My Ficus religiosa Dieback Problems, The Bonsai Zone, Feb 2023

Trouble in the plant room, my large Ficus religiosa has branches that are dying back, it's time to find out what is going wrong!
To see previous videos of my Ficus religiosa bonsai, click on the playlist here...
• Ficus Religiosa Bonsai...
#TheBonsaiZone

[@zenobibonsai]

This is so sad.. Your Religiosa is one of my fav trees 😔 I hope you save him Nigel

[@dinudavis4230]

Hi Nigel, It's not an insect problem, its a very common tree in India, dieback is a very natural process in this tree, so in India usually, bonsai people don't recommend this tree as bonsai, some branches will die naturally, but the tree will not die, so we can't make this tree in upright styles, but we can make this tree natural looking tree like yours... I like ficus religiosa very much. All the best Nigel

[@betulaobscura]

This is very informative, thank you!

[@zenobibonsai]

That's interesting to know as I have one of these too 👍🙏

[@mattbrennan647]

Just hearing that sad tone in your voice says it all. Our bonsais become so much more to us than just trees. I feel you pain Nigel. BUT…… As with Frankenficus Mother Nature works in strange ways. Good luck. Hopefully it not only survives but thrives. Thanks, keep growing

[@patrickfo967]

Hi Nigel maybe it’s an hard pill to swallow but I would consider giving away some of your trees to an amount you can manage longterm. Maybe giving away some trees to the guys who also do KZbin in your area. I just did the same thing in Fall I sold about 20 of my project/trees because I noticed I couldn’t take care of all appropriately.

[@ferasi6944]

I remember a video in which a friend of Nigel (one experienced with great trees, I forgot his name) said you need enough trees otherwise your love will kill them. I found out for me that is also vaild the other way round. I have too many trees and have not enough time to care for them all. Now I am in the process to reduce them in number which is really painful.

[@AngelinaPlantas]

Hi Nigel. Is a pleasure to meet you. I make a big job with your plant...you have a lot wuao. You are right their are hard to see " tgis insects "" very small" I really enjoy this beautiful ficus religious....excelent ...you did it!

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

Good catch on the insects. Fingers crossed on the recovery.

[@lukasmihara]

Fingers crossed for the Ficus religiosa and all the other trees in the plant room!

[@BlueJayBonsai]

I am praying for your religiosa Nigel! 🙏🐦💙

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Lol, I hope I'm in the good favour of the bonsai Gods!

[@filipegomes1520]

The bonsai Gods?

[@MrEieio44]

An exhaust fan in the plant room might be a good idea, like in a bathroom.

[@jeanne-gord7685]

I would also suggest an overhead fan for the plant room. We have very damp weather here in the Seattle area. The studio has high ceilings and the electric heat rises and holds there. I set the over head fan to pull up the air so it pushes that warmth up. It washes out and then down the walls of the room. Keeps condensation off the walls and cool spots along the floor. The air circulation seems to be appreciated by the plants closest to the wall of window in that room.

[@FrediOlson]

That was my first thought - air circulation

[@joannetanner7282]

Nigel, add peppermint essential oil to your soap & Water spray bottle. Peppermint oil bothers soft bodied insects. Really works great. You need 5 to 10 drops per every 2 ounces of water

[@barbj981]

Weird!! The same thing has happened to my ficus religiosa this week. It’s exactly the same as yours. Other winters it has lost all of it’s leaves, but not in the way it has done this time. I hope that both yours and mine will recover.

[@sumitra1985]

Hello Nigel, this is the problem with religiosa. I have also faced plenty of die back of my religiosa. The solution I found, you need to defoliate the tree may be 4 times a year, so that tip of the branch get plenty of sun light & after defoliation all the branch should start growing. The same issue with Benghalensis also. Need defoliation time to time. These are very hardy plant.

[@gaeangardensbyizabela]

I just treated my tiger bark for scale too, after few weeks of soap rinses and no effect, I wiped each leaf and stem with alcohol and saw a lot of little scale like you. Hope your religiosa comes back with vigor, it's such a sweet tree!

[@SequoiaElisabeth]

I suggest using LED floodlights for lighting the bleacher shelves you build. The are powerful and inexpensive.

