Death of a Bonsai ? (Ficus)

[manIK]

I was just handed a Bonsai Ginseng in a sad state of affairs.

Still new to Bonsai so forgive my terminology.

It 'had' two solid trunks and a good amount of leaves - once. One of the trunks was rotted through and the other is in a partially shriveled state. Though semi-solid, it has some squish and the bark (outer area) has an obvious shriveled and crinkly look to it.

To my surprise there is some new growth but that's about where my skepticism ends.

It was handed to me still in its purchased pot with the ever popular 'glued rocks of death' which it has been in for over a year. Upon removing the rocks and cleaning the sopping wet dirt it was in, I found the root system almost none existent - aside from the fact that it was sitting in fetid and smelly dirt I could see, partially, how it came to be in the state it is in.

I've since repotted it in a short term 'this isn’t the best material for it' mixture just to get it out of what it was in but I have no hopes of it surviving.

There are some green leaves and some solid branches (tiny though) that don't squish or drop leaves at a glance.

I'll post pictures if it helps but I'm wondering, having said all that, what are the chances it lives? What might have happened to it? The owner said she may not have watered it as often as she needed but when I cleaned it up, its was sopping wet.

[Gnome]

manIK,

I agree with you about the poor soil and the 'glued rocks of death'. From the description I don't have a lot of hope for this one. You might be able to salvage parts of it if there is enough viable material to take cuttings.

Norm

[manIK]

My first thought was just that. Taking cuttings and going from there. I guess I'll just let it go for now and see if it won't recover.

[uzeyr]

I left mine with no leaves and after repotting it twice that month and on top of that the tree was left with some1 who had no idea about bonsai
the tree has bouced back ok its lost one or two branches bit its coming back
wait yours might spring back

[bonsaiboy]

When my ficus died for the same reason (root rot), I managed to salvage a cutting from it, which is still growing healthy today. So if there is even the slightest sign of life in any branch, go ahead and propagate it.

[manIK]

It died. ):

[manIK]

... However on the upside, mine is doing great! (: So... ya.

Though I'm still not sure what to do with it. I havent cut it back since the first time I did that about 9 months ago. I figured I'd let it grow and be happy for a year then decide.

[IndorBonsai]

I have found that you can pinch the new shoots to keep your ficus from growing taller. It helps it fill out and send its energy to new growth where you want it.

[manIK]

Pinch the new shoot? Sounds like a dance craze (;

Let's all pinch the new shoot! yeah...!!

No but seriously, do tell. What the technique? Just pinch some new growth at the end of the branch?

I am a little bummed about the one-sided'ness of the tree. It's like the one side, which I potted as the front, is all growing but the backside is a comb-over gone awry.

[IndorBonsai]

LOL

Ok here is my ficus in training.

[url=https://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ficus.jpg][img]https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8325/ficus.jpg[/img][/url]


Here is a bit of new growth I will pinch off to help the tree put its energy elsewhere. hopefully

[url=https://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shoot.jpg][img]https://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7766/shoot.jpg[/img][/url]

And the thumb pinch. Ancient Japanese trick took many years of hard study and discipline to learn. hehe

[url=https://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pinch.jpg][img]https://img21.imageshack.us/img21/322/pinch.jpg[/img][/url]


Hope this helps explain

[manIK]

Ah excellent! Thanks for the pics, that shows what I needed to see (:

BTW, all my branches are singles, is there a way I can get them to split or new braches to, um, branch off? Most of the older ones, that are brown, show about an inch and a half of green branch growth at the end (since the fall) but they are all just getting longer. How long would it take, naturally, for a brach to split? What can force it to do so sooner?

[IndorBonsai]

The Ficus back buds( buds on old wood ) like crazy just pinching the tips of new growth helps this.

Here is a branch I cut the tip off, wired it so it laid horizontally with a little curve and left one set of leaves poking up. when new growth started it was on the leaves I had left , pinching that new growth seems to have made it send out lots of new growth lower on the branch(where I wanted it) forming new branches/leaves .


[url=https://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=branch.jpg][img]https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7117/branch.jpg[/img][/url]

here you go

[manIK]

Beautiful! Thanks again (:

[IndorBonsai]

Welcome, glad I could help