I had my ficus bonsai for about 2 years. My family went on a 2 day Christmas vacation. When we got back, I saw that my bonsai had yellowing leaves. I didn't think much of it because the first year I got it, I under watered it, and it did the same thing (After watering it more often it recovered within a few days). I have been watering it for the past few weeks, and now there are no leaves. I did a scratch test and the base was perfectly healthy, but the branch appeared to be dead. I have been researching for a while now to save it, but nothing is working. I was thinking about chopping off the branches, but I’m scared that is will only get worse and truly die. I'm praying that maybe it would start recovering in the spring and summer. What should I do?
I don’t want my tree to die.
- Thread starter TEN06
- Start date
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
All you can do is wait and see. Don't let it grow dry but don't over water. Give it plenty of warmth and light. It can take awhile but it will likely sprout new leaves somewhere which will probably call for a new design. Many ficus trees in the wild drop leaves and go dormant to deal with drought.
Themilkyway
Sapling
These ficuses are extremely hardy and resilient. In my experiences, they are indestructible. Just start taking care of it properly and it should back bud. Personally, I would put it somewhere with more direct sunlight
So I shouldn’t chop off the dead part?
Kanorin
Omono
Not yet. Wait and see where the tree puts new buds out first. Then you can chop off the top if there are no buds.
TimIAm
Yamadori
As someone mentioned above, the grafted section has died. It is common for this type of ficus to be sold with grafted foliage. Typically your base is a Ficus microcarpa and the leaves of another variety of F. microcarpa are grafted on top. The new buds you are seeing are from the base tree and it is quite possible the leaves will look slightly different from what was there before.
