Hey everyone. Firstly, a big thank you to everyone on Bonsai Empire. I have been reading this website for at least the last year and you have helped answer every question that I had.
A little bit of background about my bonsai journey.
I am a complete novice and my horticultural endeavors up to Feb 2014 were limited to bean sprouts in wet paper towels. That being said, I had never grown or planted anything before. I live in an apartment complex and my upstairs neighbour, who is a long time bonsai enthusiast, was moving away to Cape Town and could not transport all his trees without risking damage to them so he sold most of his stock and had 7 young trees left which he kindly left in my care. I gladly accepted his gift as I knew that bonsai are very personal and precious things and I saw this as an opportunity to try something that is new to me.
I soon began to learn that this is more a cultural artform than horticulture. And the mystique and tradition of bonsai is a fascination to me. I since grown my collection to 11 trees, 3 grown from seed, and 1 from a cutting, and all my gifted trees are thriving, thanks in a large part to the advice from Bonsai Empire.
On to reason for this post. Another neighbour is moving away in about 6 weeks. She has for the last
25 years, kept a Ficus in a 50cm deep x 40cm wide cylindrical pot. It was never trained or intended to be bonsai. It has grown to 142cm tall, with a trunk diameter of 9.5cm, and is completely pot bound. It was re-potted about 6 years ago and shoved into a far corner of the building's garden, under the shade of many larger trees so the branches are more like twigs and leaves are sparse and yellowing. As far as we know, it was never fertilized.
She has given this tree to me! Joy!
But now I need to save this 25 year old tree and maybe, just maybe, train it into a beautiful bonsai.
We are at the end of Autumn in South Africa and I live on the East Coast. Our climate here is subtropical with Winter temperatures rarely below 15 degrees, even at night and humidity around 60%. I fear that interfering with this tree is far, far out of the scope of my bonsai expertise. (By this is I mean the lack thereof.)
- Please help with any advice on how I could save this tree from dying during the next 3 winter months.
- Should I re-pot now and hope for best?
- Should I just fertilize and not re-pot?
- Should I not do anything and just wait for Spring? (September in S.A)
- Is it even possible to train a 25 year old tree?
Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks again Guys.
A.J