11 trees equal 1

JudyB said:
I like this, and really like the pot, (who was the maker?) but something about the angle in the old pot reads more hillside than the planted angle in the new pot. Something about the left clump. I liked the hilly feel from the other angle, and miss it in the newer planting.
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Thanks for the reply! I don't currently know the maker off hand, I have had the pot for a while now and was informed at the time of purchase who it was, but have since forgotten. Sorry, will try and find out.

As far as the hill... when I originally arranged the piece and put all the individual trees together, because of the angle of some of them, I needed to plant them in a deeper pot and up on a hill to have room for all the roots to fit.

In this second planting, I have since removed alot of these roots, and needed to get it in a shallower pot to encourage the new roots, as well as the older ones to begin to grow more horizontal. Two other reasons for doing this is that with ficus they really start producing nice surface roots when they become compact and almost root bound. Secondly, they begin to send out more ariel roots as well.

Once I have begun to obtain some of this, I will be raising the whole tree in the planting once again. So I can show off the roots.
 
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As I can't buy these at a shop, a friend has 10 1 year cuttings that he sold to me and I am going to twist them a bit.
Looks like a new project!

Thanks for the idea sawgrass
 
barrosinc said:
As I can't buy these at a shop, a friend has 10 1 year cuttings that he sold to me and I am going to twist them a bit.
Looks like a new project!

Thanks for the idea sawgrass
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Check out some of Hank Miller's threads here a B-Nut as well... he has created a whole bunch of ficus trees incorporating the use of binding cuttings to form one tree.
 
Did you stick the plants together? (nails, screws, wires, graft tape, etc)
I started looking for more stuff like this. (Best info came with googling "fused ficus bonsai") and found that some recommend sticking them together and wounding to create fusing points. Is it really needed?
 
barrosinc said:
Did you stick the plants together? (nails, screws, wires, graft tape, etc)
I started looking for more stuff like this. (Best info came with googling "fused ficus bonsai") and found that some recommend sticking them together and wounding to create fusing points. Is it really needed?
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Unneeded it just helps speed things up a bit. If a ficus is touching any part of itself or another tree it'll fuse with time.
 
barrosinc said:
Did you stick the plants together? (nails, screws, wires, graft tape, etc)
I started looking for more stuff like this. (Best info came with googling "fused ficus bonsai") and found that some recommend sticking them together and wounding to create fusing points. Is it really needed?
Click to expand...
Because there were 11 different trees, I did wire them together temporary while I figure out how and where to place more and to keep the bundle secure... seeing that I bare rooted all the trees and built the composition, then potted it as one piece.

But as am1014 said, one does not necessarily have to do this... Ficus will naturally over time bond to pretty much anything they come into contact with. Binding them tight together with a grafting tape does speed up the process, but one needs to be careful, as to not leave on too long, will grow over the top of it as well.
 
Yes, you are correct, not a very advanced procedure! But, if I put it in the tropical section, no one sees it,-sawgrass

I will. But I know what you mean. I live in the "tropics" now and really appreciate the input. Wish there were more members from about 27N lat. and south.
 
Thank you for your time, sawgrass!
sawgrass said:
... ...I am more than aware that not everyone will have the luxury or the $$$ to be able to purchase or find world class material to work on... ...So, then what to do? You just gotta be creative and make what you can afford into the best that you can. And yes it is possible to come up with a nice tree off of crappy big box store material... ... Hopefully, some others will try it... it is a nice way of making crap into something kinda nice. And obviously, this could of been done with less trees... one could do a really cool tree with half of the number I chose.
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Advanced or not your project is really inspiring. And this is indeed helpful!
 
OMG this is so brilliant! Totally doing this in the spring! Do you think it's something a beginner could really pull off well or would you not recommend it? I'm thinking just 3 though...let's not get crazy.
 
Ceijay said:
OMG this is so brilliant! Totally doing this in the spring! Do you think it's something a beginner could really pull off well or would you not recommend it? I'm thinking just 3 though...let's not get crazy.
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Sorry, I missed your question, of course someone just starting off could do this. I just put this in the Advanced category seeing it would get lost in the tropical section. Hardest part is just composing multiple trees to make a single cohesive looking single tree. Which mainly just takes time removing certain areas and growing out others.
 
Ceijay said:
.let's not get crazy.
Click to expand...

Oh LET'S!

I think this should be advanced for the pure fact that it is an advanced thought that no one else had!

And hell, it really ain't easy to throw 11 trees together cohesively.

Taped, glued.....nope.....

Nailed it!

Please tell me you got a photo to update with. But, if they are all fused, please don't, or I will cry tears if zone envy!

Sorce
 
Very impressive..I like what you have done. When everything is fused it will look like a large tree that is 100 years old.
 
Would you consider it a good idea to put it in a larger grow box to help the fusing? Or it isn't needed?
 
Just found this thread, I really like the composition and I think the pot goes well. Any new pictures you could post?
 
sawgrass said:
View attachment 74775 View attachment 74776
This is a composition I created a 1 year and 7 months ago. It is composed of 11 "S" curve ficus that were purchased from a big box store. I did not get a picture of it when initially planted. First pic is one year after. Second is today. Was repotted last week into this Japanese pot with some wicked patina.
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Very cool! In several years when they fuse this will be spectacular. Thanks for sharing with us how to make something out of nothing!
 
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