I believe its a Ficus Microcarpa. If anyone could give me some advice on how not to kill it, if/when/how to re-pot, feeding, if you can wire iit, purning etc I would be thankful.My first tree
Hi everyone, I'm new to this and just got my first tree I believe its a Ficus Microcarpa. If anyone could give me some advice on how not to kill it, if/when/how to re-pot, feeding, if you can wire iit, purning etc I would be thankful.
I believe its a Ficus Microcarpa. If anyone could give me some advice on how not to kill it, if/when/how to re-pot, feeding, if you can wire iit, purning etc I would be thankful.-
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masmouth,
Welcome to the site. Rather than go over material that we have posted before on numerous occasions might I suggest that you utilize the search feature of the forum. You should not have much trouble locating many threads about Ficus bonsai. If you search for the term 'ficus' in the bonsai category you will find over 2,000 results.
Just to give you a head start, Ficus are not cold hardy and must be inside over the winter but do enjoy spending the summer outside if your climate permits.
After you have done the basic research we will be glad to assist further.
Norm
Welcome to the site. Rather than go over material that we have posted before on numerous occasions might I suggest that you utilize the search feature of the forum. You should not have much trouble locating many threads about Ficus bonsai. If you search for the term 'ficus' in the bonsai category you will find over 2,000 results.
Just to give you a head start, Ficus are not cold hardy and must be inside over the winter but do enjoy spending the summer outside if your climate permits.
After you have done the basic research we will be glad to assist further.
Norm
After looking at a few sites I'm starting to think that my tree may need repotting as the medium it is in seem to look very compacted and has taken has taken a week to get any where near to need wateringn I have been using wooden stick and my finger to guage this. Is Akadama on it own ok to use or should I mix it with somthing else?
Hi,
You are on the right track doing the research. Ficus in its native climate is not picky about its soil mix and I don't think it needs akadama as it breaks down after a while. Ficus Macrocarpa like to have its soil on the dry side before watering again. I use about 70% commercially available free draining bonsai mix added with 30% potting mix for moisture retaining for my ficus. To me using 100% bonsai mix requires too high of watering frequency for my actively growing trees.
If you just got the tree I'd recommend waiting a couple weeks before re-potting. Some ficus go through a transition period that makes it shed some leaves. Best time to do it is Spring but it can be done year round on a healthy, growing ficus.
You are on the right track doing the research. Ficus in its native climate is not picky about its soil mix and I don't think it needs akadama as it breaks down after a while. Ficus Macrocarpa like to have its soil on the dry side before watering again. I use about 70% commercially available free draining bonsai mix added with 30% potting mix for moisture retaining for my ficus. To me using 100% bonsai mix requires too high of watering frequency for my actively growing trees.
If you just got the tree I'd recommend waiting a couple weeks before re-potting. Some ficus go through a transition period that makes it shed some leaves. Best time to do it is Spring but it can be done year round on a healthy, growing ficus.