My New Bonsai

I went for it. I bought a ficus benjamina as my first bonsai. I got to take this nursery stock from Wal-Mart for $11. It looks nothing like a bonsai and was not advertised as one. As you can see from the picture, the left side is a bit more leafy than the right side. This is going to be difficult as I have never really taken care of a plant on my own. I've read that it is one of the more forgiving types of trees to turn into an indoor bonsai though.

Right now it is obnoxiously huge with no real direction. There are like 9 trunks and it is about 3 or so feet tall. I was hoping to have just one trunk, but we'll see what happens. There's a chance that each trunk has its own root system, but I doubt it.

The leaves on the ficus are great! They are a bright green and can be trained to grow smaller. I've read that if you cut them back during the growing season that they will grow back smaller. Also, the ficus benjamina is supposed to be completely defoliated once a year or so. I don't think I am going to do either of these techniques until spring because it will cause a lot of stress for the plant.

These trunks are intimidating! What will I do with all of these? I can tie them all together until they fuse into one trunk in 2-3 years or maybe I can cut some off and create a clump style that shares a common canopy of leaves. The problem with this option is the fact that the trunk stumps might be unsightly.




As our friend, Charles, has shown us. A nursery stock can be pruned and wired into a beautiful bonsai. I'm excited!

I'll keep you posted.