Hello everyone,
I’m new here and I need your help identifying my two bonsai trees as well as tell me what you think is wrong with one of them. The smaller one has been with me for a couple years and is doing okay most of the time. However I recently purchased a new one and its leaves have begun curling and turning black and I’m not really sure why.
All advice is appreciated. ♥️

You have two ficus plants, one is a retuse (The dying one) and a ginseng.

The dying one is dying because you let it dry out.

Will giving it more water help revive it?

SE2760 wrote:

Will giving it more water help revive it?

No. You've let the soil dry out and it will not hold water anymore.

So should I just change the soil then?

SE2760 wrote:

So should I just change the soil then?

That is a risk as the soil is compact and dried out and trying to remove it will damage the hair roots - if they haven't died yet.

You can try and soak it in luke-warm water. That should loosen up the soil.
Next you should water it normally. If it lives, you can start learning how to create abonsai out of this plant.

If it were my plant, I would water it sparingly, getting the soil just moist. Do not put it in a bucket of water, or the soild will become waterlogged.

Chances are, the root tips have dried out. It will have to regrow roots for it to come back. One way to help your plant is to place it in a big transparant plastic bag. THay will hold air humidity up, assisting the plant in keeping alive whatever still is alive in the branches.Then place in dappled sun in a warm spot. You want to roots and plant to be well above 20 degrees C, if possible 25-35C.

Hotter is not so good.

Ficus is a tough

I agree with leatherback. Water sparingly, but doing let the soil dry out. I think it can make a come back. I am curious about why it was planted in a such a shallow pot though. The tree seems a bit to young for that yet.

Bauley wrote:

I am curious about why it was planted in a such a shallow pot though. The tree seems a bit to young for that yet.

You're looking at it from an angle. This is a very standard pot for mallsai, of which I have a few (purchased a collection of pots from someone who gave up the hobby, it included a few of these). The pot is not that shallow and big enough for the plant that's in it.