New to Bonsa . Need help ID'ing!

[Braxton Campbell]

Hi guys. I am new to bonsai. I purchased a bonsai at lowes (dont rip me too hard) and need some help Identifying it. It has glued on rocks and moss which could be easily taken off. But i want this to last a while if possible so any advice once we ID it would be awesome!

20160515_152440

• Braxton Campbell
• May 15, 2016

20160515_152444

• Braxton Campbell
• May 15, 2016

 

[f1pt4]

It's a ficus of some sort

 

[Underdog]

I'm pretty new but can help w/this one. Paying forward what I've learned here.
I have one of these Ficus from box store too. And some others bought in fall closeouts.
Looks like one of the pots w/no drain holes and glued on rocks. I have 2 palms living that way since last fall.
Not recommended...
My ficus was doing well in original pot but when I took it out, picked all the Styrofoam out of the mucky soil it was in, and put in a free draining soil with a pot w/drainage.
It was grown in/thru landscape cloth and center root ball full of foam. (weight? cheap filler?)
It has really taken off since. Trimmed twice since. Just getting going this season in Ohio so it can get outside.

Needs to be indoors under 45-50 degrees. Put location in profile to get better info.

 

[f1pt4]

I'm pretty new but can help w/this one. Paying forward what I've learned here.
I have one of these Ficus from box store too. And some others bought in fall closeouts.
Looks like one of the pots w/no drain holes and glued on rocks. I have 2 palms living that way since last fall.
Not recommended...
My ficus was doing well in original pot but when I took it out, picked all the Styrofoam out of the mucky soil it was in, and put in a free draining soil with a pot w/drainage.
It was grown in/thru landscape cloth and center root ball full of foam. (weight? cheap filler?)
It has really taken off since. Trimmed twice since. Just getting going this season in Ohio so it can get outside.

Needs to be indoors under 45-50 degrees. Put location in profile to get better info.

Like the rock says, it's dream is to be in better non-glued soil without funky moss.

Take all the glued on crap off. In the summer if it's still alive put it in better soil with better drainage.

Don't forget to mist. Ficus like humidity.

 

[markyscott]

Looks like a Ficus retusa. Common name is Tiger Bark Ficus, for obvious reasons. It's a good choice for a starter tree. As was suggested, pull off the moss and the rocks so you can water it properly.

Can you add your location to your profile? We don't need your address, but we need to know your climate to advise you properly.

 

[Braxton Campbell]

Will i need to change the pot for sure or just the soil?

 

[Underdog]

Does the pot have drainage holes in bottom? If no, then yes in the near future you will want to.

 

[Braxton Campbell]

Does the pot have drainage holes in bottom? If no, then yes in the near future you will want to.

Ok and for that i want one with draiage holes and a pan underneath correct?

 

[Underdog]

That would great for indoor but outside not needed. Let it flow I use plates in winter. Wife loves it...

May be able to drill that pot bottom w/out breaking it but... I haven't tried mine yet.

 

[Alain]

Yes it's a typical Lowe's (or other Walmart) retusa tiger bark (ficus btw).

The pot is most certainly a piece of crap, if there is just one central hole and it's glazed all over the inside it's a given.
The best would be to change it together with the soil.
Normally the root's ball won't be top notch and the soil is too organic and too fine.

The best would be to find a pot with a nice drainage and a soil with at least 1/2 of mineral with good drainage quality (depending on the amount of $ you want to spend from: perlite, pumace, lava rock, adakama, bonsai blocks, Napa auto oil split kit, etc...)
The organic part could be pine bark (fine).
Also feed it.
Perso I use a lot of osmocote balanced 14/14/14 all purpose that I mixed in my soil mixture, for all my trees.
After that: water, sun and heat (outside preferentially, weather permitted) and it should grow well.

But if it was mine I'll cut the big sprouts with gigantic leaves on the top.

And yes, update your profile please.
And welcome!

 

[Braxton Campbell]

Would ordering some bonsai soil on amazon do for now? Until i know exactly what im doing lol

 

[_#1_]

Heard NAPA 8822 works just as good as your typical "bonsai" soil. I would use that.

 

[whfarro]

Not a ficus guy, so can someone chime in and let him know best time to repot this one?

 

[f1pt4]

Not a ficus guy, so can someone chime in and let him know best time to repot this one?

When it's in active growth. So summer, if it's put outside. July-ish.

And yes Napa8822 ***SIFTED*** works very well as well. straight up.

 

[f1pt4]

Would ordering some bonsai soil on amazon do for now? Until i know exactly what im doing lol

Well, that's one way of doing it. But a big bag of DE from Napa (NAPA8822) would cost you the same amount and you'd have like 10x the amount of soil per/$

With that said, can't accurately help you if we don't know where you live? Update your location profile. Give us a state/province/coast/route marker/meridian.... anything.

 

[sorce]

Dream Huge!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Braxton Campbell]

Sorry about that guys. I just updated my profile to include a location

 

[markyscott]

Sorry about that guys. I just updated my profile to include a location

It's OK to put it outside now, but wait until nighttime lows are reliably above 60 to repot. Not sure where you are in Indiana, but in Indianapolis it looks like nighttime lows are still in the 40s. When you repot, use a coarse-grained, inorganic mix. Give it full sun.

So my advice is to put it outside, but hold off on repotting for a little while until it's a bit warmer. That'll give you some time to collect the material you need and do a bit of research on repotting.

 

[Braxton Campbell]

So my pot has one hole on bottom. That should do for drainage as far as that goes correct? And i might do the napa 8822. But do i NEED to mix or just by itself is ok?

 

[markyscott]

So my pot has one hole on bottom. That should do for drainage as far as that goes correct? And i might do the napa 8822. But do i NEED to mix or just by itself is ok?

The one drainage hole would be fine. I can't advise you about oil-dry as I don't use it. I bought a bag once. It looked fine-grained with most the particles about 1/8" or less. Everything I use is larger than 1/4", so I got rid of it. Other people use it and seem happy with it and your tree probably would be better off in it than potting soil.