I've got a ficus (I think) that I've been working on for a little over a year and a half. When I first got it, it was in pretty bad shape, so I:
1. Spent 3 months getting it enough water and light to come back to life.
2. Pruned the roots and changed out the soil
3. Spent 3 more months letting it grow. Took a "starting" picture (March 2017):
4. Pruned and took another picture (March 2017):
5. Spent 2 months letting it grow. Took another picture (May 2017):
6. Spent 6 months letting it grow. Growth seemed to be slow. Took a picture (November 2017):
7.Added some Miracle-Gro Shake'nFeed (9% Nitrogen, 4% Available Phosphate, 12% Soluble Potash, 3.5% Calcium, 1.4% Magnesium, 7% Sulfur). Spent 3 more months letting it grow. Growth seemed much better. Took a picture (February 2018):
Which brings me to now. I'm thinking of pruning again. I'd also like to change to a prettier, possibly shallower pot (this one came from IKEA I believe). The Miracle-Gro seems to work well, so I thought I might keep that up every 3 months as the bottle recommends.

Any thoughts on the timing of the next steps? Is it OK to prune and re-pot / root prune at the same time? Should I stick with the same fertilizer? Any comments on the progression / what I've done up to this point?

Also, I'd love some advice on how to prune. I'd love for the tree to be lower, bushier, and reach out to the left more. Here's roughly how I'm thinking of pruning it:

Is this a good pruning plan? How can I get that left branch to get bushier instead of continuing to grow long and scraggly?

Thanks!

WTF?

?

If you upload pictures to the forum, we can actually see what you are talking about.
External hosting always causes this problem at one point or another.

Oh OK, the pictures are showing up for me, but let me try again adding them as attachments:
I've got a ficus (I think) that I've been working on for a little over a year and a half. When I first got it, it was in pretty bad shape, so I:
1. Spent 3 months getting it enough water and light to come back to life.
2. Pruned the roots and changed out the soil
3. Spent 3 more months letting it grow. Took a "starting" picture (March 2017):

4. Pruned and took another picture (March 2017):
5. Spent 2 months letting it grow. Took another picture (May 2017):
6. Pruned and took another picture:
7. Spent 6 months letting it grow. Growth seemed to be slow. Took a picture (November 2017):
8. Added some Miracle-Gro Shake'nFeed (9% Nitrogen, 4% Available Phosphate, 12% Soluble Potash, 3.5% Calcium, 1.4% Magnesium, 7% Sulfur). Spent 3 more months letting it grow. Growth seemed much better. Took a picture (February 2018):
Which brings me to now. I'm thinking of pruning again (at the lines shown). I'd also like to change to a prettier, possibly shallower pot (this one came from IKEA I believe). The Miracle-Gro seems to work well, so I thought I might keep that up every 3 months as the bottle recommends.

Any thoughts on the timing of the next steps? Is it OK to prune and re-pot / root prune at the same time? Should I stick with the same fertilizer? Any comments on the progression / what I've done up to this point? Also, I'd love some advice on how to prune. I'd love for the tree to be lower, bushier, and reach out to the left more.
Is this a good pruning plan? How can I get that left branch to get bushier instead of continuing to grow long and scraggly?

Thanks!

Just yreat this as you would any other houseplant. Ubfortunately there are many stores that sell those, and label them 'bonsai' . U fortunately, that leads to fora like these being swamoed with questions about them they really are just houseplants that dont have much to do with bonsai inam afraid.

It's an ugly one sure enough, but it's still a 'plant in a tray' isn't it? I don't mean to swamp the forum with questions about unworthy plants, but I really would like to improve this one, and you all probably have the most knowledge on how to do so...

With this grafted tree you really can't go any direction. Leave it as it is. Keep it healthy. Go for a dense structure of branches by a proper trims at proper times. Read about it. Thats it. Not much you can do about it bonsai wise.

Cool, the proper trims at proper times thing is what I'm hoping to figure out. I've checked out some books from the library / read some articles, and my best guess at where to trim based on those is shown in my picture. Any input on whether that's a good way to trim? Or what the 'proper times' are? (From what I've read, the season doesn't matter much with an indoor ficus, but maybe there's a best time or at least a best interval to trim at?)

solobo wrote:

Any input on whether that's a good way to trim?

Advise you would get on this forum is how to prune to create a good bonsai. As this is not a bonsai, good advise cannot be given.