Taiwan Ficus doing Poorly

[hopeless gardener]

Hiya! Greetings from Liverpool UK
My name is Joan, and I'm absolutely devastated cos my bonsai is poorly. It is a Taiwan Ficus about 2 foot tall and been matured for 12 years. I've had it for 18 months. I've just moved house last month, and last week every single leaf on the bonsai has dropped off! completely bald! In my last house it was happy in the conservatory on a south facing wall. Here it is in a north facing room next to the window, there is also a radiator in the room. We've had terrible weather here last month, temp dropped to -6, is this why my bonsai went into shock? Is it dead? The soil is moist tho, and there are a couple of new green shoots, but is there any hope for it? Thank you

[KasWear]

Hier La,

I've got a large Ficus recently, it has lost a load of leaves, from the move and new pot etc ..

During the cold spell did you not leave any sort of heating on where the tree is ... ?

You can razor blade a small peice of bark of to see underneath, the colour will be an indication of it's health, I'm a noob to this but I'm guessing as the ficus is all year round foilage, then perhaps it has shed it's load as it were to stay alive, similar to how we keep essential things warm .. ?

The new shoot is good news, I think it will come back to life if green under the bark, use kebab sticks to indicate water in the pot, what soil combination have you got, and come spring some nitrogen fertilizer is needed, alongside a spell outside in the summer, and plenty of light when indoors. aswell as no freezing temperatures ...

I stand to be corrected, but thats my knowledge at present ...

Also ... PICS !!!

Yours

Kas

[Gnome]

hopeless gardener,

Don't panic, it is not uncommon for Ficus to drop their leaves in response to being moved to a new location. Think about what you have done, you moved it from a well lit location against a south facing (warm) wall, to a dim location near a cold window.

Consider moving it to a warmer location even if that means you need to provide supplemental lighting. The North facing window is not doing it much good anyway. CFL's (compact fluorescents) are a pretty good choice, not ideal but better than a poorly oriented window, especially a cold one.

Be cautious about watering while it is leafless, a plant that has lost its leaves will not require watering with the same frequency it did when it was doing well.

Norm

[hopeless gardener]

Thank you so much for your advice
Kas I scratched the bark and it is green underneath, so maybe it's not dead after all, and I will put it out on the patio in Summer.

Norm Yes you are right, it is too dim and cold where it is, I'm gonna move it today to the back room which is south facing and a bit warmer, gonna have to move around some furniture to accomodate it, but it'll be worth it cos it's a beautiful tree and expensive ( cost over ...£100)

Thanks again
Joan x

[KasWear]

Yes, but worth more sentimentally as time goes by, good luck ....

Whats soil / meduim you using and wheres a pic ! ...

Kas

[Marsman]

I have a large ficus tree, not a bonsai, that we keep in our bedroom during the winter and then put outside for the summer. When its inside, we have a grow lamp that we keep on it during the day.

[url=https://s956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/?action=view&current=grow_bulb.jpg][img]https://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/th_grow_bulb.jpg[/img][/url]

Keeps it happy. It's in an East facing window and only gets half a day of sun.