If you’re looking for some guidance about Ficus bonsai tree care, you’re in the right place! In this video, Bonsai Master Lloyd Noall shares expert advice on how to nurture and shape your Ficus (Banyan) bonsai to keep it healthy, vibrant, and beautifully styled. With decades of experience, Lloyd walks you through essential care techniques, covering everything from pruning and feeding to watering and positioning.
We hope this short guide will give you the tools and knowledge to make your Ficus bonsai thrive indoors. Lloyd’s tips are designed to bring out the best in your tree, ensuring it grows strong and stays visually captivating. So, grab your tools, follow along, and let’s get started on your Ficus bonsai journey!
Transcription of the Video about Ficus Bonsai Tree Care
Hi everyone, I’m Lloyd from Bonsai Direct, and in this video we’re going to be talking about how to care for a ficus bonsai. Now in my view it does make a lovely bonsai. It’s great for indoors, suitable for beginners and very easy to look after. So why does the Ficus retusa make such a lovely bonsai? Is it because of those lovely deep green, glossy leaves? Well, they are lovely, but that’s not what makes it really special. Is it the bark? The bark is beautiful, with lovely colours and textures in there. But that’s not what makes it really special.
Ficus Bonsai Tree Care
Where to position your Ficus Bonsai Tree
Well, what makes the ficus really special and different to most other bonsai are the aerial roots. These amazing roots, which just start to grow from the branches or from high up the trunk and meander their way down and eventually find the soil. Look at this lovely little aerial root just starting out. That’s so cool. It’s a very easy bonsai to look after. It’s not particularly fussy about positioning. It can live outside in the summertime, but it’s not frost hardy, so bring it in. If you put it out in the garden, bring it in well before the winter starts. Somewhere where it’s got some good daylight, it doesn’t need loads of daylight, but near a windowsill. Fantastic.
Watering your Ficus Bonsai Tree
So let’s talk about watering. Watering is the most important part of growing a bonsai. We must make sure that the soil never dries out. And that’s true for all bonsai. Okay, so what we must do is to check it regularly. If the soil feels wet, we don’t water. Now the ficus; it likes to be just sort of on the moist side. It doesn’t like to be dry and it doesn’t like to be very wet. So we’re trying to keep that soil just moist. Now obviously we need to water it. So let’s do that now.
Let’s grab a small watering can. And generally I so start around there, especially if it’s a bigger tree like this one. And make sure you water all over. So that from now on I know the soil is wet. And I’m going to keep watering it, until I start to see water flow out the bottom into the drip tray. You’ll find all bonsai pots will have holes underneath to allow the water to flow through and drain out the bottom. Thus, if you’re keeping indoor bonsai, whichever species they are, you will need some sort of drip tray underneath the pot.
Aim to keep the soil damp to the touch
So water all around the soil. Like that. So it’s not just a quick going over. I’m making sure that the soil is wet all the way around and all the way through the root ball. Like that. And then once I can see water coming out the bottom, I know that it’s wet all the way through the soil. We have watered this well now. This is now late afternoon here. So we know that’s nice and wet. Check it again in the morning. If it still feels wet, don’t water it late afternoon. Come home from work or from school. Check it. And if it’s starting to feel just kind of drying out a little bit, but not dry, then water it again. If it still feels wet, don’t water it.
So what you’re doing is you’re watering it when it needs it, not when you would like to water it. So basically it goes from wet to just damp. Now that might be might mean that you’ve got to water it twice a day. It might be twice a week. It just depends how hot it is. Okay. So keep your eye on that. Check it. Nice and wet. Don’t water. But when it’s just becoming damp. Then that’s the time to water. So that’s the watering sorted.
Feeding your Ficus Bonsai Tree
The other things that you’ll need to do is you will need to fertilise your bonsai. So this is our own bonsai fertiliser. This is concentrated. So a bottle of this size would last the bonsai like this approximately a year, I should think. Possibly more. Some of the smaller ones would last longer. All the instructions are on there. We have got videos on our YouTube channel, so look that up. But this will keep you keep your bonsai nice and healthy. All right. So that’s good.
Misting Indoor Bonsai Trees
So what else have we got? We have got our bonsai mist. Now this is great. This is great for humidity, especially on the figs. Once a day, in the evening for example, just go around and give it a little puff over (Lloyd demonstrates). It’s not essential but it does help. It keeps the leaves nice and healthy. And it also gives a little bit of foliar feed in there as well. Additionally, it also helps to prevent insects like greenfly, whitefly and things like that, by making the leaves a little bit sticky and which tends to deter pests. So that’s great.
Pruning your Ficus Bonsai Tree
Now, when it comes to maintaining the shape of the ficus, there are a few little things which are different to some other types of bonsai. We’ll go over that now. So when it comes to pruning, we just want to maintain the shape of the pads. Trim off any long shoots coming. I think it is easier to show you the pruning. I’m just going to go through trim off any longer shoots. And sometimes it might just be the very tip that we need to take out. Just the actual growing tip. I’ll show you a close up of that in a moment.
I’m pruning off the heavier growing sheets, the thick dominant ones, and this just helps to maintain the pads. Now you can see this white milky substance that starts to ooze out of where we’ve cut. That’s perfectly normal. It is just the tree sap. And it won’t do the tree any harm whatsoever. Now the fig has these lovely little growing tips here, and these will just keep growing straighter and straighter. And in order to maintain the pad, we need to just take out these little pointy bits. And that will force the ‘back-budding’; force that new shoots lower down and help us maintain the foliage pad.
So the Ficus retusa really does make fantastic indoor bonsai. It’s easy to care for. Great for beginners and everybody. Great character. Look at this root here. It’s coming down there. This one on here. Superb. Beautiful foliage. It does come out a little berries through the summertime. That’s when it reaches maturity. It’s got so much going for it. I think it’s a really beautiful bonsai. Take care.
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