Hi all, you have probably heard this many times before but i baught a bonsia tree from ikea around 9 month ago, Since then the tree has been on a downward spiral of health. There are not many leaves left as you can see in the photo attached. All i find on the Internet is contradicting suggesting. Ive tried watering in when the soil looks dry and now im watering it every 2-3 days, Ive tried pruning it but it seemed only to make it worse. Ive also cut a small section on the trunk away at the top as it was suggested do to so as i was told it was dead wood, Please Please help. Thank for your time.

Is this picture taken at the time of day where it gets the most light? I am thinking it might either have to do with the soil it is in, or the amount of light. a ficus needs lots of it. Ficus also react to change by dropping their leaves. So if you have moved the tree a lot, it might be that as well.

Hi, thank you for your quick reply. It was morning when i took the picture so it will be getting more light as the day goes on, also i must admit i have moved it around the room
a lot to try to find the best spot for sunlight. As for the soil, the soil is the original soil in came with so unsure of how good it is.

Find the most ligh place possible (outdoors is better), don't move it around, wait and it will hopefully recover,

Reece27 wrote: Hi, thank you for your quick reply. It was morning when i took the picture so it will be getting more light as the day goes on, also i must admit i have moved it around the room
a lot to try to find the best spot for sunlight. As for the soil, the soil is the original soil in came with so unsure of how good it is.

The Ikea ficus that I have came in a normal potting soil, which was not very free draining. you can use a chopstick, so similar object to test how damp the soil is a little bit below the surface. as normal potting soil can stay wet longer than bonsai soils. After you get the plant growing and back to health, you may want to consider repotting... but that is quite a ways in the future. I wouldn't do any cutting until you see that the tree has started growing again... and has been for a while.

Ok, now i suppose its the waiting game, Thank you for your help. I will see how it goes for a month or so and hopefully i will have good news.

tubaboy wrote: The Ikea ficus that I have came in a normal potting soil, which was not very free draining

I see that a lot - people applying bonsai guidelines to non-bonsai.
A free-draining soil is intended to be used for trees that are outdoors - where they belong. You don't want your indoor plants to free-drain all over your furniture...
For indoor plants like this one, I use regular potting soil - and ofcourse my watering routine for indoor plants is quite different (or absent... mostly. I 'm not too good with indoor plants )

Auk wrote:

tubaboy wrote:
I see that a lot - people applying bonsai guidelines to non-bonsai.
A free-draining soil is intended to be used for trees that are outdoors - where they belong. You don't want your indoor plants to free-drain all over your furniture...) )

let me qualify that statement a bit, more free draining. The Ikea ficus that I have, which is not bonsai, but similar to this plant is doing much better since I put it in a mixture of bonsai soil with a little bit more organic material to retain some of the water. having a saucer under the plant helps to protect the furniture.

Its the Ikea pot that is practically useless. Thats not a proper pot for trees. The sooner you get rid of it the better.

What kind of pot would be most suitible?