Pond baskets/colanders to be used on tropicals. Yes or no?

[BK Bonsai]

@Anthony Thanks for your thorough explanation. I do want to give this a shot, but I'm not crazy about my species of ficus, so I won't be rooting any cuttings. I might get another young type of ficus to experiment with. Possibly a species that @carp has listed in the previous page.

I do grow my ficus and all my other tropicals indoors under T5HO lamp for the winter. Its on top of a humidi-grow tray, and I have a fan a couple of feet away aimed at the ceiling for air circulation. Works great. Once spring is here, I bring out in the yard and it gets a nice breeze as well.

 

[milehigh_7]

@milehigh_7

let's stop and think about this.

*we're currently in a low humidity climate.
our ficus is now in a colander, in bonsai soil, probably mostly inorganic.*

you are watering your ficus bonsai (most likely) everyday and surely you are fertilizing as well.
your fertilizer is either on the soil surface, or you use water soluble, doesn't matter either way.
and to water properly, the entire soil mass needs to be drenched.
which means nutrient-rich water flows out of the bottom of the pot.
in this case a colander, which means, water flows out from everywhere.
which means roots hanging in the air are getting wet and fertilized...everyday.
suddenly, you have moisture on the roots exposed to the air.
boom.

ficus have an epiphytic nature.
they are not true epiphytes, but can grow their roots in the air if they can find moisture.
its part of their DNA, not a climatic phenomena.

you're talking about aerial root formation on trunks.
i'm talking about roots that grow from within the soil and then out out the drainage holes.

in a dry climate, you need to stimulate aerial root formation, that is correct.

When I say dry, I mean 4% and in Vegas coupled with 120F+ the roots don't hang in the air. In fact they never reach the edges of the basket at all. It is so dry that the "soil" is too dry to support life about 1" in from the holes of the basket. Oh and this means watering as much as 4x per day. It's a totally different beast than you are used to. However, the baskets are nearly essential so that you can water enough to keep the roots cool.

 

[carp]

When I say dry, I mean 4% and in Vegas coupled with 120F+ the roots don't hang in the air. In fact they never reach the edges of the basket at all. It is so dry that the "soil" is too dry to support life about 1" in from the holes of the basket. Oh and this means watering as much as 4x per day. It's a totally different beast than you are used to. However, the baskets are nearly essential so that you can water enough to keep the roots cool.

This idea of yours makes little logical sense and just seems to be a case of improper horticulture. If your soil is too dry to sustain life, you need to water more...even if that means 8x a day. That's what happens when you grow species outside of their prime growing climates.

And I'm starting to feel like you think we breathe water here in Florida.

 

[carp]

Or ammend your soil substrate to better fit your water retention needs.

 

[Geo]

And I'm starting to feel like you think we breathe water here in Florida.

Not quite yet.