Ficus Bejamina Progress

[SerSwanky]

Thought I would start a thread to see the progress on my first tree and see how it progresses.

Purchased from a local nursery 1/22/22



I asked a worker there what I should pot it in and they said any potting mix is fine. (rip me)

 

[Colorado]

I’d pot it in a pumice-based mix for now, and transition to akadama when the tree is ready for a bonsai pot.

Pumice and bark would be good, and readily available.

I like the variegated leaves, nice choice

 

[19Mateo83]

Nice little variegated benjamina starter plant. Those guys do well in loose well draining soil mix. Mine are in a mix of turface, Napa 8822, pine bark and scoria (lava) sifted to 1/8” plus and they get explosive root growth. FYI, put any clippings you take in water and they will root in about a month.

 

[SerSwanky]

2/12/22

I potted it in a training tray. When I first googled the tree online before buying it, I saw a lot of photos with the nebari style. I thought I’d try tha, not realizing at the time, there was more involved then just exposing the undeveloped root system.

 

[SerSwanky]

2/26/22

I kept seeing moss on peoples trees and thought it looked really cool. So I went out and collected a much of moss, again not realizing you need specific moss for specific soil types. Who knew that rock moss only likes rocks /s. So that moss quickly died. Plus I was told it doesn't do well indoors but I wanted to yolo it. Still looked cool for a week.

I didn't have soil at work to even out the dirt before putting the moss on it and I didn't want to put the moss directly onto the exposed feeder roots and being impatient which I know is exactly what you want in bonsai, I mound the dirt under the base of the tree from the right side of the pot. So it was super lopsided for a while.

 

[SerSwanky]

3/23/22

I finally got some decent bonsai soil online: Pumice, lava rock, calcined clay and pine bark and repotted it. I cut out two of the feeder roots. There were some monsters in there, I counted at least 4. I left the other 2 for the next repot, I didn't want to shock it too badly. I also snipped the tips of the others to stop them from growing (I read that online?) and repotted and leveled out the soil this time.

I'll try the moss thing again, hopefully that'll raise the roots to the surface from the moisture. I've done no pruning to it so hopefully it bounces back quickly from the shock. I want to fertilize it again since I changed soil. I last fertilized it 2/23/22 but I'm not sure if its too soon since I JUST cut the feeder roots off last night. I'll probably wait a week.

 

[SerSwanky]

I am joining a local Bonsai Club I found online in Spokane, WA in April when they next meet, so I'm hoping they can help me decide how to style it. I am very much undecided and I don't want to wire it until I have an idea. So for the time being I'm just going to let it grow.

 

[SerSwanky]

Nice little variegated benjamina starter plant. Those guys do well in loose well draining soil mix. Mine are in a mix of turface, Napa 8822, pine bark and scoria (lava) sifted to 1/8” plus and they get explosive root growth. FYI, put any clippings you take in water and they will root in about a month.

I was surprised to see how many people use Napa 8822 for their soil mix. I assumed it'd have chemicals or something in it. I'm definitely going to look into that. I've been having a surprisingly difficult time finding components to mix soils. Though to be fair I've only tried Lowe's and Home Depot and haven't checked out the other nurseries around here yet.

My wife and I are wanting to make a propagation wall (photo not mine) for our apartment, I hadn't thought to use my ficus. I will definitely be doing that once I get some bigger growth on it though!

 

[SerSwanky]

I’d pot it in a pumice-based mix for now, and transition to akadama when the tree is ready for a bonsai pot.

Pumice and bark would be good, and readily available.

I like the variegated leaves, nice choice

You were too quick to reply! Love the at ready advice for us rookies. I did manage to snag bonsai mix online, should have done the research before buying the plant. But I'm ready for the next one!

Yeah the variegated leaves do look pretty great, I'm interested to see how they turn out when I defoliate it later down the line.

 

[SerSwanky]

It's finally starting to warm up in the PNW, highs of 50-70F this week lows of 40F so I decided to start to transition my ficus (along with a few other trees, Jade, barely counts as trees) outdoors for the summer. As to not shock it, I'm putting it outside for an hour a day for a few days in the evenings and will slowly increase the time it's outside until its out full time. My apartment balcony is a bit breezy so I'm hoping the cooler air won't freak it out too bad. I read they don't like cold drafts so I guess I'll find out how it responds.

I fertilized it for the first time since getting it in January with real fertilizer (not the 1-1-1 stuff I was using). I followed the directions on my miracle gro (one packet per gallon of water) and then did a half dosage of osmosis plus in tea leaf bags. I couldn't find empty tea leaf bags at the store so I just cut open my own, refilled them with pellets and safety pinned it shut. Seems to work okay.



So far my ficus hasn’t grown much at all. I haven’t noticed any new leaves, I’ve seen the start of new buds under the old leaves but they’ve been sitting dormant. So imagine my surprise after 1 hour outside and a healthy dose of fertilizer did these pop up the next morning. Now granted, there is a good chance (pretty much guaranteed I think, can't imagine it would respond THAT fast) they were already like that and I just didn't notice but I still got excited nonetheless.







And now we are off to the races!

 

[MHBonsai]

Good stuff. Don't love it to death!

These can take a lot of abuse - but the biggest thing this tree needs right now is to let it grow strong for the summer. If you can let it roll, it will triple in trunk thickness easily in your summer heat.

And get more trees.

 

[SerSwanky]

Good stuff. Don't love it to death!

These can take a lot of abuse - but the biggest thing this tree needs right now is to let it grow strong for the summer. If you can let it roll, it will triple in trunk thickness easily in your summer heat.

And get more trees.

I'm trying my hardest not to!

I won't touch it, scouts honor. I should fertilize it though, right?

And in regarding to transitioning it to outdoors, what time frame am I looking at? A week or two of putting it out for a few hours at a time before moving it outdoors full time (as long as the lows stay above 50F?).

I found a local bonsai nursery called Gray to Green Nursery and I will hopefully be buying a tree from them this Saturday!

 

[MHBonsai]

I'm trying my hardest not to!

I won't touch it, scouts honor. I should fertilize it though, right?

And in regarding to transitioning it to outdoors, what time frame am I looking at? A week or two of putting it out for a few hours at a time before moving it outdoors full time (as long as the lows stay above 50F?).

I found a local bonsai nursery called Gray to Green Nursery and I will hopefully be buying a tree from them this Saturday!

I’m a believer that less moving indoors/outdoors is better. When I put mine out in spring they usually stay full time outside unless it dips under 40. Two weeks in shade, another partial sun, then good to go.

 

[Arizona bonsai]

Get more plants so you dont love it to death.

 

[ShadyStump]

I couldn't find empty tea leaf bags at the store so I just cut open my own, refilled them with pellets and safety pinned it shut. Seems to work okay.

If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.
Just went through a similar issue here. Every grocery store he as some sort of loose leaf tea, but none have tea bags or even tea bulbs. Finally tried the new health food/herbal remedies shop and she had them.

I keep a non-variegated benjie on my desk at work, and it does well with a grow bulb in a desk lamp and a cheap osmocote knock-off.
I actually find that having it close at hand breeds just enough boredom in it that I don't fiddle with it too terribly much, but these things are tough as nails, so that can be hard to do.

I haven't found a way to avoid the tuberous roots yet, but I have found that they do better with weights or guy wires for shaping than conventional wiring. Takes longer, but no worries about biting in. The trunks and branches can thicken very quickly.