Within a few hours of recording this I ended up putting the tree back in the same soil it came out of but in that same net pot. I thought this would be a more fair test to see if the pot size/shape in relation to tree size was the problem.
Thanks for this video. I really like you going through your thought process about when why and how you looked at this focus. We look forward to seeing this developed over time and your pruning decisions. After you were confident, the roots have taken and you’ve solved that problem. Thanks again.
If I even walk by a ficus it drops leafs. lol Overwatering definitely a good thought. The rest of the leafs on your bonsai looks pretty healthy. Hope it starts behaving for you.
My thought was to leave the roots alone, but change soil mix to less organics, and smaller pot with better drainage. You ended up doing both! Looks great
Your theory sounds most likely correct. It would have been nice to have seen the drainage holes of the original pot, if they were inadequate that could be rectified. The pond basket will surely give the tree the best chance though. Personally I would have gently raked out the roots to get a head start on their development as well. ie/ untangle and spread out radially. Probably as many ways to deal with this as there are people in this game.
As a fellow bonai enthusiast, my suggestion is don't use plastic pots. There are many ways to control moisture; transpiration by the plant, good drainage via holes in the bottom of the pot, Terra cotta or ceramic pots that wick moisture away from the roots and warm environments. Ficus is a tropical plant so put it outside during the summer months and use the summer heat to evaporate some of the moisture out of the soil. Additionally, in my opinion, there was way too much organic soil in the first pot for the amount of watering so it was retaining too much water. Going with more substrate and aggregate is a wise choice. I did all of this and my ficus "thanked" me for it with lots of new growth. Not sure if the roots can be saved though. Thanks for sharing. Good luck on saving it.
I fixed the same problem with a Ficus Ginseng, I noticed if I cut off a branche or leaf it wasn't leaking rubber as usual.. it wasn't in a large pot but I expected it couldn't leak rubber because the sap stream was blocked in the roots.. took it out off the pot and cut off 50% of the roots.. some fresh potting soil and the next week it looked like nothing changed.. Still yellow leaf and sprouts dropping.. but after that week a clear improvement... doing just fine now.
Seemed like there might've been a bit too much organics in the mix. I think the original pot would've been ok with a mix that had a lot less organics. It'll be interesting to see the results.
You was dead on with what the problem was. Now that it’s in good bonsai soil it will do great. My only concern now is the pot. That new pot may keep the soil to dry and give you issues. Just a heads up.
I don't think your ficus is sick at all. Yellowing leaves are fairly normal, there was plenty of healthy growth. I just remove the yellowing leaves if they bother me.
To me it felt like there were more yellow leaves for longer periods of time than there should be but I'm not experienced with Ficus so I could be wrong. The fact that the leaves that turned yellow were newish growth us what concerned me.
The shape and size doesn't help but your soil is pretty compact wet. Which works can work in pond baskets. If you want to pu them in pots like you did with this one it does need to be courser. I think the tree will recover now. Not trimming the roots is fine but I would have removed the soil but seeing the soil it is in now I doubt it will matter a lot.
Within a few hours of recording this I ended up putting the tree back in the same soil it came out of but in that same net pot. I thought this would be a more fair test to see if the pot size/shape in relation to tree size was the problem.
Looks like the pot is too wide, you would have water sitting on the concave bit at the bottom which will cause root issues, if still developing a narrower, taller pot, like a standard nursery pot with a higher gravity column will give you better drainage.
Too much water can be a problem. However I am without any scare drowning my ficus. There is too much soil though vs rocks. You would have smelled rot. Pond baskets are great though.
Within a few hours of recording this I ended up putting the tree back in the same soil it came out of but in that same net pot. I thought this would be a more fair test to see if the pot size/shape in relation to tree size was the problem.
Thanks for this video. I really like you going through your thought process about when why and how you looked at this focus. We look forward to seeing this developed over time and your pruning decisions. After you were confident, the roots have taken and you’ve solved that problem. Thanks again.
If I even walk by a ficus it drops leafs. lol Overwatering definitely a good thought. The rest of the leafs on your bonsai looks pretty healthy. Hope it starts behaving for you.
My thought was to leave the roots alone, but change soil mix to less organics, and smaller pot with better drainage. You ended up doing both! Looks great
good video and info.
Your theory sounds most likely correct. It would have been nice to have seen the drainage holes of the original pot, if they were inadequate that could be rectified. The pond basket will surely give the tree the best chance though. Personally I would have gently raked out the roots to get a head start on their development as well. ie/ untangle and spread out radially. Probably as many ways to deal with this as there are people in this game.
As a fellow bonai enthusiast, my suggestion is don't use plastic pots. There are many ways to control moisture; transpiration by the plant, good drainage via holes in the bottom of the pot, Terra cotta or ceramic pots that wick moisture away from the roots and warm environments. Ficus is a tropical plant so put it outside during the summer months and use the summer heat to evaporate some of the moisture out of the soil. Additionally, in my opinion, there was way too much organic soil in the first pot for the amount of watering so it was retaining too much water. Going with more substrate and aggregate is a wise choice. I did all of this and my ficus "thanked" me for it with lots of new growth. Not sure if the roots can be saved though. Thanks for sharing. Good luck on saving it.
Hi ,,, thanks for explaining the reasons of ficus problems....please can you tell me your mixture of soil......thanks
I fixed the same problem with a Ficus Ginseng, I noticed if I cut off a branche or leaf
it wasn't leaking rubber as usual.. it wasn't in a large pot but I expected it couldn't leak rubber because the sap stream was blocked in the roots..
took it out off the pot and cut off 50% of the roots.. some fresh potting soil
and the next week it looked like nothing changed.. Still yellow leaf and sprouts dropping..
but after that week a clear improvement... doing just fine now.
Seemed like there might've been a bit too much organics in the mix. I think the original pot would've been ok with a mix that had a lot less organics. It'll be interesting to see the results.
You was dead on with what the problem was. Now that it’s in good bonsai soil it will do great. My only concern now is the pot. That new pot may keep the soil to dry and give you issues. Just a heads up.
I don't think your ficus is sick at all. Yellowing leaves are fairly normal, there was plenty of healthy growth. I just remove the yellowing leaves if they bother me.
To me it felt like there were more yellow leaves for longer periods of time than there should be but I'm not experienced with Ficus so I could be wrong. The fact that the leaves that turned yellow were newish growth us what concerned me.
With mine, I just water once a week and mist in between. I make sure I mist unitl the top of the soil is saturated.
I think I may have trimmed the ends of the roodt to get more ramification.
The shape and size doesn't help but your soil is pretty compact wet. Which works can work in pond baskets. If you want to pu them in pots like you did with this one it does need to be courser. I think the tree will recover now.
Not trimming the roots is fine but I would have removed the soil but seeing the soil it is in now I doubt it will matter a lot.
Within a few hours of recording this I ended up putting the tree back in the same soil it came out of but in that same net pot. I thought this would be a more fair test to see if the pot size/shape in relation to tree size was the problem.
Bagus master
Looks like the pot is too wide, you would have water sitting on the concave bit at the bottom which will cause root issues, if still developing a narrower, taller pot, like a standard nursery pot with a higher gravity column will give you better drainage.
Too much water can be a problem. However I am without any scare drowning my ficus. There is too much soil though vs rocks. You would have smelled rot. Pond baskets are great though.
I honestly think the pot was to big but it didn’t need to be repotted I would have watered less for a few months not completely soaking the soil
Where’s part 2
Sad we put fettiliser / yiu have not given any pointfs!!!