I've had this little guy for a few years. I'd last re-potted a year ago as he was sharing the planting with a tree that didn't make it. That's why the rock was added. For the balance the other tree served. It's tolerated this change without complaint till the past month. For the past month it's been having leaf yellowing and loss with a march toward droopyness. Thinking of all the normal causation's, I slowed the watering cycle, upped the misting cycle and put it in the prominent sun place in the window where it got the most direct sunlight and even directed a grow lamp to on the tree for a few days.The summer sun through that window is indirect in the morning and direct in the afternoon. The ambient room temperature is a constant 81 F degrees. No luck! As the leaf yellowing and loss continued I went full bore and re-potted. Fresh potting soil was used. I did a full careful rinse of the root system which appeared strong. I literally sterilized the mud men, rocks and the overlay of small river stones, thinking of the possibility of over fertilizing could have cause it and may have has residual remaining on these amendments.After the proper incantations I sat back with hope. I successfully use a very diluted Miriacle-Gro powder at literally half strength once about every six months. Applied in a gentle spray on the surface riverbed stones to the equivalent volume of no more than one to two Tbs. The Miraclel-Gro plant food calls for making up the liquid mixture at 1/2 tsp powder per gallon. I reduce it to 1/4 tsp per gallon. Very diluted. It is never leaf, limb or trunk applied and is then immediately water spray rinsed into the soil. I run a regular check for moisture content and have come to a watering schedule which works out to a weekly cycle for measured watering and misting daily or every other day. At the photo taking this AM all three planting showed "moisture of about 5 on the 1 to 10 scale and a 1 on the Alkaline side of the 1 to 10 gauge. Half way through the next watering cycle. One actually end result of the re-potting was a more pleasing configuration of the rock and the tree. This was a "Walmart Special" Taiwan Fig, as are all my guys ...................( Re-pot was honored when I first got it. The whole "save it from Walmart regime", new potting soil, carefully removing the "patented" gluey stones, rinsing the roots and proper re-potting procedures.) It's had some good early training as you can see by the good trunk shapes including the mature joining of two limbs. That early attention to configuration before I acquired it was reason for getting it after a search of three Walmarts for the "perfect tree". This is one of my favorite and has tolerated my attention to modification so far including 3/4 of a year of limb twining as they grew in length vertically, re-configuring the limbs by un-twining to their natural positions when they gained proper length, and the careful removing of four low limbs for aesthetic balance. Again the tree tolerate all this gentle persuasion very well. If it recovers, the limb growth will be directed to a cascade over the rock. You can see in the photos some of the leaves from a companion tree. Although one yellowing leaf is prevalent on that one it doesn't evidence that high level of leaf loss and yellowing. The first two photos are of the same tree about six and eight months ago. He seemed like a happy boy then! In the grouping he's towards the window. They were photographed four and six months after the un-twining of the limbs and the lopping of four lower limbs. You can see evidence of healthy leaf and limb growth. Sadly, the very little pre-Bonsai in the back in that group photo bit the dust about the same time and my little guy started to droop, drop and yellow. That one was a Lowes reject I was trying to nurse back to health. It had achieve strong leaf and limb growth but upon closer inspection I found the trained exterior root was softening and when I roto-cut it off I discovered it had also lost all subsurface rooting. A proper ceremony including a flush was the end of the runt. At the mentioned latest re-potting of the sick Bonsai, all three were sink flushed with a gentle stream of water to saturation and through flow. I hope I've given enough information to receive a resolve! Is my best bet now just to play the waiting game, or can something else be done for this little guy? Right now he continues to droop, loose leaves and those leaves remaining are hanging on by a thread. I don't want to loose this little tree! Thanks, Price.....Bonsaiprice

Some things to consider: * I don't know what USDA zone you're in, but your plant is right next to the radiator. As the radiator warms the room air, the relative humidity of the newly warmed air drops precipitously, so much so that the air becomes drier than the air in the Sahara Desert ...... and this holds true even if you have a humidifier in the room. So that's a problem. * Your plant is in a cache pot. If you're not emptying the cache pot every time you water, your plant is sitting in the salt-laden effluent (waste water) that exits the drain hole. This is a problem on several fronts. It causes soil saturation that leads to drought stress; it causes an increase in dissolved solids (salts) that makes water uptake and movement throughout the plant difficult; it raises media pH; and it compounds the low relative humidity issue in the immediate vicinity of the radiator. At a minimum, your plant's pot should sit above any effluent collecting in the cache pot. * Dave asked, "How often and how much are you watering? How are you insuring its time to water?" The question is so important it's worthy of repeating, so I'll ask that you answer, too; and, I suggest you read about using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water. More on that below. * The symptoms aren't consistent with what minor stress might be associated with a move. Generally, leaf loss due to a new home is related only to the leaf loss that might occur as a result of diminished photo load (light intensity, or in some cases - duration of exposure), though a move during cold weather can be immediately damaging such that leaf loss might occur within 1-2 weeks. Low temps and especially sudden exposure to cold drafts often causes leaf loss within a week or two, but usually leaves are still green when they fall - unless they showed necrotic areas before exposure to chill. This should be helpful (click link). Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

Tessa I don't know what the best interval would be. It needs time to regrow the fine roots and then time to replace the energy that was diverted to that. I don't know how long that would take. Maybe someone else will. On the plus side, because it came through its first repot so well, that whole process will be faster than if it had struggled to recover. So you want to have given it enough time to recover, but not so long that you're past the growing season. Check the soil to help you decide : if it's still wet deep in the pot (use a dowel) more than a week after watering, then that's no good. You'll end up watching it go downhill from root rot over the next few months (and your chances are worse repotting a sick tree in winter). If the soil is drying out well, then I'd be tempted to leave repotting until next season... Rock and a hard place! Hopefully someone who has been in the same position can help more specifically. Good luck and keep us posted!

As long as there was nothing phytotoxic introduced into the soil, your best bet is to keep it warm, keep humidity levels above 50% if you can, and make absolutely sure to avoid over-watering (because that does trigger a drought response and tosses a wet blanket on root function). It goes w/o saying that under-watering should be avoided as well. Using a 'tell' In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material like clay, or when the weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, this type of situation cause the loss of a very notable degree of potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One very reliable method of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a pin. Push the tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al