Ficus Bonsai caught out in the cold

[mistlechild]

Hello everyone,

This is my first time posting in this forum, but I intend to be back for more discussion. I'm a new green thumb in the making. I got my first orchid last December and I've really enjoyed growing and caring for it. Since then I've acquired a spider plant from a baby shoot that came from my mom and just recently my mom gave me a ficus bonsai.

We were in Walmart, browsing the gardening section, and found these lovely little bonsai trees. The identifying tag does not say what kind of bonsai it is, but from my own online research I believe it's a ficus.

Now, here's the sad news: I left it in the car overnight by accident. It's still pretty cold up here in southern Ontario at night and when I opened the trunk the next morning and found it, it was, well, wilted to say the least.

Since then, it hasn't really recovered much. The tag that came with the bonsai said to water it once a week. The gravel that you see in the pot is glued on(!) and, I've done a test on the bark to see whether it's still alive and it appears to be so for the time being. The root is a little squishy, which I'm not sure what that means, but I thought it would be worth mentioning.

Hope you can help me revive my bonsai with some advice. Should I prune back the dead leaves? Should I remove the glued-on gravel? And is once a week watering enough?

Thank you kindly for any advice you can provide!

[tomc]

Figs are tender (tropical) trees. it might come back, and it might not.

You will need to read up on how to use a chopstick to guage when to water.

Please pry off the glued on rocks, they interfere with watering and were only there for conveinence in shipping.

Now is probably as a good a time as any to amend your signature line or profile noting your USDA zone and state or province.

[mistlechild]

Thanks for the advice, tomc. I've updated my profile with that information. I'll remove the gravel and look into the chopstick method. Hopefully I can revive it!

[tomc]

The people who talk to, and pick up their trees. I used to coffee and cigarette with my trees for a decade or more. Well, they notice changes in weight or other health indicators sooner.

I'm selling its better to be proactive instead of reactive with trees in pots.