Can I get you to focus on this Ficus?

[Frew]

Hello all, I recently picked up this Ficus from a big box store. Traditionally I'm not a fan of the ginseng variety but when I seen this one my impulses got the best of me. Normally I have the good fortune of not being a very impulsive person but we all have our days. It was going cost me next to nothing so I figured I'd give it a go. A week later and I feel like the more I know, the less I know. There is so much confusion around the ficus! So here's what I'm hoping our BN community can help me to better understand. What is this specific Ficus? Am I mistaken in thinking this a ginseng? Aren't all ficus ginseng just f. microcarpa? Aren't all the ficus we deal with microcarpa? I see folks referring to ginseng as retusa but I've read that's not right (something to do with an archipelago). Will this type of ficus develope aerial roots? Why are so many of these trees grafted? Tiger Bark, can a ginseng be a Tiger Bark and viscera? And I guess what I'm most curious about is what should I expect from this tree? The chunkiest part of this tree is root but how will it behave? Will is act as a sort of trunk? Will I be able to grow the actual trunk out and achieve taper into those two large roots? I've got plenty of time and enough patience to have 4 kids 3 of which are daughters
Do any of you have a mature ficus that started out similar that you wouldn't mind showing off?
Thank you all in advance.

 

[SWfloirda]

They are a microcarpa grafted to a microcarpa specifically grown to achieve the fat trunk. I have had two for about three years.
February 2019-July 2022

 

[SWfloirda]

January 2019-July 2022. I put this one on a rock.

 

[SWfloirda]

Full Florida sun. I have made several videos with both of them.

Ginseng Ficus. Common name given to a ficus microcarpa grafted to another ficus microcarpa. There are two tree in this playlist. One over a rock.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgbGLotM0QN4YzUspOg5IQr6mZDZ1Y7Te

 

[mergal]

this is my ficus ginseng

 

[19Mateo83]

Here’s one of mine that I chopped the roots off on. It is recovering quite well. You can see the aerial roots starting to develop. I’ve only had this tree maybe 9 months, with the right conditions they grow quite quickly. You can see why they graft these, the original foliage of the ginseng root has fairly large leaves. The #1 most important thing right now is to check that pot for a drainage hole. A lot of the “bonsai” trees sold in big box stores do not have drainage holes in the bottom of the pots. #2 is get you some free draining bonsai soil and get that tree out of the muck it was sold in, it will thank you with growth and this time of the year is when you repot ficus. And last but least #3, Welcome to the nut house!

 

[Ugo]

Hi!

I got mine since a couple years now but the tree has been trained more seriously in the past 2 years.

Im try to use aerial roots to cover the big bulge trunk which I hope would make it look more natural. Lots of work still has to be done on the nebari.
Dont take this as a final result (which doesnt exist in bonsai!) but the process of growing aerial roots around that buldge can be an option for you.

I see your tree as a nice sumo bonsai!

 

[Frew]

The #1 most important thing right now is to check that pot for a drainage hole. A lot of the “bonsai” trees sold in big box stores do not have drainage holes in the bottom of the pots.

There is a drainage hole, and I did notice that most of the others didn't have drainage holes AND we're priced higher .

#2 is get you some free draining bonsai soil and get that tree out of the muck it was sold in, it will thank you with growth and this time of the year is when you repot ficus.

This! I do have soil, I made my own mixture (after about a month of reading) went with DE for it's affordability considering I'm a novice and dealing with such young material, scoria, pumice and pine bark. I'm a pretty slow mover, I figure once a thing is done it can be hard to undo so I like to take my time. That's beside the point. When I went to repot I started messing around under the, what looks like straight spagnum that this Ficus is in and from what I can tell it has zero roots. As in, that's bulbus part the the trunk is sitting on is it... Everything under that is smooth. At that point I felt I should get some advice on wether it should be left alone to grown some finer roots, fearing that what little might be there maybe shouldn't be disturbed or if a repot will encourage root growth. I've got the weekend off work and had planned on doing the repot today. I'll take pictures as I go along.

 

[Frew]

Full Florida sun. I have made several videos with both of them.

Ginseng Ficus. Common name given to a ficus microcarpa grafted to another ficus microcarpa. There are two tree in this playlist. One over a rock.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgbGLotM0QN4YzUspOg5IQr6mZDZ1Y7Te

Thank you! Working in the yard today but will definitely check out your videos tonight. I appreciate the resource

 

[19Mateo83]

I’ve learned that these ficus will grow roots very readily when it’s happy in its soil. The reason it has almost no roots is more than likely it has been to wet and they rotted away. This can be fixed rather easily. You can also trim the tips of the tuber roots to stimulate root growth. Here’s a link to how I did my root chop, maybe you can find some useful info in it. https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/off-with-its-tubes-🏴‍☠️.55656/

 

[19Mateo83]

here’s another resource you may find helpful, not that you have to chop your tubes, but lots of good information in here
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/no-more-tubes.23905/

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Frew]

I see your tree as a nice sumo bonsai!

Wow! That is a very interesting style. I haven't run across it until now, if I had I didn't have the context. Good looking out!

 

[Frew]

Repotted today, had to build a box first. Here's how it went. I up-potted it a little bit. There wasn't much in the way of fine roots so I didn't do much work. There was one larger root I didn't see any point in keeping so I cut it. I'll post updates via this thread, we'll see.

 

[BonScience]

Hi!

I got mine since a couple years now but the tree has been trained more seriously in the past 2 years.

Im try to use aerial roots to cover the big bulge trunk which I hope would make it look more natural. Lots of work still has to be done on the nebari.
Dont take this as a final result (which doesnt exist in bonsai!) but the process of growing aerial roots around that buldge can be an option for you.

I see your tree as a nice sumo bonsai!

View attachment 449330

Absolutely love these roots! Hope i can achieve something similar with my potato ficus

 

[19Mateo83]

Repotted today, had to build a box first. Here's how it went. I up-potted it a little bit. There wasn't much in the way of fine roots so I didn't do much work. There was one larger root I didn't see any point in keeping so I cut it. I'll post updates via this thread, we'll see.

well done and nice little grow box! Your ficus should reward you with new growth and hopefully some aerial roots! It should be humid enough to stimulate them in Alabama

 

[Frew]

well done and nice little grow box! Your ficus should reward you with new growth and hopefully some aerial roots! It should be humid enough to stimulate them in Alabama

Hey thank you! Yes, very very humid out here. I've recently built a small shed from pallet wood and can't for the life of me get a break in the rain to stain it lol (pictures attached because I'm proud). We're the little Amazon here in Mobile Alabama. I joined a local bonsai group and went to my first meeting the past Tuesday. I'm telling you I'm so deep into this thing. It's captured me in a way nothing else ever has. It's all so interesting.

 

[Frew]

Absolutely love these roots! Hope i can achieve something similar with my potato ficus

Thanks, me too. Post some pictures of what you've got.

 

[19Mateo83]

It’s amazing what you can do with a kreg jig ain’t it . Well done!

 

[Frew]

It’s amazing what you can do with a kreg jig ain’t it . Well done!

Oh yeah! I put some miles on the thing for sure. They're so handy