Hi All,

I'm brand new to bonsai, and one of my first projects is to take a 2-3 year old sapling and grow him up into something I'm proud of. I'm going to be keeping it in my apartment, so I thought a ficus retusa was a good bet.

He's pretty healthy and has a lot of growth, but I'm sure that I need some help to thicken up his trunk and get him ready to live as a bonsai.

For starters, he's currently around 5 1/2" (~14 cm) tall, and I want his trunk to be 2-3x as thick as it is now. I'm going to be moving it into a larger pot (possibly a plastic bonsai training pot), but I've heard different advice on what it should be living in when I do that. Should it be regular potting soil, or grainier bonsai soil?

Also, is it too early to be encouraging sideways, rather than downward, root growth? If I put him into a larger planter-pot, I was going to put him on top of a tile no more than 4 inches under the surface . . . good idea or bad idea?

My other question is how to get an informal upright style. I want to grow this ficus into a pretty bendy, well-tapered bonsai. I'm a little scared lopping off the entire top half or 2/3's of the tree, but I guess that's just a leap I'll have to take once the trunk thickens up. To really get a nice bend in the trunk, should I be wire-training beginning now, or should I wait to worry about that until the trunk thickens up at the base.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

A grainier soil produces a finer root system. In order to thicken the trunk and develop nebari, the tree will need to grow thicker roots. I would blend a grainy bonsai mix with some potting soil and plant it in a deep pot. Once the trunk is thick enough for your liking you can move it to a pure bonsai mix and work on developing fine feeder roots. That is also when you will develop horizontal root growth as opposed to the vertical root growth. Now would be a good time to start training the trunk. Once the trunk is thick it will be very difficult to get graceful curves in it. Keep in mind that ficus grow quickly, so you will probably need to re-wire often to avoid scarring on the trunk.

put that sucker in a big gallon sized pot give it high doses of fertalizer and alot of light. if you want to get a big trunk you will have to let the tree get very large and then chop it, dont worry they like it . as for the roots dont worry about controling them now.no matter how large the rootmass gets as long as your tree is healthy you can chop most of them off when it comes time to but it in a bonsai pot.putting outside in the summer will give you the best growth but remember they dont like temps below 55F (13C) i dont go below 60F just to be safe. full sun is good just keep an eye on it cuz it will dry out fast the leaves will start to droop if its too dry,but just water and they come back in a few hours. seeing that your tree is young the wires cutting in isnt that much of a concern.it is a technique of thickening young trunks and/or branches on ficus.best of luck and keep us posted

best way to thicken up the base of the trunk to add some tapper would be to firstly put it in a bigger pot, then keep pinching back new growth, except for growth on the second branch from the bottom. You can let that branch grow up to twice the height of the tree even and finally cut it off when you are happy with the result. This will induce some great tapper in the tree. You can untangle the roots and spread the out over a tile like you said to work on some nebari. As for wiring you can wait a bit if you want or do it now.