Hi Bonsai Friends,

Just an update and a question re: fertilizing. It's been 4 days since treating my Ficus for scale (using leatherback's solution and instructions). Last night I repotted her into a larger training pot (again, very carefully following lb's instructions).

I have read conflicting rules on other sites as to when to fertilize and when not to. One site says not to fertilize for a full month after repotting.

Just to clarify what I used while repotting:... this is what was recommended to me for use in repotting my Ficus by a member of the Bonsai club I belong to:... I put a layer of medium-course, red clay gravel in the bottom of the training pot for added drainage. Then I added a 2" layer of soil made up of shredded bark, small granual gravel and some loam/or screened top soil, mixed well together. I carefully removed my Ficus from it's former dish and gently placed it on top of the layer of soil. I then proceeded to gently cover the roots with another 1" layer of the soil. I finished by a thorough watering, pouring the water over a spoon above the soil so as not to wash to soil away from the roots.

Will this new soil mixture be enough to feed and sustain my Ficus for a month before feeding it with a good quality, liquid fertilizer NPK 10-15-10, which has all the necessary macro and micro nurtient elements? Or, should I be feeding it now?

Good news...inspite of everything this poor little Ficus has been through recently, there are quite a few healthy, tiny little leaf spikes coming.

Leslie

Sounds good. Happy it worked out; As before: Ficus [fici?] are strong little buggers

Thank you J,

Does your comment mean you agree with my potting materials? What do you feel about fertilizing my Ficus right after repotting her?

I really want to do what's right for her after all she has been through...and she still has another treatment coming up in a few days. Her tenacity is astounding!

Leslie

Well, it should be okay to wait a little bit before you start the fertilizer treatment, on account of her having fresh soil for her roots to explore and pull nutrients from. Too much fertilizer at this point, when she's trying to get a feel for all the extra space, may "burn" her and cause further problems.
Good luck!

Leslie,
How is this tree doing? If I were you I wouldn't fertilize it now. It's been through a lot and ficus are known for them dropping all their leaves after going through stress..like a re-potting of insect infestation .
If it does lose it's leaves wait until new leaves appear to fertilize.
I hope everything turned out okay.

Hi Lance,

Thank you for asking about Jamina! She seems to be hanging in there. I gave her the second *treatment* last Thursday, August 18th. She has been losing the odd, green leaf here and there and a small group of leaves at the apex have curled up and died but are still attached. Otherwise the rest of the foliage is green and healthy looking yet, no growth at this time.

I have a dinner plate placed under her pot filled with a layer of red clay pot gravel and a bit water to provide added moisture for her and I am misting her every second day.

I've read where one must wait for a month before fertilizing, after repotting and/or treating one's tree. Would it be better to wait until I see new growth as you mentioned...even if it takes more than a month?

I will post some photos of her soon. Thanks again!

howdy leslie,
what are you using as a light source? ficus like alot of light and i have noticed on my trees that the newer branches will turn greener when defoliated to help keep energy going.i realize it is too late but the pot it was in would have worked fine my little "nutrifolia" has grown quite well and its pot is only
4" x 1" deep and has more rocks than roots in the pot. i fertilize her when new buds form and it grows

After a bug infestation and an emergency re-pot this plant is too stressed to be defoliated.
Just water it normally and wait for new growth. Don't think of defoliation until next spring. Don't fertilize it until you see new growth either.
Lance

sorry for the misunderstanding but i wasn't implying she should defoliate. i was stating that ficus will use young branches as a source of photosynthesis if leaves are scarce by turning green hence the increased lighting needed

Hi Keith and Lance,

Thank you both for your suggestions.

My Ficus sits in a large 5' wide x 7'4" high window with a Southern exposure. Because of the stress she's been under, I've moved her off of the deep windowsill out of the direct sunlight however, she is sitting on top of a pantry cupboard right next to the window where she still gets lots of bright, indirect light. I have horizontal mini-blinds on the window which I keep open and pulled up as much as possible except during the hottest part of the day. Even with the blinds closed they are very light-filtering and, because they are white~light reflecting, when the sun is shining directly on the window the area remains quite bright.

With regard to the pot.....I thought those little wee pots were used only once the training of the tree is finished. There is still some work I would like to do with her. Plus it was stongly recommended to me in earlier posts to put her in a larger training pot to give her more of a fighting chance. If I'm way out in left field on this, please feel free to say so.

I will post a new photo of my Ficus as soon as I can. She has more bare branches on the upper third of her trunk where she has dropped some of her leaves from all the stress. There is a group of leaves at the top that are still attached but they are curled up, brown and crispy looking however, I'm just leaving things as they are for now until after I post a new photo and get further advice. The center and lower leaves are all green and healthy looking. It has been 10 days today since her second treatment for scale and she looks very clean. Now I am just waiting...oh so patiently, to see some new growth... sigh...