My Ficus green gem. Critique/advice welcomed.

[Nanuk]

I have been looking for a Ficus for awhile.
Came across this one on Ebay. It was listed as a green gem.
After some searching I am a bit confused on what I have.
Some search results say ficus retusa nitida. Others say ficus microcarpa nitida.
I'm guessing the nitida part fits anyway.
I don't know enough to figure out which one it is.

Any ideas?


I am open for any and all advice as to how to treat this.
I did repot it when I got it. I didn't like the flimsy plastic pot or the soil it was in. I hope this wasn't a mistake.
It has been putting on leaves since then so maybe I didn't make it overly mad at me.
It's planted in Boon mix. Gets watered every morning.

It has been under grow lights the few days that I have had it.
I'm thinking it's time to move it outside.
How much sun can they tolerate?

Any advice than anyone has as to the care of these would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Well i cant help you on identification, but i could tell ya that if it were in my collection, id let it grow out a bit and get it outside as temps allow. My Ficus have spent the last two weeks transitioning from under lights to outside and seem pretty happy. They get four hours direct morning sun then bright shade the rest of the day.

 

[Nanuk]

Well i cant help you on identification, but i could tell ya that if it were in my collection, id let it grow out a bit and get it outside as temps allow. My Ficus have spent the last two weeks transitioning from under lights to outside and seem pretty happy. They get four hours direct morning sun then bright shade the rest of the day.

That's about what mine will get, a good four or so hours in the morning and then indirect the rest of the day.
I was about to put it outside a while ago and a thunderstorm came up.
Maybe in the morning.

As far as letting it grow out a bit, that's my plan at the present.
I don't want it real big but that trunk could thicken a bit.
At the moment the trunk is about one inch at the base. I'm shooting for about double that at the most.
I'm aiming for shohin size.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Try to wire those bottom branches more horizontal if you can. Once you feel it’s safe-without breaking them off.

 

[Nanuk]

Try to wire those bottom branches more horizontal if you can. Once you feel it’s safe-without breaking them off.

Thanks for the advice Darlene.
As far as once I feel its safe, well no plant should feel safe in my care. LOL

I have killed many a plant in my life, the lastest being about 3 dozen cacti.
I really hated that as they put out beautiful blooms when they are happy.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Thanks for the advice Darlene.
As far as once I feel its safe, well no plant should feel safe in my care. LOL

I have killed many a plant in my life, the lastest being about 3 dozen cacti.
I really hated that as they put out beautiful blooms when they are happy.

I’m actually Denise
We have all killed plants. Just learn from your losses. I will be trying several new species this year. I am certain some will fail. If I grow in my journey then I will consider it a win.

 

[Nanuk]

I’m actually Denise
We have all killed plants. Just learn from your losses. I will be trying several new species this year. I am certain some will fail. If I grow in my journey then I will consider it a win.

Sorry about the wrong name Denise, I get confused easily.
I promise that I CAN read. LOL

 

[Nanuk]

Try to wire those bottom branches more horizontal if you can. Once you feel it’s safe-without breaking them off.

Wired them down this morning. My first attempt at wiring anything.

I'm fairly sure that I didn't kill it. LOL

About how long does it take for them to take a set?

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Wired them down this morning. My first attempt at wiring anything.

I'm fairly sure that I didn't kill it. LOL

About how long does it take for them to take a set?

Good job.
It will depend on the amount of growth that takes place over the next few months.
You will likely be wiring these down throughout the life of the tree. The natural growth will always reach toward the light.
You will know when it’s time to take them off because the wire will start to bite into the bark a little bit. You will want this to happen. I’m not saying let it bite in and create crazy deep scars. Just let it bite in a little to help set the branches.
Depending on how growth goes and your final design you may in the future decide to remove one side or the other.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It's Ficus microcarpa 'Green Island'. Very good bonsai/houseplant. It should get all the sun you can give it, muy pronto. It will grow well enough in a pot, but better and faster if the pot is sunk in the ground in full sun. Water it every day you have sun, skip cloudy days. Feed it fortnightly only during the high growth season. That begins about a month before you can put it outdoors, -when nighttime temperatures are 50°F and higher. At that time, cut all the leaves off at the base of the leaf, leaving the petiole in-place to guard the buds in the axils. It will look stupid, like porcupine, but the expanding buds will kick the dead petiole off when they're good and ready. When the tree is nude you can style it with wire, not too tight, knowing that the wire will need to come off in about a month, or less. You can lay on your belly on the ground and cut it off. Watch it very closely to avoid wire marks which take a long time to out-grow. In September or October or whenever nighttime temps close in on 50°F, stop feeding and dig it up. It will have lots of root growing thru the holes in the pot of which you will cut all off at the pot. Re-pot up to the next size without going too big. You are preparing the pot that you will sink next year, and you want the tree to have enough room to fill with roots before they get out the holes. Those that escape the holes will then grow much faster and bigger than those trapped inside the pot. You want the best of both worlds: a pot filled with roots so you can excise big anchor roots and have lots of fine feeder roots left to repot, ad infinitum. If the pot is too small, the roots will escape too soon and grow too many fat, anchor roots, -too big of a proportion of the roots will be outside the pot, and not useful other than having grown the tree. You want to grow the tree and the roots in proper proportion. It will do a lot of growing the topside and you will need to constantly clip terminal buds to turn apical growth into cluster growth. But that's exactly what you want to do, right?

