Jon, you can keep it outside in open shade - the rain will flush the soil. Next week the temperatures are looking good. All my plants are outside though.

Thank you! I also posted this on the Facebook Rookie Bonsai group and that was the consensus there too. I have it on my front porch, so filtered morning light. I've had my plants outside for about a month, but I brought them all in 2-nights this weekend when it went below 40f. Depending on how it re-grows this summer, I was thinking of getting an 80w LED grow bulb to give it some extra light over the winter, but I'm not sure how effective those bulbs are.

You will be better off with a few CFLs (cool white 100W equivalent). Most good LED grow lights are expensive. Most on amazon are inefficient. Most likely that 80W LED is equal to two 23W CFL. When they say 80W they probably consume about half of it. So it is really a 40W LED.

Hmm, interesting - once again PK, I always appreciate your insights! I figured there was a 50% chance that would be the case and a 50% chance they would work great. I was looking at this bulb.

Do you think CFLs are better than cool white LEDs with equivalent lumens? I'm toying with the idea of leaving some on display in my living room during the winter (right in the window) and having a couple plants under lights in the basement.

100W equivalent LED cool white will also work. It will be the same as a 100W CFL but consume less power. 15W vs 23W for about the same light. Costco has a 10-pack of led for $25. By the time winter comes it may be even cheaper.

Looking pretty good. I love those pots too. Where did you get them?

Thanks PK!

The pots are from Amazon. They come in sets of 3, and often 1 or 2 gets cracked in the mail, but Amazon always refunds the cost, so I've bought a couple sets. Here is the name from Amazon: Esschert Design AT05 Aged Terracotta Square Pots.

I live in Malaysia and I do have a few of these ficus retusa. This one is grown from a stem taken from a bigger retusa tree. After two and a half year in training, this is what I have achieve. They are very hardy plant and I use to prune and adjust the branches very often.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/hwGVqqC.jpg[/img]

Left side view

[img]https://i.imgur.com/c3wiC9V.jpg[/img]

Top view.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/7GzLfZd.jpg[/img]

I will post a few more of my ficus later. Thanks

Very nice cascade! It looks happy and healthy.

The ficus that I chopped has completed grown back in, and is in a larger pot so it can continue to grow.

I had one which is quite like the shape that you have.

Oh yeah, I see the similarity.

Here is it at the end of summer:

I have some upward growing branches that probably either need to be wired down, or removed?

I know the pot is oversized, but I wanted to give it the opportunity to grow. Man, that took a lot of gritty mix!