Mastodawn

Sven

Apr 23

@jamie You can just cut off the long branches. The Ficus will form new fresh shoots on the trunk.

@jamie ✌️

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@sven Eine Nahaufnahme einer kleinen Pflanze mit einem dicken, braunen und texturierten Stamm und dünnen Zweigen, an denen kleine, hellgrüne Blätter wachsen. Die Pflanze befindet sich in einem Topf, von dem nur der obere Rand sichtbar ist. Der Hintergrund zeigt eine unscharfe, grüne Rasenfläche mit Licht- und Schattenbereichen. Am unteren Bildrand befindet sich der folgende Text: „╒╝Erstellen Sie eine Alt-Text-Beschreibung für Personen, die das Bild nicht sehen können. Beschreiben Sie nur den tatsächlichen Inhalt, interpretieren oder vermuten Sie nichts. Beginnen Sie mit einer allgemeinen Beschreibung und gehen Sie dann auf Details ein. Wenn das Bild komplex ist oder viele Elemente enthält, fassen Sie es in etwa 5 Sätzen zusammen. Wenn Text vorhanden ist, geben Sie ihn wortwörtlich an. Nehmen Sie keine Geschlechter an. Schreiben Sie Ihren Alt-Text in die nächste Zeile:“.

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@sven Okay nice! I’ll likely repot as others have suggested and then do this. Thanks! 👍

dpc2 Apr 23

@jamie I would wait until a hot day and then repot that tree into a chunky, free-draining soil mixture and water generously using a heavily diluted water soluble fertilizer. You might also consider pruning off any dead or severely compacted roots during the repotting, as you really need healthy feeder roots in order to take up nutrients. Ficus tend to develop large bulbous roots if you don’t trim them, but the bulbous roots don’t really help with water/nutrient uptake.

Once you start to see the tree bounce back and put out new growth, you should be safe to trim those long branches back and encourage more dense branching.

For a chunky, free draining soil: I like using a combo of Fox Farms potting soil, reptile bark, medium or small sized pumice, and perlite. It’s not a 100% inorganic bonsai soil like the pros use, but I don’t have any trees old enough to warrant that treatment. Also, ficus are fast growing tropical trees that grow to monstrous size in the wild, so I think in general they do better with some organic material in the soil.

@dpc2 I’ll put a shopping list together and get it done. Thank you!

@jamie don't take this as super pro advice, but I did take a course on repotting, so hopefully my teacher knew what he was talking about. Here's what he said. (This was not about ficus, so YMMV): first, remove from the old pot. Remove as much of the old soil as you can, gently massaging the roots with clean hands. You want to replace as much soil as you can, so get as much of the old stuff out as possible without damaging the roots too much. Next, you can trim the roots if they're too large. >

@jamie I don't know how to judge this but you can probably find out. Once you're ready to put your bonsai in a new pot, you may need a few pieces of copper wire on hand to pin down some large roots so the tree doesn't tip over as you're working. If the bottom has large holes for drainage, you can place mesh squares over these, and gently pin down the roots (not tightly) through holes in the mesh, leaving plenty of space for drainage. Spread tbe roots out as much as you can so they will >

@jamie all have plenty of access to water and fertilizer. Next, add the soil. There are plenty of premixed bonsai soils available. You will want a smooth chopstick with a fine tip so you can gently pack the soil into the roots to stabilize your bonsai and make sure there is soil between as many of the roots as possible. It will help support the plant and also deliver nutrients. Be gentle, but don't be too delicate. You want the plant to be stable. Take your time with this step. >

@jamie if you need to, add more soil. Don't bury parts of the bonsai that were not buried before. Add water and let it drain, see if there is adequate soil once it settles. Make sure you have a good bonsai fertilizer on hand, since bonsai soil doesn't hold fertilizer the way "normal" soil does. Hopefully this will help. Don't be afraid to prune, just make sure you fertilize regularly and it should grow back. Hope this is helpful! 💜 good luck to your lovely ficus!

@secretsloth Thank you for your very detailed answer! Lots of things I hadn’t even considered.

@jamie no problem! If you run into anything I forgot to mention, please let me know, i tried to run through the steps I went through in my own head, but it has been some years. If you visit an online bonsai supply shop, they should have the materials you need. It is a bit pricey, but you can always look there, then source elsewhere - honestly, that's where I'd start just to avoid messing up, since you've obviously cared for your tree for a long time now. Oh! Look at reviews for bonsai soil! >

@jamie if you're looking for less expensive brands, it can sometimes have bugs or be moldy, and this can be bad for newly repotted trees. So check reviews and the dates of those reviews. The fancier brands tend to be more reliable i think, you could email someone at a bonsai shop, they will know what they have.

MCDuncanLab Apr 23

@jamie

Does your local botanical garden have a bonsai display? If so, they probably know some experts.

@MCDuncanLab I’m not sure tbh. I’d have to look it up. I got this plant originally from IKEA. 😅

MCDuncanLab Apr 23

@jamie

A lot of pricey bonsai started their lives from much humbler beginnings, plus if it give you joy they’re probably happy to help.

@jamie doesn't look like it has been repotted. I would get fresh soil (look up the soil mixture for ficus) and a slightly larger pot. Then pull it out, trim the smaller roots off so it is just the root ball + larger roots and drop it in the new pot

@unsafelyhotboots Yeah someone else said something similar. Thanks will definitely do that.

@jamie sure thing. Fixed the glaring typo I missed in the original post.

Bonsai need to be repotted every 6 months when young, every year as they age, and then once mature every few years

@unsafelyhotboots Oh wow okay. Mine has definitely been neglected then. 😅😬

I’m honestly surprised it’s still going.

@jamie ficus are super resilient, as you can see - you should be OK once it gets repotted.

In general, I am against the standard shallow pots for bonsai and in favor of pots with more depth to allow the roots to spread out more. This gives you more time between pottings

@unsafelyhotboots Oh I assume they need repotting due to lack of nutrients in the soil etc?

@jamie root binding is the (pardon the pun) root cause, and that binding caused those same roots to lose uptake in water and soil nutrients.

@unsafelyhotboots Ah okay, good to know. Thanks!

My camera shoots fascists Apr 23

@jamie

Best to look up a bonsai nursery or dedicated website/forum to get advice, since what you're trying to do with a bonsai plant is very different than most house plants.

(Nursery owner here who never deals with bonsai, so I'm giving you the advice I'd take myself.)

@Mikal Okay I’ll have a look, thanks for the suggestion!