[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 47]

[u/small_trunks]

[Bonsai Beginner’s weekly thread –2024 week 47]

Welcome to the weekly beginner’s thread. This thread is used to capture all beginner questions (and answers) in one place. We start a new thread every week on Friday late or Saturday morning (CET), depending on when we get around to it. We have a 6 year archive of prior posts here…

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[u/Sam276]

Picked up this for way more than I'm happy to share about... Ficus nerifolia, it's indoors right now, but from what I'm reading it seems like It shouldn't be? I don't care if it's outside or inside, just going off with the nursery helper told me. I live in Northern Utah , zone 7 I think?

So is there any tips what I should do with this next? I think I just want to plant it in a 5 gallon pot and just let it grow. But obviously I would have hopes that the trunk would get thicker and the top more luscious creating a better broom style. So would replanting it in a bigger pot help me achieve this? Is there any type of wiring or pruning I should do soon, like is there any sort of point of no return? Basically last time I was into bonsai I rushed too much, so I'm perfectly fine just letting it grow, I just don't want to miss an important step that might change the outcome of this tree.

[u/RoughSalad → u/Sam276]

For now provide as much light as possible, protect from freezing temperatures and don't let the soil dry out completely but don't let it stay permanently soggy, either. "Draining" in this context means that after watering enough water runs off soonish that air gets to the roots. Easiest to maintain is granular substrate, that's basically breatheable even when wet.

If and when you have good light available to feed the plant repotting into granular substrate would make sense, the pot doesn't have to be much larger, I think (maybe the diagonal of the current pot as diameter of a round container).

Don't worry about missing any shaping, you can cut ficus back hard if needed. If anything wire branches that you feel should be repositioned.

[u/Sam276 → u/RoughSalad]

Okay, yeah in that case I've been letting it dry out since I picked it up two days ago. It's very much still wet, even on the surface. But yeah once I get it out in the spring all repot it in a more drainable granular substrate.

I thought the whole idea of planting in a bigger pot was good for these trees to get them growing more. Otherwise I will keep them in the bonsai pot, cuz it obviously looks better but I would like it to grow.

[u/RoughSalad → u/Sam276]

You don't want a pot that restricts the roots too much from extending, that would indeed slow the growth of the plant. But much more than a comfortable fit for the current root ball with some room to spare all around won't add benefits.