[@tacobonsai]

Bravo. I am pleased and relieved that you were able to successfully treat those three issues. Even if another condition remains, the resolution of those will give it enough of an advantage to recover and thrive I am sure. It would be a shame to lose this one, it is a tree that inspires me to one day have a ficus religiosa in my collection.

[@oscars85]

For my bleachers setup, I have used 2x12 and cinder blocks and in the winter for my hardy trees I just mulch my trees under the bleachers and cover with a plastic cover.

[@robryan9841]

Good luck with the tree 🤞

[@OlufsWaterview]

Looking forward to the plant room bleacher project

[@arvindreddy4527]

I had the white flying insects on my hibiscus plant. I sprayed horticultural oil and then rinsed it. Hopefully that will clear them.

[@betulaobscura]

I hope everything will be fine, good luck!

[@marysoldeeley2218]

Thank you for showing us this. Always learning and improving! I also have whitefly for the first time. Really difficult to treat every type of insect at once. The steps to figuring everything out are good to see. So are the solutions. Hopefully you do not get the storm we are having up here. Maybe get in touch with your daughter and be sure she is safe. Highways are all closed and many accidents in the city.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Marysol!!

[@MaybeBonsai]

Hopefully the tree recovers after this cleanse. Those miniature scales are hard to spot, I didn't even notice them on the leaf until you pointed it out

[@patsfreund9164]

This is such a lovely bonsai tree. We have frequent problems with whiteflies here in s.e. Florida. It is an issue on my home-grown pepper plants and tomato plants. I use an organicide spray on them frequently. Hope this bonsai improves for you.

[@growclipbonsaiforseniors1951]

An organic insect control for whiteflies, scale insects, mites, aphids, etc., it is called Earth's Alley Insect Control. Just a blend of Rosemary, clove, and peppermint oil. I cannot ship from states but maybe you can find it in your nursery. OMRI Stamped. They have the spray or the concentrated quart which makes upto 5 gallons. Safe for people, pets and the planet shown on the bottle. Just a thought.

[@gloriablanco7856]

Like and thank you, hope it gets better.

[@jeanne-gord7685]

Every winter I have had problems with mites and scale on the indoor plants such as miniature roses, hibiscus etc. I have resorted to this 3 in one fertilizer. It controls sucking insects as well as mildew etc. It lasts for 6 months so as it has fertilizer I put it on in fall fertilizing time so that the affect lasts most of the winter. I sometimes use it on outdoor bonsai but never if they are blooming. I would hate to hurt any of the bees. This is actually made for rose bushes but I never use it on roses as they bloom all summer. It is very effective for controlling aphides and what not.

[@FrediOlson]

So sorry about your tree. I hope it grows you some lovely new branches. I agree with one of the other comments below about placing some kind of circulating fan in the plant room to keep the air moving. Just wondering if there is any way you can build out the plant room, or bite the bullet and winterize the greenhouse so you could keep some out there. You can place bubble wrap on the glass inside to help insulate it, and yes you would need to heat it, but the plants are worth the expense. You've got so much invested in them, and they are so lovely. Good luck, Nigel.

[@ScoopyJoe]

I'd highly recommend that you consider imidacloprid for the trees that you keep indoors.

[@Denkar11]

Wow, glad you caught that before it did much damage. My 2 little Ficus Relig. are doing good. My original is in a tiny little plastic nursery pot, and the other is in a repurposed small houseplant pot. The second one is now taller and more vigorous than the first. I think the size of the pots is the reason.

[@taksakabonsai5059]

Hi Mr. Nigel, it was so sad about what happened to the tree, i hope it will get better after the securing process👍

[@martindemaree647]

I had a grapefruit tree die because of scale, I didn't see it until it was to late. Then I really had to look, now I check everything real close.

[@Yurup]

Could hang some fly strips in the plant room to be able to spot flying insect better.

[@RADsLife]

Pray for the religiosa 😞🙏

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I like the investigative process you used to try and work out the issue. Moss can be a number one killer sometimes just because it fools us into thinking the tree is getting water. So I suppose that is one issue I never face with the birds in my garden! Interesting seeing some of the comments for this tree type. Cheers, I have a few more of your videos to catch up on :)

[@dcharrison]

Wow I hope everything works out. Could you use a bucket to submerge it in ?

