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Hi everyone,

Back in December, I’ve received a 16yo ficus bonsai for my birthday. It looked very healthy and absolutely gorgeous (picture attached). It’s the first bonsai I’ve ever had, and it took me some time to read about how to properly care for them, but I’m afraid I’ve made (and keep making) mistake after mistake and worried it might already be too late to save it.

Shortly after I’ve received it, it started to lose a few leaves, but I’ve read that it’s normal during the acclimatising phase. Then it went through a period of underwatering, then probably overwatering and kept losing a handful of leaves pretty much every week. I’ve also managed to wash away some of the topsoil and some of the roots were exposed. Using tap water only added to the problem as calcareous deposits started to build at the base of the trunk and on the exposed roots.

A week ago, I’ve changed the soil. After watching a few videos on how to do it, I purchased premium bonsai soil mix from a bonsai expert shop online and went on to repot it. I removed all the old soil, pruned the roots (but not too much, just the ones that were very long) and some of the branches (but again, only minor pruning). However, the soil I’ve purchased wasn’t enough, so I ended up using some of the old soil, then bought a bag of bonsai soil from Amazon which I’ve applied in a thin layer on the top to cover any exposed roots. I’ve only watered it a little bit after repotting.

After approx 3-4 days, almost half of the leaves had gone yellow and dropped and it continues to do so (a handful of leaves a day). In the meantime, I’ve purchased a soil moisture meter and I keep the soil moist (not dry, not wet). However, when watering it, the water doesn’t seem to drain - not sure if it’s because I only water it a little and all the water is being retained. Today I lifted the pot to check the drainage holes and found A SMALL SLUG! A couple of days ago I did spot an unusual hole in the soil but assumed that the soil collapsed on itself due to a pocket of air.

That’s my short but tumultuous bonsai story and I’m sure that most of you are terrified by the many mistakes I’ve made. I really want to save the tree and hoping from the bottom of my heart it’s not too late. Please help before I make another fatal error (like repotting again to get rid of slugs?). Thanks so much!

PS: First image is from the first day I’ve received it, second is a few weeks after that. The rest are from today.

Pictures doesn't seem to be attached...
Are you on Northern hemisfere?
Is it being kept inside or outside?

I can tell you we don't prune roots or repot when the tree is not healthy to recover from it.

Trying to reattach the pictures.

Hi Albas, thanks so much for the quick answer. I’ve reattached the pictures - hope it worked this time.

I live in the UK and keep the tree inside. In hindsight, I don’t think the tree was unhealthy when repotted it, definitely looked a thousand times better than it does now.

Hmm, I don't know about having a ficus where you live, .

I never needed to get my ficus inside in 14 years, but the temperature on our winter rarely gets like 3?~ 5?C, maximum I did was put under like partially covered area, just to avoid ocasional frosts, but still open enough so it can take sunlight, some wind, rain, etc...
It surely loose some leaves on winter here, but nothing that they can't recover soon on spring and summer.

If it was good on that soil, that probably wasan't a problem.
On winter, when they slow down, you must be carefull not to overwater it, ficus love moist, but not too much and all the time.
Is the water getting out nicely by the drainage holes?
So other than that, your tree really didn't look unhealthy, I think your tree was just reacting to the winter and being inside with less light. But, spring is close...

If it's colder where you live, and I think it is, I don't know how they respond there, maybe someone with a ficus on a colder area could tell you better how they react.

Hi Albas, thanks again for your reply. My worry is that the tree might not recover after repotting, it keeps losing leaves at an alarming fast pace. Before repotting it last weekend it had more than double the leaves it has now. The other worry is that the drainage doesn’t work properly, as mentioned in my post - although I didn’t give it a lot of water, none of it drained in the tray. I mean not even a drop. And lastly and most worrisome, what about the slug? Assume where is one there might be more and are they inside the soil and eating away at the roots?

