Hi, I haven't seen your pix, but as far as the Bo is concerned, if they're close together to begin with, a standard way of making one trunk is to wrap them together with something like raffia or florists' tape, anything that will not stick to them, but will hold well enough for a few months and not cut into the bark. You wrap from the lowest point (near the soil), not inordinately tightly, but just enough to bring them into proximity (touching up and down the stems - no need to 'score' the trunks) and wrap up to near the lowest branches, or allow 1-2 or more lower branches to 'escape' the wrap, then fasten at the high and low points of wrapping with some kind of sticky tape or twist ties, etc. (on the wrap, not the trunks). It can take months to a year depending on the tree, for the fusion to take, and you'll have to use discipline to keep from unwrapping it all to see how it's going (because you could spoil the whole thing) but it should work.

Not to dampen your spirits, but in my opinion both of the plants I looked at look like they are years away from being something to start working on unless you like the "twig in a pot" style.

Looks like neither are over 4" tall and have no trunk girth at all. I would let them grow and fill out for a few years and then cut them back to make a nice plant.

randy

the Willow Leaf Ficus is 5.5" and the bo is a 3.5". I was aware that I couldn't do any bonsai styling with the bo yet. I was just wondering what to do with all those seperate trunks for that one.

I didn't know when it would be appropriate to start doing things to the Willow Leaf though.

Also, how will I know when they are ready to be repotted/root trimmed?

About once a year, in spring (generally, though some are better in late summer or even winter) take the whole thing out of the pot and check how rootbound it is. Also do a lot of reading.. it's hard to give more than simplistic answers here without writing a book sometimes and there's a lot of different factors to take into account.

Received a 2' ficus religiosa just minutes ago. What reading (books or links) are recommended for care and bonsai?

Thanks.

www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html ... and go to the bottom half of pg where it concentrates specifically on ficus (and care is about the same for all).

lucy,

Thank you for responding. The link you suggested is quite helpful.