Hi, willows are 'native' trees, which means cold hardy, which means right now they're going dormant for winter and can't be 'done' anything with til spring. And they do have to live outdoors for life - as does anything that normally lives outside in the U.S., except for southern Florida, maybe places in the SW, etc... tropicals. Plus they're probably not the best plant to start off with in bonsai (did you see a picture of a beautiful willow bonsai somewhere :-)? On one hand, you say you'll do the homework, but on the other you're asking how to do a bonsai... which is a big, big subject - taking into account all the horticulture involved for (potentially) hundreds of different trees, soil components, climates, wintering tips, humidity tricks, etc. etc. Your best bet would be to find a local club, as they're terrific places to learn, where you can see first hand how to do things. Your next best would be books (not just one because each will have its own viewpoints, overlapping info. or not. Suggest you look at amazon.com's bonsai bk section under "Used" and find relatively recent ones by Colin Lewis, Herb Gustafson, Harry Tomlinson, Deb Koreshoff, and Paul Lesniewicz (who specializes in tropicals for indoor growing). A really good, basic guide to almost everything bonsai (including how to choose your first tree) is www.evergreengardenworks.com/articles (mostly for 'outdoor' trees), and www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html which is really great for tropicals (particularly ficus - figs - which are available all over in many varieties). What you shouldn't do is buy first, cry later (they won't wait while you learn!). and especially don't buy 'bonsai' from big box stores, Wal-Mart, HD, etc. til you've done a lot of learning - that's because half are dead on the shelf but don't show it for wks (mostly junipers - which cannot be grown indoors contrary to what clerks and one-size-fits-all care tags say!), often also come with problems like spider mites, and all are planted in soggy peat based potting soil with no grit for absolutely necessary fast drainage - a huge aspect of growing bonsai is soil mixes and how to water properly. They also come with pebbles glued to the soil that then must be pried off and discarded, and do not try to grow moss on anything as it competes for water with the trees (and the tree usually loses). You'll find you're much better off to use either (for indoors) house plants from anywhere if they're suitable for bonsai and your home - you'll likely need to get special lighting or, for outdoors, 3-5 yr old inexpensive nursery trees - better established, healthier and less expensive than store-bought, plus you get to DIY, which is what's so satisfying. Good luck and do at least read both those websites 'cover to cover' before anything else!

Thanks for your posts guys - I appreciate the help! I came home today and it's looking even worse. I was little confused at the watering though - first post implied to water it more - second post implied to not water it too much! Which do you think is causing the drooping? When you say 'supplemental light' - how many hours of sunlight should the plant get ideally? And what light is sufficient as a 'supplement? Flurescent? or a normal lamp pointed at it? The problem is im not sure if it's too much water or not enough water or not enough light that's actually the problem. Josh you seem to be applying it's the lack of light that's the problem? I really want to keep this plant alive and make it flourish - I will do whatever it takes. I could probably leave it outside out the back of my block of apartments in direct sunlight for a day or 2 until I work out a more permanent solution. (It's not like someone would steal it - if they did they would suck!) But would I be better off trying that? or pointing a lamp at it 24/7 for a few days? Once again, thanks for your help guys. I really dont want it to die :(

I work in the oilfield on a 2 and 1 schedule,and successfully grew tomatoes on my balcony last year. I was lucky that I have a wife that (reluctantly) watered the plants when I was gone. It was a nice sunny balcony and a gallon of water per plant every few days worked great. Now yours may need more or less water it all depends. Tomatoes need a lot of water but too much is just as bad. If you don't have someone that can come over every few days to water for you then you have to come up with a better solution. If you have the room you could set up a rain barrel that you fill up before you leave and put it on a timer and run drip lines to each tomato plant. I think you do need to figure out something different as I don't think the set up you have now will work... You need to spend your 2 weeks off figuring out how much water your plants need and then work on the timing and metering system. It shouldn't be too expensive.

Teacats I'm glad you like my kitchen. I've added a wall clock over the refrigerator since that picture was taken. Lyban my daughter refers to the office (which is also an extra bedroom) as the prison!!! Auntjen the office doors (the room actually has double doors although you only see one side in the photo) are antiques from a Mexican jail. I really appreciate all of the terrific suggestions for my niche and the compliments on my home.