Auk wrote:

moondragon wrote:

That's true, I'm not entirely sure how to do it, so at least my plant will forgive me when I mess up. I will have to look for some sort of webpage on how to style it. Thank you so much for the help!

If you want to only style the existing tree, it will never become a bonsai.
Developing it into a bonsai will be very hard and will require drastic measures.
The problems are:
- The roots. Good bonsai have a good base, several roots that grow in different directions,

www.cutebonsaitree.com/nebari-surface-root-rules.html for an explanation
samedge.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/incredible-nebari/ for some samples (some of which are too exaggerated for my taste, but it gives a good impression.

- The trunk. Good bonsai have tapered trunks, fat at the base and gradually getting thinner towards the top, without a visible cut

- The branches. Good bonsai have tapered branches, splitting up in smaller, secondary, and tertiary branches (ramification)

Your tree lacks all these characteristics. The roots are unnatural and swollen, and hideous (imho). The trunk is straight, is visibly cut off, no good branch placement or any refinement in the branch structure.

I think what LB wanted to say is just leave it as is, a house plant, keep it alive, let it grow. You cannot really style this tree into a bonsai. You can prune the branches so it keeps it shape, maybe grow a bit denser and maybe refine it a bit, but that's all you can do.

It is not impossible to turn Ficus Ginseng into bonsai, but as said it takes drastic measures and the results I have seen so far are interesting, but not that great really. You can find an article on this website (which actually does not concern a 'Ginseng' but it is a mallsai and the same tree species).

www.bonsaiempire.com/blog/ficus-mallsai

I get what you are saying, thank you for explaining the requirements of a bonsai to me, it was very helpful. As were the links, particularly the last one. I see how my particular tree will never actually qualify as a true bonsai tree. I would still like to prune it and attempt to, like you both recommended, make it a nicer looking tree. Something along the lines of what this person here did to theirs: www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basicsdevelopingmallsai.htm

If I would like to acquire a good indoor tree to work with, is this the wrong time of year? Is it better to plant my own tree or to just buy one?

I know my so called advise may be washed away, but I bought a houseplant ficus benjamina and styled it well, so my advise isdo which ever you choose, have a challenge and make one from seed or cutting, or buy one that you think has good potential, neither is better method, but you can only sew next year, or if your quick, you may find a cutting this year. Or you can buy one this year and wait until spring to style, either way you have to wait until next year to style it

Hope this has helped

Good luck

moondragon wrote:

If I would like to acquire a good indoor tree to work with, is this the wrong time of year? Is it better to plant my own tree or to just buy one?

Note that indoor is a tricky term. All plants are outdoor plants. Just.. Some cannot deal with our climate, and need to be brought indoors for (part of) the year.

Good plants that dor well indoors and could be kept indoors are specimens of ficus.

I am currently growing 5 species of Fig and of one species 2 variaties, only one of which is hardy enough to survive our -20C winters. The rest is outdoors till late sept / early October.

The best species for bonsai I find are the tigerbark ficus (ficus retusa), which I am experimenting with (And was bought on purpose as a mallsai fig from a local bonsai nursery). The other species I am tryin to get to grow is the F. benjamina of which I have the regular and what I think is the ‘Little Lucy’ variety. The latter is much slower growing, with very small leaves.

You can take cuttings for ficus year round. Do not try to grow them from seed. It is nearly impossible to get seed fresh enough to germinate, and even then, failure rates are 99,9% With cuttings you get exactly the same characteristics as the motherplant, and your plant is as big as a seedling would be after over a year.

Another species might be Azaleas. As far as I know, Satsuki azalea can be kept indoors for most of the year too.

No need to wait for next year to purchase and or style a ficus either; As they are tropicals, you can work on them year round. They do have growing phases and rest phases, but these are less critical than by non-tropicals. Also, they are not clearly linked to seasons (But more to your watering and temperature as well as number of ohours of sunlight; So you may get mid-winter growth spurs, if the weather turns sunny; I have had 50cm/20inches extensions in 6 weeks in December when we had sunny weather once with lots of snow => very bright conditions.

bob wrote:

I know my so called advise may be washed away, but I bought a houseplant ficus benjamina and styled it well, so my advise isdo which ever you choose, have a challenge and make one from seed or cutting, or buy one that you think has good potential, neither is better method, but you can only sew next year, or if your quick, you may find a cutting this year. Or you can buy one this year and wait until spring to style, either way you have to wait until next year to style it

Hope this has helped

Good luck

I am glad you think there is hope for me to style my little ficus I don't really think I'll be able to fix all of it's "issues" but I could at least make it look nice.

leatherback wrote:

moondragon wrote:

If I would like to acquire a good indoor tree to work with, is this the wrong time of year? Is it better to plant my own tree or to just buy one?

Note that indoor is a tricky term. All plants are outdoor plants. Just.. Some cannot deal with our climate, and need to be brought indoors for (part of) the year.

Good plants that dor well indoors and could be kept indoors are specimens of ficus.

I am currently growing 5 species of Fig and of one species 2 variaties, only one of which is hardy enough to survive our -20C winters. The rest is outdoors till late sept / early October.

The best species for bonsai I find are the tigerbark ficus (ficus retusa), which I am experimenting with (And was bought on purpose as a mallsai fig from a local bonsai nursery). The other species I am tryin to get to grow is the F. benjamina of which I have the regular and what I think is the ‘Little Lucy’ variety. The latter is much slower growing, with very small leaves.

You can take cuttings for ficus year round. Do not try to grow them from seed. It is nearly impossible to get seed fresh enough to germinate, and even then, failure rates are 99,9% With cuttings you get exactly the same characteristics as the motherplant, and your plant is as big as a seedling would be after over a year.

Another species might be Azaleas. As far as I know, Satsuki azalea can be kept indoors for most of the year too.

No need to wait for next year to purchase and or style a ficus either; As they are tropicals, you can work on them year round. They do have growing phases and rest phases, but these are less critical than by non-tropicals. Also, they are not clearly linked to seasons (But more to your watering and temperature as well as number of ohours of sunlight; So you may get mid-winter growth spurs, if the weather turns sunny; I have had 50cm/20inches extensions in 6 weeks in December when we had sunny weather once with lots of snow => very bright conditions.

Thank you for the recommendations. I get what you mean, I often leave my houseplants outside during the summer and bring them in for the winter. I may have to look into getting a ficus, I was looking for something that, like you said, may still grow a lot in the winter and will not loose all of it's leaves.

How would I go about making a cutting for it? Could I cut a branch from my "mallsai" or would it be better if I were to purchase one from a nursery?

Additionally, are cuttings harder to grow than just buying a tree?

I would not take cuttings from the plant you have, but take benjami, to start with. You can get the for a few bucks at any plant-dealership. Unless you know how-to, taking cuttings can be frustrating fi all you want is a plant.

Benjamina

leatherback wrote:

I would not take cuttings from the plant you have, but take benjami, to start with. You can get the for a few bucks at any plant-dealership. Unless you know how-to, taking cuttings can be frustrating fi all you want is a plant.

I will have to look into how to take a cutting, then. As well as where there are any plant dealerships open at this time of year.

Or maybe just buy a young tree to raise?

As you are in the USA, I would say: Go to any wallmart type store; THey normally have a plants section I think? They will have Ficus Benjamina by the hundreds, I'd think (But I have last been to the USA some 5 years ago..)

I always, look through all of them, it may sound ridiculous, but find the one that has the most potential. Then you can be more happier with it in the future.