New and desperate ;)

dlcronin

Hi, I'm dave, I'm very new to bonsai, my daughter brought home a baby ficus from school two years ago and so far I had done well with it, but recently I repotted it and it went into shock (my guess) . I found that my pot was not a good design for bonsai. thats where my desperation comes in, I cant find any supplies locally! I live in Port St. Lucie Florida, If anyone can refer me to a good place near me I would Greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance. Dave

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FlyBri

Gday Dave, and welcome to the wonderful world of killing trees!

Please take the time to fill out your User Profile (accessible through User CP or Quick Links at the top of the page). Making details such as Location, Climate Zone, etc readily visible will greatly assist those who are trying to assist you.

Sorry to hear about your Ficus. If it hasn't kicked the bucket already, the good folks here should be able to help you revive it. I'm curious what you mean when you say that your pot "was not a good design for bonsai".

Good luck and thanks.

FlyBri.

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pootsie

Hi Dave, and another welcome.

So, what problems is your tree exhibiting?
"shock" can describe a lot, although I'm guessing you don't mean low blood pressure

pootsie

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Vance Wood

There are lots of places you can purchase such pots on line. Let the tree alone in its now new pot for a year. Next summer you may transplant into a more appropriate bonsai pot if you wish. However if the tree is in need of development a bonsai pot is not the best environment for it. Bonsai pots generally retard development.

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TreeBay

Good advice (if it has a hole in the bottom!).

Regards,

Matt

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zen

Hi, and welcome to bonsai,...unfortunately most people will kill a few trees when they are starting out in bonsai,...but being that this is not what you want to hear and it's not very good advice ,i'd have to say , If your ficus is still alive then(seeing as you are in Fla.)dig a hole somewhere outside just larger than the pot you have it in right now, take the tree out of the pot leave the roots alltogether and unmolested,put 6the tree in the hole,...fill it in with dirt and water,...do not fertilize untill you see that the tree is growing and no longer in shock. you may need some clear landscape plastic and metal coat hangers to build a mini-greenhouse over in winter,...but that should do the trick and as a bonus it'll thicken up the trunk and make for a better bonsai in the future. p.s. I don't grow figs so others may correct some of the things that I have suggested here. Oh and welcome again~! Z

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dlcronin

It was in a pot maybe 1.5 " x 4", and i wanted to start training it to be "root over rock" and i knew the 1" by 7" diameter pot i wanted to use had no drainage or wiring holes so i put a layer of pebbles probably 1/2" thick on bottom for drainage and wired the tree to a somewhat oversized piece of slate hoping it would be a good anchor until the roots took hold, and then surrounded the rock, and roots with a mound of soil and covered the entire surface including the exposed pebbles that were visable at the outer edge of the pot with live moss.(obviously i didnt cover the part of the root and rock i wanted to see) I should add that the tree was on the outdoor porch and did great! for 3 months or so, no adverse reactions to the repotting at all, in fact it was growing too fast. But then one day i came home from work and saw that it had tipped over...wind i thought, more likely rodents or lizards or something with some weight. anyway, since then it hasen't stayed up where i wanted it and it most likely tore some of the finer roots begining the downward slide in health(dropping leaves, drying out too quickly, etc.)so I think the problem is It needs to be repotted but I have read before that you cant repot but once a year or 2, but i thought it cant be worse that what it's doing now. Which leads me to my other problem, I cant Find any good pots, or any bonsai supplies that i can get my hands on quickly around here. I have found on this forum that there is a sorta local club and i tried calling but get only a fax tone.
Well thats about it in a nut shell so i'll stop pouting and wait for your wisdom . and thanks to all for the warm welcome! Dave

Bonsaifreak

Welcome!

Ficuses are tough trees to kill. "Shock" may include leaves dropping and it does not mean you've killed it (yet). I'd suggest you place it in a regular (non-bonsai) pot with regular potting soil, just make sure that it drains. Let it recover. Take your time, find a suitable pot in the WWW (a list of bonsai dealers is available in this website) and wait to repot it in spring (or do it now if your nights are still warm). As a beginner, I wouldn't recommend to try daring styles such as "root-over-rock" which may take some skill to master.

Good luck!

Jorge

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