Bonsai for under 11 dollars.

[xray360]

I took a trip to the local bonsai nursery for some inspiration. My dad found this ficus Benjamina and I thought it had some potential. So we picked a small 4" pot for it and potted it today. The trunk has some nice gental taper to it. I think it's going to have a bright future.

I'm a little concerned with the soil though. I felt my normal mix (1 part pine bark, 1 part clay granules) was too coarse for such a small pot. So I mixed in some organic potting mix with chick size crushed granite. It drains through fine, but I'm not sure. I know the smaller the pots the more careful you have to be with the soil.


Check it out. Thanks.

 

[jk_lewis]

You'llbe fine, but in that small pot it will take fore ver for the tree to grow into anything.

 

[Curtis]

I agree, you really do want that in a bigger pot. I would have put this in a 4" bulb pot myself. Once I did that, I would cut the top off just to get more branching so it would thicken up. I find benjamina to be fairly forgiving. I only keep a few but in the house they thrive near a window. I know alot of people dont like them though.

 

[xray360]

Thanks for the advice. I'll let the tree settle and when it has good root ball in this pot move it out to something bigger to further develop it's growth. Probably change it to my bonsai mix. It has some space in this pot for roots to grow still.

Curtis I was thinking of letting it grow tall first before cutting it back down. What do you think? I basically want a slender taper.

This isn't a ficus and is no mine, but the idea I had for it.