Description

• Common ficus has smooth grey bark and grows as a shrub or tree from 23 to 33 feet tall. Its large leaves make it suitable for only the largest bonsai. Cultivated as bonsai, it develops like a small tree and grows up to 35 inches tall. Common ficus grown as bonsai yield figs that are about 1 inch long; they initially are green, turning brown to purple as they ripen.
  
  

Temperature and Light

• You can grow common indoors, but it requires winter temperatures between 41 to 46 degrees F to enter dormancy.
  
  The Gardening EU website recommends 1,500 lux of light for F. carica. Lux measures light spread over a given area and can be measured with a lux meter. An overcast day yields about 1,000 lux of light.
  
  

Wiring, Pruning, Transplanting

• Wire the thick branches of young common ficus in the spring before new growth begins. Prune its new spring leaves after they become leathery and hardened. Your pruned plant will have enough energy to grow new leaves, but they will be smaller. Leaf pruning helps light reach the bottom of your bonsai and speeds up its development. Take new growth cuttings of common ficus in the spring. Let your tree grow from two to four years before you transplant it to a larger pot.
  
  

Water and Fertilizer

• Water common ficus with two to three 8 oz. glasses of water every 10 to 11 days or wait until the leaves droop before you water them. Use a fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen and potassium. Fertilize every 20 to 25 days. You can buy bonsai fertilizer from garden supply stores that is formulated to avoiding damaging plants growing in small containers.