Peaceful Warrior

I have read here and other places about misting indoor trees, humidity trays, indoor green houses and the like for tropicals. My ficus is sitting on the kitchen table with no direct light and casual watering by me. It is growing like a weed! I need to sit down and give it a trim this weekend.

All my trees seem to be like this, I don't water as much as I should. I actually don't do much with them except trim them a couple times a year. and they get some fertilizer in the spring after first growth and in the fall before they go to sleep, ficus has never had supplements (I need to do this). What am I doing right?

Only thing I can think of is that all my trees are pre Bonsai, and I have nothing in a proper pot. My Junipers, Cypress and Azalea are in a nursery potting mix with lots of organics and the Ficus is in Bonsai soil from Dallas Bonsai. None of them have been root trimmed and all are in pots at least 6 inches deep. I don't have a real green thumb, I have the dead trees to prove it.

centaura

My guess is that the organic soils are holding water longer, which is matching your watering schedule. Your pre-bonsais are living like houseplants and getting by. The only thing that I would be concerned about is seeing what your new growth is looking like. When you say that one ficus sitting on the table is growing - all I can picture in my head is long, leggy branches with very large leaves.

If you want to move to the next stage of bonsai development, potting them and styling them, then you'll have to pay more attention to watering and fertilizing. Its the extra steps that help you achieve ramification and small leaves, which is what makes bonsai look like real trees in miniature.

If what you are doing is keeping your prebonsai alive, then keep doing it. But I'd be curious to see what they looked like, their leaf size and color, and their branch lengths. I think you might be doing yourself a dis-favor in those categories.

-Centaura

Egroup

Yep, it all depends on your intention. More oftent han not ficus wind up being "house plants", not Bonsai. If tha tis what you want... don't change a thing. If you want Bonsai, take them outdoors when ti is warm enough, give them more light to reduce leaf size and produce more compact growth, water when needed, not on a schedule and only begin "training" once they are ready/ mature enough.