[@ttodddo]

die back is beauty. to let a tree flourish as it would. we must accept its death. love you nigel baby. all your trees are beautiful in all their ways. love all bonsai. for it may love you. as all kids love their parents for care and cherishment. love others. dont we all not live and grow

[@adamnorris8006]

cool, i havent seen this tree yet. it kinda looks like american redbud leaves. Im excited to see the plant room bleacher project!

[@josdra238]

it might be a stupid question, but if you have all these troubles with insects in your plant room, wouldn't it be easier to put some tobacco in the water to get the insects killed by nicotine? Both, those on the plants and the ones in the soil too.

[@mahakhalil1]

Hi Nigel! How do you get religiosa leaves to be so small? The ones I see around here in Egypt have very large leaves! Even the ones growing in pots!

[@tinjoesstation]

Just to be on the safe side, water without fertilizer for a bit. Even with it being in bonsai soil, you might have a build up of salts in the pot.

[@medic599]

I kept having infestations on my pomegranate and tea tree. Every ten days I needed to spray them. I decided to try a preventative, so I just took 3 papers towels, soaked them in water, folded into squares and put some essential oil on each one. The mix I'm using is peppermint, citronella, and spearmint x2 drops each on each paper towel. As the water evaporates it releases the aroma of the oils. Have't seen a bug since...! This method does require some diligence. They dry out by the afternoon. I spray them with water to wet them down and they make it to the next morning. Then I repeat the oil and water process the next day, using the same paper towels. Might be worth a try.

[@arun.sekher]

If you're dealing with a whitefly problem, it's advisable to focus your treatment on the undersides of the leaves, don't you agree?

[@lenterahati210]

Its Ok

[@hyperionhelios190]

circle back to the insects in a few days

[@MW-hu6kk]

It's so hard to combat pests inside, and I've heard it's not possible to get systemic pesticides in Canada.... I've been trying predatory insects with my outdoor trees. I know some folks use them in greenhouses too, but I'm not sure what that would be like inside your home

[@empret7704]

I used 1t soap and 1t oil in warm water after losing a few trees to white fly... maybe try that next time.

[@sharonbuckley4591]

What about the underside of the leaves? Do you get the soap and water up under there? I realize it would be challenging.

[@alansmedia4138]

Dieback is common to ficus religiosa as it get old

[@sanjaykoganti3892]

The leaf looks like there isn't much sunlight but those aren't fleas they can't attack a religiousa until the there is dead decaying matter on the tree here in India it happens in the fall season the insect eats of the dead decaying matter and just disappear.

[@MrSuperbastler]

Hi Nigel, I spray my trees with Neem Oil. Itˋs 100 % natural and i have no problems with insects in Winter

[@MW-hu6kk]

Neem oil is not better than other insecticidal soaps except for spidermites. Since his indoor trees get hot sunlight, it also would likely damage his plants as well

[@kevinklosterman2783]

Have you ever tried a systemic insecticide? They work well for me.

[@uppergorple]

I feel for you Nigel. Your concern is plain to see. The plant room is an environment for stuff you don't want. It just is. Have you considered nematodes for biological control? There are several types that would surely help. Also, do you get vine weevil over there?

[@beth7467]

Is this related to the problem you talked about in the last video with the fiddly fig? Seems weird. (Mind you, I know less than nothing about trees.)

[@beth7467]

P.S. I'm so sorry you've found this problem -- so disheartening!

[@sdqsdq6274]

trying to root this in water , no hits of roots so far , do they root in water ?

[@caniform-craze2080]

This type of ficus does root well in water, you may need to wait for a while depending on the condition of the cutting.

[@chasingthefish9042]

Hows it doing did it survive?

[@TheBonsaiZone]

The tree is doing well now, but sadly the branch didn't make it.

[@chasingthefish9042]

@Nigel Saunders, The Bonsai Zone these back bud well though correct? It's a sad loss, but at least its not 100% loss that tree is one of the oldest on the channel.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

@@chasingthefish9042 Yes, they will back bud from pruning!

[@mattbrennan647]

😕🙁😢😩

[@ricklandaubonsai5506]

Second! 🤣

[@diksidik9545]

At work I have a very large tree 🇮🇩

[@dubsydabster]

Foist