Golden Gate Ficus Loosing Leaves
I am having the same problem with my Golden Gate Ficus. As the leaves fall and new ones come on they seem to die off right a way also. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I move it to the window where the morning sun comes in. Is that too much sunlight? I heard they are hearty and easy to care for. Am I getting stressed too much? I really want this tree to strive. Is it common they loose leaves and have new growth during the summer months? This is the first one I have ever owned and I am worried I am some how killing it. Any Ideas??
Yes they are easy to care for. What changed recently? Is it sitting near air conditioning? When's the last time it was fertilized? How have u been watering it. When's the last time the soil was changed? Morning sun should be good for it. I leave mine outdoors through the growing season so everything grows fastest possible but I do avoid mid day sun.
I just got it about 3 weeks ago and yes I did have it in a room with A/C running for 3 days. I have taken it out of that room and put it in my bedroom which is warmer than the other room. As for watering I was told not to water but every 3-4 weeks and fertilize every 6 weeks or so. I am thinking whoever told me this must have been way off. At this time I have no leaves but there are new ones starting to come out. Please let me know if I am doing this wrong. I never expected it to loose the leaves like this. I am gonna be real sad if I killed it. This is my first one and I love it.
that explains it. With watering, it should be done when the plant needs it instead of on a fixed schedule. It doesn't like to have wet feet so don't water until the soil is about 80% dry. 3 weeks maybe too long. Plants with less leaves will consume water even slower. Look up the chopstick method. Ficus doesn't like sudden cold drafts or temperatures below 55 deg. F.
It's common for newly purchased ficus to drop leaves and it's recommended to keep it in the shade outdoors for a couple weeks. Then slowly bring it into the sunlight. When kept indoors, it benefits from direct morning and afternoon sun or filtered sun all day long.
It's common for newly purchased ficus to drop leaves and it's recommended to keep it in the shade outdoors for a couple weeks. Then slowly bring it into the sunlight. When kept indoors, it benefits from direct morning and afternoon sun or filtered sun all day long.
Ditto on the watering. Ficus, in general, are pretty tolerant of lax watering schedules, hence your plant is not dead yet. Do not let the soil go completely dry. Search on "chopstick method" here and you should find quite a few results detailing how and when to water. As for fertilizing, like watering, it depends a great deal on how much light the tree is getting. In general, a half strength fertilizer at around 10-10-5 should be used once per week during growing season, once per month off-season. BUT, if your tree is in a poorer (for bonsai culture) soil, this could eaily burn the tree. I suspect that it's in a mix that is more akin to a traditional "potting soil" than to "bonsai soil", hence the recommendation you've received. That's not necessarily TERRIBLE, but it does make growing the tree as a bonsai a lot more difficult as the advice you will receive (IF THIS IS THE CASE) will be totally off the mark. Can you describe the soil or take a picture?
my golden gates love humidity. I mist the leaves with water a couple times a day and the stems grow like crazey I clip them almost everyday since I fertilize them heavily.
Hope your new buds turn into leafs quickly and it recovers. I wouldn't fertilize a tree under stress until it recovers. When kept indoors I'd reduce the fertizer amount and frequency.
I recently had a tiger bark starter that lost 50% of its leafs since I bought it from a greenhouse and the leaves got scorched but after it adjusts it's sprouting buds like crazy.
Btw golden gates can be propagated from 4" stem cuttings in soil easily. I make at least 10 baby trees off of the mother bonsai per year and have plenty of seedlings to play with on grafting, and trunk fusion, etc.
Checkout Jerry's site with plenty of useful info
https://thebonsaihunk.com/ficusforum/FicusForum.html
https://thebonsaihunk.com/cultural.html
I bought his book and IMO It doesn't have much extra info that's not already on his site and other web sources.
Hope your new buds turn into leafs quickly and it recovers. I wouldn't fertilize a tree under stress until it recovers. When kept indoors I'd reduce the fertizer amount and frequency.
I recently had a tiger bark starter that lost 50% of its leafs since I bought it from a greenhouse and the leaves got scorched but after it adjusts it's sprouting buds like crazy.
Btw golden gates can be propagated from 4" stem cuttings in soil easily. I make at least 10 baby trees off of the mother bonsai per year and have plenty of seedlings to play with on grafting, and trunk fusion, etc.
Checkout Jerry's site with plenty of useful info
https://thebonsaihunk.com/ficusforum/FicusForum.html
https://thebonsaihunk.com/cultural.html
I bought his book and IMO It doesn't have much extra info that's not already on his site and other web sources.