Yona,
I suspect that the plant is just in shock/stressed from it's new location, the repot, and from the pruning of the roots. Also, I don't trim roots unless there is a need (e.g. becoming root bound, transferring to a smaller pot, etc.). Otherwise, its not really necessary.
If that is the latest picture of the tree and it still has a plenty of leaves, I think you may be okay. If it continues to lose leaves until bare that is your worst case scenario. I grow many ficus and one thing that is in your favor is that they are very hardy. I wouldn't worry too much about a slug problem because they need to breathe and will typically show up on the exterior of the plant sometimes near the drain holes. But its not likely, given everything else going on with the plant.
About the drainage, you need to give it a good solid drink and see if water is coming out from the holes. If not, you need to fix that stat. If you do have good drainage, the only other thing that I would suggest at this point is to make sure no air pockets exist, just like you mentioned. You can do that by carefully poking around everywhere into the soil with a chopstick (or similar tool) and replace with additional soil if the soil level has dropped much. Don't force the tool if you feel resistance, as you maybe hitting a root.
Make sure you're not overwatering. You don't want soggy soil, especially right now.
Last, it needs plenty of light, and if its staying indoors its going to thrive with a little extra humidity, as it is a tropical.
Good luck Yona.

Remy

Hi Remy,

Thank you so much for your reply.

It's true that currently there is still a good amount of leaves left, however these are still yellowing at an alarming pace each day. I would say that today approx. a quarter of the leaves have turned yellow. Not sure how long this will continue for, but I do fear that at this pace all leaves might fall by the time it would take to recover. I do see some new stems growing so hopefully it will balance out through the recovery phase... I'm scared to ask the question, but what if it's not? If it loses all its leaves, does this mean there's no chance at all to make a recovery?

In regards to the drainage, I gave it a better soak this morning (0.5l) but nothing came through the drainage holes. I've measured the soil and now it reads moist down 2/3 of the pot and slightly wet at the bottom. I'm reluctant to give it more water to test the drainage further in case it doesn't work and risk overwatering it. When you say 'fixing that stat' re: draining, how exactly do I need to go about it?

I think the air pockets are all gone now, I've used the chopstick method a few days ago to even out the soil. In terms of light, I haven't moved it from its usual place (which is by a west facing window) and I think it gets a decent amount of light throughout the day (although the weather in the UK has been quite grey for the last couple of weeks).

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated, and I'm already very grateful for the guidance received so far.

Many thanks!

Yona, loose all it's leaves doesn't mean your chances are gone, Ficus are pretty tough, and they backbud easily, even more on growing season. so if the problem was just the leaves falling, I wouldn't worry much, a few weeks more and if it was healthy and showing new buds, I would even remove the old leaves myself...

However, the drainage issue seems much more worrying than that, shouldn't happen with bonsai soil (because those are generally well aerated), did you put a net on the drainage holes? Pebbles/gravel on the bottom?
I once had an issue like that on a repoted young tree, I poked the soil a bit with a chopstick from the drainage holes and the water flowed... But it was a deeper pot.

Hi Albas, thanks so much for this - I feel a little more encourage about the leaves situation.

Draining-wise, this worries me too and all I can do for now (or at least that's what I think I should do?) is to keep an eye on the watering and measure the soil moisture regularly, to make sure it's not soaking wet. I do fear however that inserting the measuring device into the soil so frequently might stress the roots further, so I'm only doing this on the sides of the pot. I did put a plastic mesh over the draining holes and the soil I purchased didn't seem to be so fine, however as mentioned in my original note, I did mix it with some of the old soil as I didn't purchased enough and the delivery time was 10 working days (so couldn't get more right away). I also thought of trying to unclog the mesh by pushing it up with a stick, however in order to do so I would need to move the tree again and worried it might cause more stress. Not sure if I'm overly cautious, but that's what I read - even a slight movement will cause further stress at this stage in the process. I'm happy to try to unclog the holes however if you're strongly advising it, as I fully appreciate that proper drainage is paramount.