Banyan fig bonsai - soil type?

[Dabs]

Good evening everyone.

I purchased a banyan fig bonsai a month ago and just want to top up the soil as it’s very low.

What soil should I use please?

Thanks in advance
David.

 

[MHBonsai]

Welcome! Positing a photo will help if you can. Need to see the pot and current substrate.

 

[Dabs]

Welcome! Positing a photo will help if you can. Need to see the pot and current substrate.

So sorry - I should have thought to post a photo.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Welcome to the site!

Good news - that tree is much better than I was expecting - but get that goofy wire off of it because it isn't doing anything. You will want to wire it properly to get those branches to sweep down like a mature tree in nature.

Bad news - the soil is very bad and the tree is in need of repotting. Don't do anything now (too early in the year) but wait until it gets warm outside and repot your tree into a better soil mix that is most inorganic (pumice, lava, etc). There are tons of threads on the site where people discuss (and argue about) soil mixes.

In the short term, whatever you put over the top of the soil won't really matter because you will be repotting in a couple of months. You want something to keep the top of the soil moist, but not saturated. If you don't have an inorganic mix handy, I would use pine bark mini nuggets or something similar.

 

[Dabs]

Welcome to the site!

Good news - that tree is much better than I was expecting - but get that goofy wire off of it because it isn't doing anything. You will want to wire it properly to get those branches to sweep down like a mature tree in nature.

Bad news - the soil is very bad and the tree is in need of repotting. Don't do anything now (too early in the year) but wait until it gets warm outside and repot your tree into a better soil mix that is most inorganic (pumice, lava, etc). There are tons of threads on the site where people discuss (and argue about) soil mixes.

In the short term, whatever you put over the top of the soil won't really matter because you will be repotting in a couple of months. You want something to keep the top of the soil moist, but not saturated. If you don't have an inorganic mix handy, I would use pine bark mini nuggets or something similar.

Thank you very much for your sound advice. I’ll take the wire off now.

When you say “re pot” do you mean into a larger pot or just re do the soil?

Many thanks
David

 

[Bonsai Nut]

That pot is large enough for the tree. Don't do too much to the tree at once. Repot the tree into good soil, wait for it to recover (showing signs of new growth) and then prune the tree and wire it. Ficus are strong trees and can handle all this work in one season if you repot early in the summer, and give it plenty of sun, heat and humidity.

 

[Dabs]

That pot is large enough for the tree. Don't do too much to the tree at once. Repot the tree into good soil, wait for it to recover (showing signs of new growth) and then prune the tree and wire it. Ficus are strong trees and can handle all this work in one season if you repot early in the summer, and give it plenty of sun, heat and humidity.

Ok thank you very much. I’ll give it 2 months and re do the soil.

 

[yashu]

Ok thank you very much. I’ll give it 2 months and re do the soil.

If you haven’t already, check YouTube for repotting videos. Make sure you use a reputable YouTube channel. I posted a video from David Esterbrook below as he generally breaks things down very well for the beginner.

Enjoy!