名媛直播

My roommate bought a "名媛直播" at a Wal-Mart. It had a lot of leaves that hung low, and covered the trunk so it looked just like a house plant, not like a tree. So being an idiot I cut off nearly all the branches....and probably incorrectly too. It seemed like it was dying, however I put it in a new pot and it seems to be showing some new growth.

However I do not know what kind of tree it is, so I have no information to start with in researching how to take care of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Just a fun little project for me..bringing back to life a Wal-Mart bonsai.

This is a ficus and it looks like a houseplant as that's what it is - a houseplant with its top cut of.
This has got nothing to do with bonsai.

This is the same type of tree I bought at Walmart I wanted an actual bonsai and I was uninformed that walmart bonsai are often grown in feilds and inproperly cared for. I did a lot of research and recieved some help from the wonderful users on this site and I feel that sharing what I have learned/read may be helpful for you.

As Auk said this is a ficus. Cutting the leaves off should not kill the plant as long as it has proper roots, correct me if I am wrong. Walmart plants are often in terrible soil, so if you did not I would reccomend getting new soil for it, and it was good that you got it a better pot. Also make sure that the pot you put it in has a drain hole in the bottom so that your plant does not drown. Rocks and moss on top of your soil are fine, but if your plant came with glued rocks/fake moss on it I would remove that.

Water it like you would any other plant, as it is a house plant, and ficus are tropical so some sun would be good for it. They also like to be misted, like with a spray bottle, but make sure you don't over do it. Do not put it in direct sunlight because you may damage the newly pruned branches, and if the few leaves it has start to turn yellow it is either getting too much water or is not responding well to the new amount of sun exposer it is getting. Ficus will grow year round and are fast growing plants so it should get plenty of new shoots. If possible keep it outside while the weather is nice and take it inside for the cooler parts of fall and winter.

If you would like to, once it is in better shape I am sure you could get a better, more bonsai like form out of it, although this tree is not ideal from making a bonsai (which I was disappointed to find out, but if you are interested you can always buy a tree from a nursery.) So I don't really know that you could call it a "bonsai" tree but if you're actually looking to get into bonsai, this is a nice way to learn. If not, just focus on saving your tree and growing it as you would any house plant. I don't know much details about pruning and shaping, so you would have to ask someone else.

Anyone feel free to correct me if I got any of my facts wrong. I hope that this helps you Best of luck with your tree.

aiuaiai.. Rip-off walmart.

You can salvage things a little by planting the plant deeper (once it has some leaves again!), and cover the roots untill you cannot see the underside of the roots. So besically you only see roots laying on ths oil, and dipping below. Then let it grow for a few months, and we can have a second look and see how to create a bonsai from this challenge. It will probably not be a good tree for the next 10 years. But well.. It is a great species to work with, as they are very forgiving.

And if I may, I would like to add a helpful link that some other user so kindly posted the other day, which also belongs to this site:



Hope it helps...

This will help, it makes me angry to know they do this (making malsai that is).

bob wrote: This will help, it makes me angry to know they do this (making malsai that is).

I don't care at all that mallsai are being made. It's perfectly OK and if people like 'm and want to buy them, that's fine too.

What annoys the hell out of me is that they are sold as real bonsai and that people that buy them because they believe it.

Thank you everyone for the information. It's a bummer it is not an actual tree, but it does look kind of neat. I suppose I'll still try and work with it and create something.

Do not doubt so much, you can still have fun growing it.

I agree, I'm still very excited to grow my mallsai So don't get discouraged, I'm sure you can make it look very pretty.

At least if people buy the mallsai and look into how to care for it, like I did, they may actually get an interest in getting true bonsai tree.