How often do you water? How much do you water? What do you use to tell it’s time to water again?

does the pot have drain holes?

do you fertilize? If so, with what?

when was the last full repot?

Hi Dave, I did a full repot last fall because it cracked it’s pot with this one mega root. If not for that root I think I could’ve gone for an additional year without a problem. I added a little Osmocote at the time and I haven’t fertilized since, though I’m about to start soon for all the plants. (Ordinarily I’ve used Foliage Pro for it.) I water when the soil feels dry to a good 2-2.5” depth or so - which has been every 10-12 days over winter and in the last month or so, it’s been getting drier faster so I’d say about 8-10? I don’t have this one in gritty mix anymore so it’s Fox Farms’ Ocean Forest with perlite.

I see nothing wrong with it.

The yellow leaf isn’t a sign of anything wrong and the other two leaves appear to be mechanical damage.

Hi, Grace - nice to see your tree is doing well o/a. Ficus are well known for their adverse reaction to sudden chill. Plants that experience sudden chill usually react with the same aversion as plants subject to much colder temps but allowed to arrive at these low temps gradually, over a much longer time period. Damage caused by very low temps, but still above freezing, and by sudden chill, is the result of phenolic compounds leaking from cells into intercellular spaces.

Al

I know, huh! Like spoiled kids. Do the least little thing they don't like & they throw all their leaves on the floor!

Damage is sometimes evident by wet areas on the leaves that turn dark, then corky, but more often, the leaves are unceremoniously shed days subsequent to the exposure. It is a good candidate for pruning - shouldn't be too hard, though.

Best luck - glad for the chance to say hey.

Al

I've been at bonsai for close to 30 years, and I often have trees I'm certain hold a LOT of potential, but I just can't see it. 2 of my best trees were not pruned to achieve a particular end I envisioned until many years after I acquired them. I probably scrutinized both of them 100 times until something just absolutely jumped out at me in an 'eureka moment'. Sometimes that happens as you walk past a tree I've been considering for a year or more. Not only that, but more often than not I end up revising what I had envisioned as the future style or design of a tree because the tree vetoed my plants by revealing a more interesting path I hadn't considered.

If you learn the basics of pruning, like what happens when we prune, when to prune, and a few basics like where to concentrate most of your pruning efforts and how to pinch, what's left is removing the problematic branches. By problematic, I mean the ones that don't contribute to your vision of what the plant wants to be.

I think I'll start a Q/A thread about pruning and see where it goes.

Al

@ Al Where will that thread be found?

@ Grace where do you want this plant to be in 5 years? "Alive"

Ain't that the truth!

https://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/5185228/pruning-basics-q-and-a-format