If you had to choose a lighting direction.

[JTred]

If having artificial light that is directly overhead is not possible, and a tree must be left unattended for a few days, what is the best direction for the light to come from? The reason I ask is because I don't want to risk taking my tree home for spring break, so I'm going to get a lamp timer and set iot for 16 hours of light. The problem is I can get my light above the plants, but not directly overhead. I've noticed that some phototropism occurs normally, so I wanted to know what side would be best to receive light. I guess this could also apply to which side of a gtree should face the window.

[Gnome]

JTred,

I don't know how to determine which portion of a tree is more important than any other part. The light should reach all parts of the plant. Even bonsai outside are commonly rotated to ensure even growth so this is what I would do, rotate the tree 1/4 turn every week.

What concerns me more is how you are going to keep the tree from drying out while you are away. How long will you be away? How many days are you currently going between watering? How warm do you expect the room to be? If these numbers don't add up you may have a problem. One way to deal with this is to water it thoroughly and enclose it in a clear bag to create as sort of temporary greenhouse.

Norm

[Kenshin14435]

I agree with Norm.
Just one thing to add though.
If your going to be on an extended vacation, a good thing to look into is seeing if there is nursery nearby that offers care while your away. They will follow your instructions the T. Its not very expensive either.

Take Care

[hendi_alex]

If it is just going to be for a few days, then the issue is not that important IMO. If you could place the plant near a natural light source and then just do the best that you can with the supplemental light, nothing much is going to happen in a week or so. The most important thing is to place the supplemental light as close as possible while lighting a reasonable portion of the tree. After the period inside, you may want to gradually place the plant back to its normal light level, rather than moving it back to relatively bright light all at once.

[Gnome]

Alex,

What are you doing here? We'll make a bonsai aficionado out of you yet.

Norm

[JTred]

I will be away for 9 days. Normally the medium (wood chips and a bit of gravel) stays pretty wet, I usually let it go anywhere between 4 days to a week before I water it. Also, it will be getting the same amount of light as it normally does. Right now I rotate it daily, about 8 hours on either the right and left, or front and back (unless I'm trying to get some leaves to face a better direction). If it warms up by then I'll put it in the window, with the artificial light behind it, but I was just thinking in the case that I use only the light that it has now. I suppose I could take it home, but I'm a little worried to do that, becuase the last time I relocated it (about a month ago), it lost all of its leaves and is still recovering.

P.S. I think I forgot to mention that its a ginseng ficus, if that matters.

[hendi_alex]

While it is true that bonsai culture has some special needs, wrt light I can't imagine a few days mattering that much. At worst the plant bends a bit toward the light source. If you put a balancing light source on the opposite side, bending would be even less of a potential issue. I've got several container plants in the house, almost never rotate them, yet they are fairly uniform with no obvious effects of the light pulling the plant to one side. Keeping the water at a reasonable level would seem to me, to be a bigger potential issue. It might be good to put a bowl of water beside the plant and drape some wicking material over and weight it such that it has good contact with the planting medium. That way the plant would wick as much water as it needs but would not likely pull more than it needs.

Norm, WRT your comment, after pulling those container trees last week, pruning the roots and replanting, I'm starting to feel like a bonsai geek already. None of those little sissy miniature plants for me though. Give me a thirty gallon container with a REAL tree inside!