ginseng

daystorm

All I was told is that it was ginseng, and I'm learning that its a kind of ficus, so that's all good, since its been potted in common potting soil. Will it do the plant any harm to repot it with decent bonsai soil? (meaning basically perlite and peat moss mix, best I can get here really, think its a good idea to throw in some small river stones?)
I know its not the right time of year for repotting, but the soil is heavy with water and I'm not liking that. I'll post a picture later in order to get an ID on this thing. thanks ahead of time!

god my mother;s computer hates me, it wont read my disk, she never uses the diskdrive.. I'll try and post pics tomorrow

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daystorm

oh, and just a note, I did find out that ginseng is a ficus retusa ^^ just an aside

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RedPine

Hi,


If you have a indoor setup already going with plenty of light and warmth etc. then I would go ahead and get the Ficus in better soils.The contents you listed will work fine and be well draining once sifted.As to the other pebble stones ,you don't say what size they are?1/4" would be the biggest I would want but a little bigger can sometimes be ok to.Any thing larger than 1/4" particle size I would want to break down.

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Master-S.T-

even though ginseng may be related to ficus as you say, there is no way you would be able to grow them afficiant in a pot, without a extreme set-up. First they will only grow in shade ( mainly on the side of a forest that is dense on a slanted mountain etc. Im A big ginseng nut lol

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daystorm

ok, here is my tree, the lady said to place it in a condition that would give it little light, and like I said, the soil is heavy. Thanks for the feedback!
the leaves are a bit large and are starting to be discolored a little, I did a cambium test and its still dark green, so I think its just the condition the tree was kept in, it actually looks like the residu left from untreated tap water. (I condition my water and let it sit for a bit in a bottle) I can't wait to see what the roots look like, it seems to me like I could bring it up a little from the earth, but we'll see once I get my material together to repot it. Should I really be keeping it in low light situations? I've done a little research and basically came up with ficus care, not species specific, although I will keep searching.

Attached Images

	ginseng1.JPG (61.2 KB, 34 views)
	ginseng2.JPG (53.9 KB, 19 views)
	ginseng3.JPG (54.4 KB, 18 views)

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Joanie

Your soil looks very wet and like it contains a lot of fine material, and the pot doesn't look like a really good draining pot, so make sure not to overwater. The leaves sort of look overwatered, but it could be something else. Make sure it isn't sitting in water, either.

Joanie

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daystorm

would you believe that I bought this from an asian family shop? I bought it overwatered, there is a humidity tray and the water is leaking out into it, but the earth is the same I use for my potted plants, so I agree that the leaves may be like that because its overwatered.

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Joanie

As long as you are aware of it, you can make sure that you're careful. Soil for potted plants is different than bonsai soil, it retains a lot of water by using a lot of organics. When you next repot you may want to add more inorganic to the mix, so it doesn't stay as wet.

Cool tree!

Joanie

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rockm

"even though ginseng may be related to ficus as you say, there is no way you would be able to grow them afficiant in a pot, without a extreme set-up. First they will only grow in shade ( mainly on the side of a forest that is dense on a slanted mountain etc. Im A big ginseng nut lol"

Ficus is in no way related to Ginseng. Ficus plants are referred to as "ginseng" ficus because of their lumpy root systems that RESEMBLE ginseng roots. They are ficus.