I do live in the United States. There are actually a few plant nurserys within a half hour of my house, I looked, so I may look there as well. I am sure they will have Ficus at one of them!

Is there anything you reccomend looking for when picking a tree?

moondragon wrote:

Is there anything you reccomend looking for when picking a tree?

David Benavente is a Spaniard Bonsai Artist and these are his recommendations:

1- Do not pay future at the price of the present (We should not have to pay for the tree that could be, but for what it is at that moment.)

2- Do not underestimate the risk of buying a weak or diseased plant (do not buy a plant in poor condition but if you do, the price should be so appealing that justifies the risk.)

3- Blessed are those who have found a reputable supplier (It is good to have a regular supplier, who over the years, have proven to be worthy of trust.)

4- A tree does not have to be more expensive because of being recovered (yamadori) (Sometimes trees that should not have been recovered by his lack of interest as a bonsai are charged with unjustified quantities of money only by the fact that they are yamadori.)

5- So, what is valued in prebonsai?
* Cultivation phase
* Phase of education of the rootball (nebari)
* Tapering of the trunk
* Texture of the bark and wood
* Proportion and movement
* Ramification
* Species
* Pottery

There is much more on his site, but it is in Spanish, that is why I dared to make an abstract from his much more extended advices in:

www.davidbenavente.com/?page_id=185

Hope I might have been of help

Oh... I found the site in English

Here it goes: www.davidbenavente.com/?page_id=185&lang=en

Oh why thank you so much for typing that out for me, anyways! Much appreciated! While I do speak a bit of spanish, I doubt I'd be able to understand that much, so I'll have to read the english version.

I am going to be looking at trees within the next few days, but before I purchase I have a question that hopefully someone can answer, thank you

Once I buy my new ficus (if I can find one), should I repot it? If yes, in what sort of pot should I put it? A bonsai pot (which I would have to purchase, which should not be too hard, just have to wait for it to get here), or would any small-ish pot with a draining hole suffice until the next repotting?

moondragon wrote:

Once I buy my new ficus (if I can find one), should I repot it? If yes, in what sort of pot should I put it? A bonsai pot (which I would have to purchase, which should not be too hard, just have to wait for it to get here), or would any small-ish pot with a draining hole suffice until the next repotting?

Once you buy your ficus, you will do nothing but care for it.

Thou shall not not put it in a bonsai pot, as it will not fit in one yet
Thou shall not prune it, as you don't know pruning techniques yet
Thou shall take proper care for the tree by looking up the species guidelines and following them up
Thou shall make the tree vigorous and let it grow vigorously
Thou shall buy books, read articles, ask questions, and look at examples how to train and shape a ficus
Thou shall be patient

Once you manage to keep the tree healthy, it grows well, and you have made a design plan for its future, you will take your first careful steps - as wiring can damage a tree and you can prune a branch only once, once the branch is gone, you cannot put it back.

Most trees are killed by people that want to do too much and have insufficient knowledge and patience.

Okay, I bought my tree Yaay, I'm so happy! The nursery that I went to did not have any suitably sized young trees, however, they did have some bonsai that were already started for $20-30, so I got one.

The guy that was caring for them when I got there explained to me the proper way to water it and how much light it needs and such. He told me that it is a Ficus (I don't know exactly what kind, I do not think it is a benjammina. Perhaps there is a way I can tell?) and that it is about 5 years old.

He said that it hasn't really been styled with wire or anything, so I can style it as I would like to. I'm sure it has been pruned and it looks like it is in good health. He also got me a plastic tray to keep beneath the pot (which I filled with gravel, although I may get a different color so it matches the pot better.) And there is already a layer of moss growing on top of the soil. He said I can call him if I need help.

Here are some pictures of it. I tried to get some good pictures of the branches from different angles. I also took one that shows the roots and trunk. I have more if you would like to see them.

What are your recommendations in reference to pruning/styling? I have not yet decided how I would like to make it look, but I did get some books from the library, which I have read through, and have looked at some articles online about ficus care and ficus wiring.

Also, would it be good if I watered it with rainwater? And should I pour the water over the leaves or under them?

When you pour water on the leaves it helps as it deters pests, so yes it is fine or you can get leaf cleaner. Rainwater is the best as long as it is fresh and is mostly not to hard, but that is not very common, hard water.

bob wrote:

When you pour water on the leaves it helps as it deters pests, so yes it is fine or you can get leaf cleaner. Rainwater is the best as long as it is fresh and is mostly not to hard, but that is not very common, hard water.

.. Sigh..

leatherback wrote:

bob wrote:

When you pour water on the leaves it helps as it deters pests, so yes it is fine or you can get leaf cleaner. Rainwater is the best as long as it is fresh and is mostly not to hard, but that is not very common, hard water.

.. Sigh..

hell lode of quote for the last few days

sigh?? what the hell am i suppose to say to that and what on earth do you mean by it?