This is Leopold, my wife's ficus bonsai.
We've had him for a few months and in the beginning he was doing well.
I'm a little embarrassed and ashamed about it, but I went through a bit of a slump and I neglected to water him for something like 2-3 weeks. It could have been a month.
Once that passed, I tried to water him and nearly all his leaves dropped off.
As of now, I use a moisture meter to measure and water when dry. Maybe every 2-3 days
However it looks like I did over water and now a bunch of the new growth that I was seeing has turned brown and I'm distraught.
We're thinking of pruning some of the obviously dead branches and seeing if the new growth continues once he dries out.
Is there anything else we can do or is it too late to save him at this point?
by Rhonarin
8 Comments
[deleted]
If you did over watering, then the roots might have affected with root rot. Application of fungicide on your plant can solve the issue.
I can suggest to read the wiki in r/bonsai, its designed for noobs.
That is a ficus tree that has been grown bonsai-style, it is not a variety of ficus.
The shallow pot is decorative, and very few bonsai live in those pots long-term. As soon as they start to struggle, we move it to a regular plant pot thats about 5cm (2″) wider than the roots, no bigger. Then care for it like a ficus and help it get healthy. If you want to try to prune it bonsai-style and return it to the decorative pot, the wiki will take you through it step by step.
These things always drop leaves after you first buy them, the extra neglect didn’t help, but I see plenty of green. This thing can bounce back. Give it plenty of light and a humid environment if possible.
Mine always gets sad in the dry and dark winter and bounces back in the spring.
Change the pot out. I have the same tree. Ginseng ficus.
OP, if this tree dies, don’t beat yourself up too much. Bonsai trees sold in big box stores are usually of low quality and they are designed to survive on a store shelf for as long as possible, not be a good long term plant. The soil they usually come with is almost always awful.
Also jumping directly into bonsai is like learning to ride a bike without training wheels. In general it’s much better for a new bonsai enthusiast to buy a tree in a more traditional nursery pot. Once you’ve had it for a while and know how to care for it, THEN consider converting it into a bonsai tree.
I’d get a slightly larger pot. Carefully remove most of the old soil and repot it into VERY well draining soil. Add LOTS of perlite and stuff to your mix.
Then water deeply until water comes out the bottom. Get all the soil wet. Then don’t water it again until the soil is almost completely dry.
Then move it into your very brightest window and OPEN your blinds. Ficus have VERY high light requirements.
Once the tree is more healthy and growing again, you can make it pretty again with a bit of pruning.
It’s not totally dead but it seems several branches are likely dead.
Count it as part of the trimming you’ll have to do for bonsai. And then try to keep the rest of the plant alive.
Also you might need to check the roots and repot. These plants are designed to look really good when you buy them but then they might not survive long, not necessarily due to your own actions but due to the nature of nurseries trying to sell you these plants, and get you to buy more of them by having the previous plants die.
This may include getting or making soil that is better for bonsai type plants, compared to the soil that it came with.
Mine has survived outside in Texas weather with little care for about 10 years now so I think they’re pretty hardy lmao I would repot it though, I did pretty much immediately cause those decorative pots are death sentences