tiny white eggs on my bonsai?

davidbonsai

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and new to bonsais. I just received a golden gate ficus (an indoor ficus) as a gift. I couldn't help but notice tons of tiny white balls all over the soil(pictures enclosed). I am almost positive that they are eggs because they are hollow and the outside feels like an eggshell and when broken a small amount of white goo comes out. Is this normal? Should I be concerned? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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Joanie

That may be a fertilizer called ozmocote. It's time-release capsules. If they are perfectly round and smooth, and a little crunchy, and white goo comes out... fertilizer would be my guess.

Joanie

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jfecme

Joanie may be right. But an ounce of prevention, well you know the rest. If you can't have someone specifically identify the stuff and tell you for certain it's friend or foe, I would remove it entirely, and would consider repotting. If it's some kind of critter or fungus it would be better off with removing ALL of the old soil and repotting with new mixture. If it's critters there may be eggs in the old soil, and if it's bad fungus there will be microscopic spores. Completely washing the roots of all soil before repotting is safer.

Then again, if it's fertilizer......... You will have to decide. Sometimes the pellets of Osmocote will have been mixed into the soil as well and if you dig in a little you may find some similar residue.

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Over 25 years experience - good and bad, and still learning!

rockm

Joanie is right. These are osmocote fertilizer spheres, not eggs.

davidbonsai

Thank you for your informative responses. Being an amateur I didn't even know osmocote existed, thank you for relieving me of my worries. I've been browsing through this site, and it piqued my interest in Bonsai, I can't wait to learn more about the care and art of bonsai.

Thanks again!

Vance Wood

Just a reminder to you that are new. If you have a problem like described here, and the little round balls (in this case fertilizer) turned out to be eggs, and you can pick them up one at a time or in bunches what is this telling you?

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If I can pick them up I can remove them. Too many times we go running for the nursery for the appropriate chemical to spray them with, when all we really need to do is invest a little sweat equity and remove them by hand, a whole lot cheaper and safer.

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The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa