I read through the recent list of postings about Ficus - and guess what - I
have some more questions!

I too live in a temperate climate.

I have a young ficus neriifolia, I repotted it about 3 weeks ago.
It was in a 3" square pot about 4" deep. It's now in an 8" round pot that
is about 10" deep.

I know patience is an important part of bonsai, hence I'm asking before
doing.

First, how long should I wait before fertilizing? My ficus is in a west
facing window where it receives about 6 hours of sunlight daily (and as the
season advances, it will only get more sunlight). Question 2, I would like
to cut most of the top off, wire a branch up as a new leader, to get the
tree to bud back down the trunk. Can I do that now, sometime this season,
or should I wait til next year?

Thanks for your help, suggestions, and ideas.

--
Michael Cameron
Alliston, Ontario, Canada

Your willow-leaf fig, if it is anything like the one I had, is dormant
right now. Mine used to drop most of its leaves in mid-winter, and I
would cut back on watering until it felt like waking up and putting on
new growth. At that time, when it was warmer and sunnier, I would work
on it.

You could fertilize now, but there's not a lot of point if the fig is
dormant. There's a slight risk of a build-up of salt in the soil,
since the tree might not be metabolizing at full speed right now.

I would do nothing to the branches now. I'd wait until the tree was
putting out new growth and pick a very vigorous branch for a new
leader: my fig would arbitrarily lose some of its [numerous] shoots
each winter. I wouldn't want to pick the wrong one now.

If your fig isn't dormant, you may ignor what I just said.


Michael Cameron wrote:
First, how long should I wait before fertilizing?

Question 2, I would like
to cut most of the top off, wire a branch up as a new leader, to get
the
tree to bud back down the trunk. Can I do that now, sometime this
season,
or should I wait til next year?