need care schedule and information for ficus bonsai for 2 seasons

14 years ago

hi there,

i just bought a ficus about three months ago from a nursery in the hopes that i might be able to work with it over the next year.

looking on the internet, however, i'm unsure about how to translate the four season-oriented instructions for ficus bonsai into two seasons--here it's rainy (about july-december) or dry (january to june).

i'm keeping the ficus indoors, but i run the air conditioner once a month for two hours at 80 degrees. otherwise the ficus is kept in the living room without air con, and the humidity ranges from about 60% in dry season to about 80% or higher in the rainy season. temperatures throughout the year and time of day range between 80-92 degrees. the ficus receives good morning light for about four hours and then otherwise indirect sunlight for the rest of the day.

thanks for your help.

btw, according to the the zip code finder, my usda zone is 9--but seeing as the temperature never ever goes below 70 degrees F, that sounds silly. so i put "zone 11."

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Comments (5)

Jack Reynolds
14 years ago
Your ficus will survive indoors and even grow but it will do better outdoors unless the humidity gets below about 20% and the temp over 100. You don't say where you live but zone 9 should be ok if it is in the shade and kept damp. I live in zone 9 and have ficus in a greenhouse for the humidity. Most ficus do not tolerate cold well and frost will kill most of them. I would try to keep your tree outdoors as much as possible and only bring it in when it is going to freeze and keep it shaded during the heat of the day but some early morning sun. Water it whenever it looks dry (probably daily)
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head_cutter
14 years ago
Like me you live in the tropics so there is nothing to worry about as far as care. Our dry season temps can exceed 100 deg. normally. Most of my trees are kept on my back patio where they get about 8 hours of sun a day through a 20% shade cloth, they do get about 3 hours of direct sun in the morning.

I water hard (twice until it runs out the bottom of the pot) once each day and mist them off and on. Normally I will feed once a month. About the only time I have had them in the house was after potting, for a little rest or I may bring a nice one in for a party.

When I water I also hose down the entire patio a few times to raise the humidity level back there (like I need more humidity??) it does kick the temp down for a while.

Bob
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tropic_bonsai
Original Author
14 years ago
oh, i suppose i should have been more specific.

i live in the commonwealth of the northern mariana islands (cnmi), which is basically just 13 degrees north of the equator. hence, it's constantly humid and hot: tropical. "dry season" is only slightly less humid than the rainy season.

i'm keeping the bonsai in the house. basically, i needed to know when to prune; most instructions on the internet have guidelines according to seasons (like spring or summer, or refer to winter as times of dormancy)--but obviously those guidelines don't apply to me here.

thanks for the feedback, though!
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Jack Reynolds
14 years ago
Your climate sounds like it is made for Ficus. I say prune away whenever you fee like it. In order to promote compact growth and to shape the tree remove all bottom sprouts, things pointing downward from the bottom of the branch. twigs coming off the sides of the branch should be clipped when they have 7-9 leaves and have turned woody. Clip back to 1-3 leaves. The terminal leaf should be pointing more or less in the direction you want the twig to go. Vertical twigs on the top of the branch should be kept short and then only near the main trunk. verticals out at the end of the branch should be eliminated. You can probably do this two or three times a year in your location. If you want to reduce the size of your leaves defoliate the tree completely at the peak of its growth cycle. The new leaves should be about 75% at large as the originals. It may be possible to defoliate more than once a year but I am not sure I would push the tree that much. Good luck, Jack
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head_cutter
14 years ago
I live on the coast in the town of Tuy Hoa, we're at about the same 13 deg. L. The biggest difference in our climate is that your island is a little less humid and your dry season doesn't get as hot. In our very hot dry seasons the trees will go dormant for a month or so, yours should sort of have an even all-year growth pattern.

Jack explained about pruning, from my experience (as long as the tree is healthy) you should be able to defoliate on a continuous basis. I have no idea how large your tree is, mine are mostly larger--50-60cm up to a meter in heigth. Defoliating one of these is a part time job so I sort of do a branch at a time then remove the larger new leaves.

I did pick up one little ficus retusa to play with, I'm growing it as a cascade. It's only about 40cm in length and not much yet. I have totally defoliated it twice in the past year then done 'selective' defoliation as it's thrown large leaves. The size has gone from a normal 3 to 3.5cm down to 1cm in length for most of the foliage, keep in mind this has taken over a year but was worth it.

Keep in mind that if you keep the tree inside, with only 3-4 hours of direct sunlight a day, two things will happen. The tree will tend to produce larger leaves and the internodal spacing (distance between breaks and leaves) will become longer. This is called being 'leggy'. The more light the tree gets the less prone it will be to do this.
Have fun.

Bob
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need care schedule and information for ficus bonsai for 2 seasons

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Jack Reynolds

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need care schedule and information for ficus bonsai for 2 seasons

Comments (5)

Jack Reynolds

head_cutter

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tropic_bonsaiOriginal Author

Jack Reynolds

head_cutter

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BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

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tropic_bonsai
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