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It worth the money?

  • paulcoltza
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It worth the money? was created by paulcoltza

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47728
Please help me decide if it worth to buy one of these bonsai? I will atach photos of 2 of them. One is ficus retusa and The other one i don't know what kind of ficus is.
They are sold by leroy merlin store and The price is about 90$. I want to know if they look healthy and if worth the money.
Does anyone know how old they are?
Thank you.
by paulcoltza

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  • leatherback
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Replied by leatherback on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47735
They both look healthy. And especially the first would draw my attention if I were in the market for this species. (I am not as I find growing tropicals a pain in the * living in a cold dark country. Here, ficus only trives with lots of help in winter, else I have a 4-6 month growing season, and 6-8 month unhappy tree season where I live).

Judging the size is dificult, and I do not know where you live. 90E is a lot of money for a 30cm tree. but if these are in the 70cm with 10+cm trunk range, this is a decent price. I think they are fairly large. If that is the case, and you do not see any large cuts, I would say go for it provided you think you can create the right conditions for growing them.
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  • paulcoltza
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Replied by paulcoltza on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47736
It has about 80 cm. I live în western Europe, in Romania. I can keep it outside so that it has good conditions. And în winter i think it can be kept inside because the temperatura drops below 0 C. I Will post more pictures with him. I Will be going today to the store and if nobody bought it, i will. Thanks a lot lb. I Will post more pictures if i buy it.
by paulcoltza

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  • Clicio
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Replied by Clicio on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47740
I like the first one a lot.
90E is OK for a tree this big, but...
In Romania it will be difficult for the Ficus during the winter, it doesn't like being below 15C.
by Clicio

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  • paulcoltza
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Replied by paulcoltza on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47743
When the temperature drops below 15 C can't i keep it îndoor? About 8-9 months per year it will stat outside and The other 3-4 îndoor. It will not survive?
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Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47746
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  • Ivan Mann
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Replied by Ivan Mann on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47750
There are some problems with indoor trees, but ficus can overcome them, with help.

Winter air can be very dry indoors, so they need lots of water. There is not a lot of air circulation, and insects come out of nowhere and infest them. They really like sunlight, so it seems a window is a great idea, but the air there is colder than in the rest of the room, and very often radiators and other heat sources are there, drying out the tree. None of this is a major problem, if you are aware of them and if you check the tree every day or so.

I have a couple of indoors, including a ficus. I also have quite a few dead ex-indoors. I am with Leatherback and probably won't get any more.
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  • Claudiu
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Replied by Claudiu on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47774
I am from Romania too, I keep them on my balcony. I never had a ficus die. I also have a cutting that grows very healthy. I have some winter nights with about 11-12 degrees (maybe 10 but but never lower) and it wasn't a problem.
I have a ficus benjamina that I bought, separated it into 2, one that I kept in dirt and one that I planted into bonsai pot and proper soil. The one in the bonsai soil and pot is doing great and the one in the dirt that I keep as a house plant is not so good.
So, what I discovered on my own the most important in my let's call it semi-indoors (and not only with ficus plants) is akadama ... proper soil. The lack of direct wind doesn't help with the evaporation of excess water.
Ficus loves moist environment but that doesn't mean it won't get root rot if you keep the soil wet all the time.
So you can keep it inside with no problems if you are a little careful.
by Claudiu
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Replied by leatherback on topic It worth the money?

Posted 5 years 1 month ago #47777
Where in Romania do you get winters that do NOT go below 0C? (My wife is from Transylvania which gets pretty cold..)

Ficus can NOT be kept on a balcony in countries where winter temperatures drop below 10c for longer (weeks) periods of time, nor where frost occurs. A few days below 10 degrees but above 0 is well accepted by hardier ficus species, such as benjamina variaties.
by leatherback
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