 

[MattE]

https://adamaskwhy.com/2016/07/24/ficus-vs-ficus/
the only thing you need to know

 

[Ali Raza]

First of all congratulations for your new ficus. Here are some tips for grooming ficus:-

1. They love sunlight (place it in the sunlight for at least 6 hours).
2. They like humidity (you can mist with water).
3. Fertilize them in the growing season.
4. Well draining soil will be preferable.
5. Prune heavily in the summer for ramification.

Golden rule for design. "If you are stuck, then let it grow freely". Because design is the thing which will live with the bonsai for rest of his life. Don't rush.
Personally I go for something like this (source https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...rpa_MASTER_PIECE_1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1542879451)

 

[Nanuk]

It's Ficus microcarpa 'Green Island'. Very good bonsai/houseplant. It should get all the sun you can give it, muy pronto. It will grow well enough in a pot, but better and faster if the pot is sunk in the ground in full sun. Water it every day you have sun, skip cloudy days. Feed it fortnightly only during the high growth season. That begins about a month before you can put it outdoors, -when nighttime temperatures are 50°F and higher. At that time, cut all the leaves off at the base of the leaf, leaving the petiole in-place to guard the buds in the axils. It will look stupid, like porcupine, but the expanding buds will kick the dead petiole off when they're good and ready. When the tree is nude you can style it with wire, not too tight, knowing that the wire will need to come off in about a month, or less. You can lay on your belly on the ground and cut it off. Watch it very closely to avoid wire marks which take a long time to out-grow. In September or October or whenever nighttime temps close in on 50°F, stop feeding and dig it up. It will have lots of root growing thru the holes in the pot of which you will cut all off at the pot. Re-pot up to the next size without going too big. You are preparing the pot that you will sink next year, and you want the tree to have enough room to fill with roots before they get out the holes. Those that escape the holes will then grow much faster and bigger than those trapped inside the pot. You want the best of both worlds: a pot filled with roots so you can excise big anchor roots and have lots of fine feeder roots left to repot, ad infinitum. If the pot is too small, the roots will escape too soon and grow too many fat, anchor roots, -too big of a proportion of the roots will be outside the pot, and not useful other than having grown the tree. You want to grow the tree and the roots in proper proportion. It will do a lot of growing the topside and you will need to constantly clip terminal buds to turn apical growth into cluster growth. But that's exactly what you want to do, right?

Thanks for the writeup. The one thing that won't happen is planting the pot in the ground.
I have a very small back yard (live in a condo). That works out well when I have to mow the grass.
It doesn't lend itself well to planting trees in the ground though.
It will have to do whatever growing it will do in the pot.

 

[Nanuk]

First of all congratulations for your new ficus. Here are some tips for grooming ficus:-

1. They love sunlight (place it in the sunlight for at least 6 hours).
2. They like humidity (you can mist with water).
3. Fertilize them in the growing season.
4. Well draining soil will be preferable.
5. Prune heavily in the summer for ramification.

Golden rule for design. "If you are stuck, then let it grow freely". Because design is the thing which will live with the bonsai for rest of his life. Don't rush.
Personally I go for something like this (source https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...rpa_MASTER_PIECE_1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1542879451)

#1 I just moved it outside this morning. The way my yard is setup nothing gets more than about four hours of direct sun.
After that there is plenty of lite but it's indirect.

#2 I have been misting it daily.

#3 I have not fertilized yet because of the repot. Thinking later this week I will fertilize.

#4 Got the well draining substrate covered. It's in Boon mix and the water runs mostly right through it.
It gets a good soaking every morning.

#5 Well it's not summer yet but getting close.

Thanks for the writeup.

I really appreciate it.

?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

https://adamaskwhy.com/2016/07/24/ficus-vs-ficus/
the only thing you need to know

Really? Somehow I feel slightly dumber and robbed of 5 minutes of my life for having read that.

 

[Nanuk]

Really? Somehow I feel slightly dumber and robbed of 5 minutes of my life for having read that.

I guess the poster meant well but I felt about the same way.

 

[Housguy]

I have the same or similar ficus tree as you do, love the leaves.

 

[MattE]

Really? Somehow I feel slightly dumber and robbed of 5 minutes of my life for having read that.

I thought it was a good laugh and it had some great info as well ..

 

[Ali Raza]

@Nanuk You are welcome