawn

Don't water on a schedule, it may not need water everyday. Please take the time to read the sticky thread on general growing, it is located at the top of the forum. There are tips on proper watering. Make sure to follow the links posted there as well.

I'm using water that I get out of my fridge which goes through a filtration process. is that alright?

The only problem I might anticipate is if the water is chilled. It might be best to allow chilled water to come up to room temperature first.

should I water it more or less? and how much water should I expect to come out of the hole at the bottom of the pot?

In a word, more. Proper watering is not so much about quantity as much as frequency. In other words always water thoroughly but wait appropriately before watering again.

Norm

[bonsaiboy]

Seeing as your a beginner, I would recomend going to this site. Although it doesnt address you questions specificaly, it has useful information on correct soil and watering: https://www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html

[nitrofreak06@hotmail.com]

ok thank you guys for the information. yah I keep my water in a 2 litter bottle. so its defenitily room temperature. pretty soon I'm going to go buy me a juniper so that I can start my own bonsai. is smaller the better in this case when I purchase it? thanks

[Gnome]

nitrofreak06,

pretty soon I'm going to go buy me a juniper so that I can start my own bonsai. is smaller the better in this case when I purchase it?

No, go bigger and cut it down. That is how you get a realistic image of a tree as opposed to a small cutting in pot.

Don't look for a Juniper bonsai instead look for a landscape plant that has an interesting trunk. You will get more tree for your money and will learn more about bonsai. You will not be able to do much work on it this year but you can sometimes find bargains this time of year at the home center type nurseries who are looking to clear out their stock for the winter. If you purchase one now you can begin to study it and when the time comes next spring you will already have your stock on hand.

Are you aware that Junipers are ill suited to culture indoors?

Norm

[nitrofreak06@hotmail.com]

if I put a light on it would that help?

[bonsaiboy]

No, as the reason for this is, they require a domancy period. The only indoorable junipers are caribbean (and maybe african) ones, and I have been unable to find anything on them other than breif botainical descriptions. So if you wanted one, you'd have to collect seeds yourself from the Caribbean