Ficus b. (too ugly)

[MrFancyPlants]

Sounds like a good idea to me. It will look more like a tree and you get to see that great trunk line!

I always leave the lower branches in place, I think because I am stuck in the developing material, generate taper mindset. I’ll give it a little time to show growth from the trimming I gave it last night and then re-approach.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

A little haircut for the mother tree.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I just picked 40 some berries off of this one. I don’t know if it was the defoliation or the bio-gold I used after the defoliation, but too many fruit.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

A little update. Tons of berries again this year. I’ll probably repot in a month or so, as it has been quite a while. The hydroponic winters have the drain hole well clogged with root wood.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Mother plant looking better

I favored the cutting for a while, but mama scored some points with the new pot. Repotted at a home and garden expo with the club. I thing I need to plant much deeper the next time around and do a slow emerge to try and put some fine feeders over those dreadful wiring scars.

I don’t think mama has been repotted since this post 10 years ago. Definitely overdue.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Anyone recognize the chop? I know it is hard to make out.

And, look at all those berries.

I was thinking to take off all the berries and wait for strong signs of growth before repotting.

What sort of pot should I get next?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I just took off 163 berries, not counting the 10-15 I trimmed off last night. Too bad they don’t have any value… quite the harvest this year.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Done picking berries and trimming up a bit more.. snip snip. Imran I’m never really done.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Any pot suggestions? I had always been angling for more of a cascade, but the drop branch hasn’t materilized much. Maybe I could go for a shallower, wider, more feminine oval?

 

[TimIAm]

Do you not like the look of the berries? To me they're just a natural part of the tree.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Do you not like the look of the berries? To me they're just a natural part of the tree.

I do like the berries, but I hear that they slow down development. For the winter this tree goes into my pseudo hydroponic LED enclosure, and the roots stretch out feet into the reservoir. It always takes a hit in strength when transitioned back outside under the natural sun, because I chop off these roots.
Also because I want to have full strength going into my planned repot this summer, I particularly wanted to remove this year. Knowing this tree, I have a feeling the berries will be back in great numbers by this time next year.

I’ve never done a show, but it could be cool to try keeping the berries and defoliating, some year in the future, to see if I can get a refined image, but with lots of berries. My friends were saying they looked like mini limes. They do work well to scale, even better so than the leaf size.

 

[TimIAm]

There is a cafe near the train station here which has a large benji and it gets covered in masses of them. So, I think it will be a hard battle to win, because you don't have external flowers with ficus, those berries pop up almost overnight.

I know it's not for everyone but I like Pyracantha and Cotoneaster... i like berries.

Look forward to your repot post when it happens

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I picked a little something off of Etsy.

 

[LuZiKui]

I've got a couple pots from Denise and I love them, they are top notch. Good choice, cant wait to see what it looks like planted.