I recently bought this bonsai and wanna look up specific care tips but have no idea what type it is. Can anybody help me out?

i have to say, that malsai is rather a nice starter tree. malsai are not bonsai, but very commercialized bonsai, with no art involved, just chop half of the trunk off and call it bonsai. here is a link, i do not know what exact type of ficus it is but i know it is a ficus. keep it indoors, with the exeption of warm/hot summers, with plenty of light, seems to be doing well with the soil it is in but repot it in next spring in some other soil as this soil will eventually clog up the root system if it does not get pot bound.

www.bonsai4me.co.uk/SpeciesGuide/Ficus.html

Thanks a lot for your help, I bought it from a garden shop and it only had a ''bonsai' label on it which wasn't very informative

Yeah, the manaficturures only care about the money. It would be very helpful on your journey through this art if you read care and basics articles on this website and bonsai 4 me. I know it sounds like a hell of a read but it definitely helped me a lot .

This is a young starter tree at the start of a broome-shape.
The species is ficus retusa, or tiger-bark tree.
I have one of those too, see www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/progressions/...6-euro-ficus-project

Thanks for your reply. I had no idea about these mass produced mallsai. Done a great job with your tree. I'm totally new to all this and don't even know how often you're meant to add plant food to their water. Bottle I have says do not feed during winter rest period but some websites suggest once a month in winter.

5759alext wrote:

Thanks for your reply. I had no idea about these mass produced mallsai.

Usually these mass-produced ficuses look almost identical, very often then have an s-shaped trunk. Even worse are the 'Ginseng' ficuses with bloated roots. Your tree actually doesn't look so bad. It has a nice trunk, the roots are not great, but not all that bad either, and the proportions are good. There is no visible trunk-cut (at least, not on the photos) so that's good too.
I think this can become a nice little tree with not too much work.

5759alext wrote:

I had no idea about these mass produced mallsai.

Don't worry about it. So many of these are sold world-wide that the growers often have a minimum of 10.000 when you want to buy them from the grower.. So most people have no idea. Of course, only very few of the buyers are really into growing bonsai, and just see a nice little plant. Only people how have bonsai as a hobby and take it more or less serious will make a big deal out of it.

5759alext wrote:

Done a great job with your tree.

Thx. Still a long way to go. But yeah, it is on track

5759alext wrote:

I'm totally new to all this and don't even know how often you're meant to add plant food to their water. Bottle I have says do not feed during winter rest period but some websites suggest once a month in winter.

You fertilize when needed. And it is only realy needed in periods when plants grow. For many temperate species that is only in spring/summer. However, plants kept growing indoors over winter such as ficus, do need some fertilizing during the winter months as well. I typically fertilize my ficus every 2-4 weeks, depending on my mood & memory . Just watch your plant. If it is going through a growing phase, add fertilizer more often. At some point it will stop growing for a few weeks. I then just wait till I see a few new leaves and fertilize again.