Hi All,
I have a 3-year-old, grafted ginseng ficus that I fear has grown mould in the last month (I was away and left it in the care of a well-meaning but less-skilled friend). There is white growth near the soil line on all of the major roots. The soil is quite damp, and so I haven't been watering it since my return last week. Questions: 1. I recently started using a new fertilizer (superfly bonsai's push pellets) could this be a result of that instead of mould? Should I just repot this bebe to get it's feet dry? (it's due for a repotting come March anyway). OR Is there another way to get rid of the mould?

Thank you!

This is not mould. It is calcium carbonates from the water.

also www.growingbonsai.net/why-is-my-tree-not-a-bonsai/

Yes, yes, I know, it is "not a bonsai." This was a gift (which was sold by the folks over at Bonsai of Brooklyn, mind you) but I'm fond of it. (And yes, now I have 'real' bonsai as well). Don't you want a few new folks to get interested, try things out, learn, fail, grow....and keep the art alive? We've all gotta start somewhere.

Thanks for the ID. I'm guessing it was the new fertilizer, as we don't have very calcium rich H2O in NYC. But... what would you recommend as the best course of action? Just let it dry out? Re-pot? I'll wipe the stuff off the surface, but I want to take good care of her now.

ecb wrote:

Yes, yes, I know, it is "not a bonsai." This was a gift (which was sold by the folks over at Bonsai of Brooklyn, mind you) but I'm fond of it. (And yes, now I have 'real' bonsai as well). Don't you want a few new folks to get interested, try things out, learn, fail, grow....and keep the art alive? We've all gotta start somewhere.

So.. humor me and teach me something.

Why do you think it is OK to come to a forum about bonsai with a houseplant. Yet give people the feeling it is somehow not OK for the people on that forum to point out it has nothing to do with bonsai?

This really gets me confused, and yes, annoyed, every single time.

If you come to a forum to learn, and someone lets you know you are mistaken in your view, hey a chance to learn something.
Or, if you come to the forum knowing it is not a bonsai, why do you even go to a bonsai forum.