bonsai plants dries out

hi,
I had two plants Bougainvilla and ficus which is used for bonsai . After few months the ficus plant has dried out and the Bougainvilla lost all leaves. I used to water it regularly, is my ficus dead. Bougainvilla recently has showing some progress , some leaves are coming back but ficus looks brown now,what can be done with this Thank you.

You say you "used to" water. Did you stop for some reason?

Your Bougainvillea is probably OK. They like dry soil (but not TOO dry!). It's hard to say about the Ficus. I don't know enough about them. But most ficus are tough. Don't give up.

To determine when to water, keep a chopstick permanently stuck into the soil. Remove it daily and feel the dirty end. If it feels damp (cool) do NOT water. If it feels dry, water until it comes out of the drainage hole. Wait a few minutes, and water again. Keep the chopstick stuck in the soil and test it every day.