Air Layer This Ficus?

[ericN]

ryan, when the weather warms up, since this is a ficus, i think you can do some re pot, root work and chop at the same time, as long as you take care of it after the procedure. i would recommend a lava/pine bark mix and tent/bag it after. if you want more ficus to play with, stick the cut parts in a regular clay pot (since it is porous, it helps with root growth) and potting soil, bag it and you will be surprised how easy they take. plus, ficus base swell when they start growing roots and will add some taper in your cuttings.

hope that helps
eric

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I did end up air layering it, but after several months, it showed no signs of growth. I decided to undo the air layer and look at it today. I took off the air layer, and underneath of the air layer I noticed a bunch of new growth. The bottom section of the tree had started to sprout. I re-applied the rooting hormone and fixed the air layer. Should I just cut the tree in half at the air layer since the bottom section has new growth? Or should I wait for roots to grow in the moss first? I didn't see any signs of roots after all this time.

Here are the pics showing the growth underneath of the air layer:

The growth is also only on one side of the tree. I have no idea how I missed this before, but I am guessing that new growth was probably under the plastic wrap, which is why I didn't see it. I took it out of the plastic wrap, if it was in there at least.

Thanks!

Ryan

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Btw, when is a good time to repot tropicals? If they stay indoors all year, is any time good? Thanks!

 

[ericN]

early and mid summer is the best time for re-potting for tropicals.

hope that helps
eric

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Thank you! That helps. I am wanting to do a ROR with another ficus of mine, and I've looked at yours too many times to count and it just looks great! But, I have no idea where to start with doing that.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Here is the tree as of today:

And here is what I want to do with it:

The red arrow is where there is a bud or two, which I could use to grow into another branch. The yellow arrow shows that I could combine all of those branches by fusing, then move them down so they go out from the trunk and not out, and the green shows the new apex I could grow out. I could either hope for a bud next to the cut, or I could wire a branch from that cluster to use as the new leader. What do you think?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

The tree once again dropped all of it's leaves, so I placed it in my aquarium greenhouse and it has since bounced back:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Wow I haven't updated this in a while. Here is the tree as of today:

 

[plant_dr]

Did the top half of the tree survive?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Did the top half of the tree survive?

Unfortunately no, but that doesn't bother me as all I really was concerned about was the bottom. The top didn't show anything decent.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Update time!

New leader picked. Before:

After work:

And new leader and branches outlined:

Thoughts?