Ficus Advice

mikec843

Two years ago I received an "indoor" bonsai as a gift. I'm 90% sure it is a ficus. I have religiously watered it, mostly misting 2x/day, but have done little else. I keep it on a bright window sill in my office.

The condition of the plant is so-so. Sometimes there is a handful of leaves, now there are only 3. There are several new shoots but many more of the branches look like "dead ends."

I would like to put some effort into rejuvenating the plant. I started by changing the watering schedule to a periodic dunking when the plant starts to dry, combined with daily misting.

I'm wondering if anyone would be kind enough to propose a regimen for me. Should I fertilize? Repot? Change soil? Prune? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

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erubeck

Hi Mike:

I have several young Ficus trees grown from cuttings and one giant about 7 ft. tall. They winter inside at about 65ºF and I water them when they get dry. Not damp - dry. The young ones are under grow lights and get 16 hrs. of light each day and they are all doing very well with lots of green shiny leaves and new growth. I feed them every two weeks with MiracleGrow. The monster stays in the middle of the room with only the light from the windows and doesn't get fed until spring. It loses a lot of its leaves and seems to go into a rest period before going nuts in the spring again.

In the spring they go outside and live under a deck which is bright but out of the direct sun. I live in south central Kansas and it gets really hot in the summer and very windy. They need some protection from the wind and a lot more water but still only after the pot gets dry.

Believe me I am just a beginner but this seems to work for me.

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Regards,

Ed