Ficus Setup

mwh27

I plan on starting a Ficus soon, and I have a couple questions for growing indoors.

1.) ...this may sound silly.. but, Would it be better to start from seeds, or to buy a ficus and train it? I feel like it would be more rewarding to start from seeds.

2.) They say that Ficus's are indoor plants. Cool, but does this mean that they need grow lights and automatic misters... or humidifiers?

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BonsaiGreenhorn

1) You should probably buy a ficus that is shohin or nursery stock and go from there because if you grow from a seed it would take a while and you would just be sitting there for a few years watching it grow. Buy something that already has something established.

2) Ficus' can be indoor plants, but pretty much all bonsai enjoy being outside more. If you would like to grow it inside (even though ive never grown a ficus inside) you could probably put it in a well lit window area and water when soil is moderately dry. (you can determine this by sticking your finger in the soil, if its wet/moist you dont need to water, and if its dry, then water. you can also do this with a chopstick).. Ficus' are a "tropical" and i see you live in philly so you will have to bring in some parts of the year so it doesnt freeeeze.

Hope this helps. Heres some info on ficus'
http://www.bonsaisite.com/ficus.html

Hope this helps. Keep reading around this site, it helps so much!
-Evan

__________________

Bart Thomas(deceased)

Mwh27:

Do yourself a favor and check out the indoor bonsai classes at: Rosade Bonsai They are in New Hope, Pa, and the class includes a potted ficus that you will have styled yourself.

You can meet them at the Philly flower show this week at the Convention Center. Or, you can buy starter ficus at reasonable prices at the show and go your own way.