Ficus and Juniper Problems

SkaterKid

Ok I have been having a couple of problems with my Ficus Benjamina and my Juniper and have a couple of questions. Ok first would be my soil composition, I asked this question a while back and was told to so some research. I have and found this soil recipe:

Haydite - 1 part
Granite or River Rock - 1 part
Turface - 1 part
Pine Bark - 1 part

Now is there any changes I should make to this composition for a Juniperus or a Ficus Benjamina? Also more recently my Ficus' Leaves have been wilting one even fell off. Dose this mean it is dieing or not getting enough of something? Please could someone help me out with this problem and tell me what to change to make my Ficus perk back up.

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BunjinEnt

Ok,
First: Watering.
1. Both of these tree species need fast draining soil (we'll get to that in a second).
2. Both types of trees should be watered in the following manner:
a. Wait until the soil barely sticks to the tip of your finger when you stick it in the soil past the first knuckle or so. (It should be ALMOST but not completely dry)
b. Then water with can/hose by sprinkling gently, wait for water to soak through water again. Wait 10 mins or so and water again.
c. To get a more effective watering, you can soak pot in water up to rim of pot for 15-30 mins to ensure all parts are wet and some water has soaked into organic components of soil.
d. DO NOT water again until the soil feels like #2a above.

__________________
Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.

BunjinEnt

Second,

Soil:

General rule of thumb soil mix for most species:

1 part turface
1 part granite grit
1 part soil conditioner

Some benefits and reasons for fast draining soil are:
1. Most plants will get root rot if roots are sitting in water.
2. While water is going in, it is also pulling in Oxygen and Nitrogen to roots.
3. As potting a plant is an artificial environment we need to ensure plants get what they need as far as nutrition.
a. We can send through more nutrients without risk of burning roots due to mineral build up.
b. We wire trees into pots because we remove tap and other structural roots and we want to stimulate the growth of fiberous feeder roots. Open free draining soil facilitates this. (I will not explain this process here. It is beyond the scope of this instruction. You can find the biology of this in other threads on this site.)
4. That said, we adjust the soil components based on the need to retain water based on species, environment and skill level of the Bonsai-ist.

Judging from your location and the species you are working with there should be no real reason to change the soil components listed above. It is all about the watering and our next topic: Light.

__________________
Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.

BunjinEnt

Third,

Light:

Since you do not live in a desert, Full sun should be the order of the day for both species.

The Ficus should NOT go outside until after your local outside temps no longer drop below 40 deg F. I would wait until it no longer drops below 50 deg F. Keep in bright southern exposed window.

The juniper should stay ouside in full sun. It is ok to bring it in for a day or two for a conversation piece, but it needs to go back outside.

IF by chance you have been growing them both inside, leave them both in that sunny window until temps reach those already mentioned.

Now when the day comes that the temps are where they should be, then put them in an area where they are going to get only direct sunlight until about noon. Leave them there for 2-4 weeks then push them out into full sun all day and leave them there, but pay attention to water requirements. Windy days can dehydrate just like hot sunny days. Get into the habit of checking your trees daily. Do not bring the juniper back inside next winter unless you are storing it in a cold garage (see also other threads)

Most species of Ficus are notorious for tossing their leaves when they are unhappy. Too much Water, not enough water, too cold, or a change in light intensity. More often than not, correcting the deficiency will give you back leaves within a week or two.

If your trees die, find out why they died and get another one. DO NOT GIVE UP. Everyone loses trees. It's sad, but a reality of this addiction.

Hope this helped.

-Wm

__________________
Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.

SkaterKid

Wow, thanks that helped a lot . I just have one more question though what exactly is soil conditioner? Is that like pine bark? Also could my ficus be dropping its leaves because the temperature has drastically changed in the past couple of days?

BunjinEnt

You are going to have to explain "drastic change in temp".
Soil Conditioner is fine chopped pine bark. Can find it at the Big Orange Box. Other folk use various other types of bark like fir. as long at it is fine enough not to take up all the space in the pot. Like 5-20 mm.
-Wm

__________________
Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.

SkaterKid

About two weeks ago we weeks ago we were at about -5 to 0 deg C today and all this week we have had weather up to and beyond +20 deg C. Sorry about using Celsius in Canada thats all they teach us.

BunjinEnt

And the Ficus was outside at 0 deg C?
now that I re-read your last post...
I would look at the BIG THREE above first, then look for bugs second. If the BIG THREE are ok and there are no bugs, then wait. It will come back. It may just be getting ready for spring push. Unless the Ficus was exposed to sub freezing temps, most temp changes are negligible for Ficus.

-Wm

__________________
Life without Bonsai would be...well, death.

SkaterKid

No the ficus was inside but my rooms temperature changes with the outside temperature.