bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post - Ficus from Home Depot in Trouble

before anyone else says it, fill out your heat zone or USDA zone so everyone knows what heating conditions you've got

P.S. I started bonsai about a month ago, so take what I say with a grain of salt for what its worth, I got a Ficus Nerifolia from an outside bonsai dealer (it was in prime health at the time), put in in a hot atrium for a week, and then moved it in my dorm room with a little tray of shallow water beneath it for humidity; it adjusted in a few weeks to being a foot from a closed window where it gets 4 or 5 hours of sun everyday (hell, it was throwing out red shoots after a week or two of being relocated) and now it's looking fine being water every so often (when it needs it, according to my whims); I dunno what the soil is, something the dealer was using. I've heard using a 50/50 mix of lava rock and fir or pine bark is good for ficus so I'm gonna try it in a few weeks.

Red shoots/leaves growing on your ficus = vigorous growth; its a good thing.

7-Sep-2005	#4
xmacro Grasshopper Join Date: Jun-2005 Location: Michigan Country: USA Posts: 55	before anyone else says it, fill out your heat zone or USDA zone so everyone knows what heating conditions you've got P.S. I started bonsai about a month ago, so take what I say with a grain of salt for what its worth, I got a Ficus Nerifolia from an outside bonsai dealer (it was in prime health at the time), put in in a hot atrium for a week, and then moved it in my dorm room with a little tray of shallow water beneath it for humidity; it adjusted in a few weeks to being a foot from a closed window where it gets 4 or 5 hours of sun everyday (hell, it was throwing out red shoots after a week or two of being relocated) and now it's looking fine being water every so often (when it needs it, according to my whims); I dunno what the soil is, something the dealer was using. I've heard using a 50/50 mix of lava rock and fir or pine bark is good for ficus so I'm gonna try it in a few weeks. Red shoots/leaves growing on your ficus = vigorous growth; its a good thing.