Ficus - Suggestions for my plans

Wayneo

Hello all,

I have been reading about Bonsai for a whopping month

I would love to hear suggestions about my current project before I do irreparable damage.

I just bought at home center, a 4 foot ficus benjaminus, including 1 gallon plastic pot. It has a nice nabari, then branchless trunk wrapped around a 2/3" bamboo stick. Then nice branching and canopy. Here are my plans:

o Repot to 1 gallon nicer pot in bonsai soil. done today. Discard ridiculous bamboo stick. Some scaring is there, but it caused some nice bending of trunk for the short sections I plan to keep.

- it was root bound and I got rid of as much mucky slop (planting soil) as I could without tearing most roots. It may have had slight root rot, discarded.

o When vigororous again (two week?) I want to start Air Layering just below nice trunk branching and below canopy. This will be bonsai A.

o Wait 4-6 weeks for good roots showing in Air Layering and saw off and plant in new pot. Should it be regular pot or bonsai training pot?
Should I defoliate at that time (to reduce transpiration) or just let recover?
How long to wait till I severely start pruning and shaping existing branches?
How do I tell when it is vigorous again?

o Wait for existing nabari to start growing again and start training for bonsai B. Should I severely root prune immediately to get rid of vertical components, or wait till the top growth sprount? Should I repot at that time or just leave in existing pot?

Can I use some existing newly pruned roots to start more stock?

I am "read up" on many of the techniques and procedures, but don't know what can be/should be combined or how long they take. I am sure you all know that reading about bonsai is not as valuable as experience with bonsai.

I live in Pennsylvania, but this is a tropical plant and I plan to keep it indoors, at least until really warm weather hits.

Please reply with any suggestions about timing, plans, etc. I will try to post pictures when I get a chance to download them from the camera.

Thanks,

Wayneo

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