Fallen Ficus !!

[edprocoat]

This is a Ficus Microcarpa I picked up last fall at North Dayton Garden Center in Dayton Ohio. I was looking for another Ficus and could not find one and somebody here told me about this place which had tons of Bonsai, I went there to find the plants in the Bonsai section were very expensive, but at the nursery side I picked this Ficus up in a nursery pot for around $10.00. It was three feet tall and not much to look at, lots of branches but very spindley. I trunk chopped it immediately and defoliated it laying it on its side, I had to remove some roots on the bottom side as it actually had a decent root spread but as thin as it was it would take years to become any thickness in the trunk area, and I was wanting to do a fallen tree anyway. I put it in a plastic shoe box and stuck it on a large rock and covered it with soil and stuck it in my grow box with a light on it and it started to leaf out, I took most the leaves off about 3 weeks ago and when they came back I found what I was looking for, a nice shallow pot in blue, my favorite pot color. I glued that rock to the bottom of the tray/pot and positioned the tree where I wanted it, the tray is 11 inches long and irregular shaped, the other stones just are there for looks. I plan on inducing some aerial roots over the rock by cutting some bark and brushing some rooting hormone on and covering the rock and trunk at that point down to the medium I am growing it in at the point where its touching teh rock, where I have it wired in place right now.

I hope you like it, it reminds me of many trees I see when fishing that have fallen over due to the soil being washed out at the base and then grow upright from that new position.

Here it is, my Fallen Ficus in progress.


ed

 

[edprocoat]

I figured I needed to post an update due to all the many responses and interest I received in this thread.

The original post. Feb 11/12


Fallen Ficus by edsnapshot, on Flickr

As of today Mar 24/12


Ficus Update by edsnapshot, on Flickr

I cut two 3/4's inch wounds just above the rock on the front and back and covered it with a plastic water bottle filled with spaghnum Moss to induce roots to grow over the rock. I thought the bottle was pretty clever as I can unscrew the lid to add water if needed, the tape is black duct tape to seal the botle where I cut it. The branch that popped up inside the bottle, barely visible in the picture, is one of two branches that grew in there for some reason, the large branch near the roots has an annoying little branch next to it that I have removed twice now, so I will leave it alone now that its back again.

My only hope is that I can keep up with all the responses this time !!!

ed

 

[Randy]

Neat idea with the bottle. I hope it works out for you and it turns out looking like you imagine. How warm does it stay near this tree? I know roots grow much much faster when there is humidity(check) and ample heat(?).

Good for you for posting. I don't always comment on things because I try not to be a post monger and I rarely have something worth really contributing.

 

[bonsai barry]

I've seen a lot of bottles in bonsai circles, but none used as productively as this one!

 

[edprocoat]

Randy, last week or so its been around 85 degrees with bright sunshine, of course I am still in the Sunshine State! I am going back to Ohio in a week and the weather has been warm there, but if it gets cold it will go back in my hot box with lights on.

Man, now you got me thinking that I am a "post monger"

ed

 

[mat]

Neat idea, Ed. Keep us posted.

 

[Randy]

Not quite yet Ed! I meant I don't comment on another person's thread much when I don't have a question or something to contribute. Making your own thread and posting progressions is not "post monger" type behavior in the least. It is nice to see what other people are working on and trying out. Like the bottle is an interesting solution to your scenario and an interesting application of a common item.

Speaking of progression. How is your $4 cotoneaster looking in that heat!?

 

[edprocoat]

Not quite yet Ed! I meant I don't comment on another person's thread much when I don't have a question or something to contribute. Making your own thread and posting progressions is not "post monger" type behavior in the least. It is nice to see what other people are working on and trying out. Like the bottle is an interesting solution to your scenario and an interesting application of a common item.

Speaking of progression. How is your $4 cotoneaster looking in that heat!?

I gotta update that one, Its coming along nicely, the problem I have is with constant backbudding on the trunk. usually one would want this, but its a small tree and I cut off the odd angled branch and pulled up the other too create and apex leader out of it. Now its putting out twenty or so little clumps of foliage along the trunk from the soil up, I remove them every few days but it seems that is where this tree wants to spend its energy growing.

ed

 

[stacy allen muse]

ed when a tree falls this activity of shooting up growth back by the roots is pretty much common...
not sure if you plan on it, but I think you are going to end up with a raft style tree.
with your branches ending up as seperate trees...

 

[edprocoat]

ed when a tree falls this activity of shooting up growth back by the roots is pretty much common...
not sure if you plan on it, but I think you are going to end up with a raft style tree.
with your branches ending up as seperate trees...

The plant with the shooting up growth on the trunk I was speaking of was my cotoneaser that Randy asked about. True this one does have another little branch that has come back twice before next to the prominent one growing below the bottle, but even if I wind up with a raft style it will still be leaning on that rock with (hopefully) roots growing over it. Thats what I am shooting for so we'll see how it works out. I just hope it makes the trip back home safely, I have more trees damaged or killed while traveling. Its tough trying to keep them packed and secure while traveling 1000 miles over bumpy roads with idiots zipping by you and cutting you off.

ed

 

[stacy allen muse]

sorry ed, wasn't trying to be insulting with my post... I was just stating that I think you will end up finding that pulling up multiple trunks off you main trunk will probally end up being the way to go.

as far as travel... I gotta say they travel pretty good on the floor-board of the car. Just don't step on them, or put anything on the seat above, incase you have to slam on the brakes!!!

 

[edprocoat]

sorry ed, wasn't trying to be insulting with my post... I was just stating that I think you will end up finding that pulling up multiple trunks off you main trunk will probally end up being the way to go.

as far as travel... I gotta say they travel pretty good on the floor-board of the car. Just don't step on them, or put anything on the seat above, incase you have to slam on the brakes!!!

Stacy, no problem I did not take your post as the least bit insulting! I certainly hope my reply did not seem like I was upset. Your post got me to thinking, a dangerous thing at my age, I was looking at my tree and the pot I have it in and started to wonder if I could get the roots over the rock to take hold enough to support the top part then I might sever the bottom and grow it from there, then again, that would defeat the purpose of my original idea. I will just have to wait and see what develops.

I have a chevy silverado 3500, 1 ton flat bed loaded with equipment its a single cab truck and that is what I pull my RV with. With my Boston Bull, Darby in the cab I can't keep my Bonsai in there, his farting alone may kill them, its almost killed me before! As my plants are all less than 20 inches tall, except for Scheffelera and my Bald Cypress, I put them in a clear plastic box and water them and keep the lid sealed during travel, problem is the " slam on the brakes" that always seems to happen. I have 16 total, one box holds my tropicals, another for my Junipers, and one standing on its side for my scheffelera and bald cypress, these are jammed between equiptment that is fairly well secured, but a slam on the brake situation can be devastating. My wife says That I worry too much, they are only plants! This coming from a woman who actually can kill cactus, she has a black thumb, she is like the great plague to anything that grows. She has never seen a plant live beyond two weeks in her care and can not understand my dismay when a plant I have had for a decade gets crushed or knocked out of my truck in the middle of the highway or gets stolen from outside my RV? They say opposites attract...

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Forgot about this thread. I removed the bottle in July and had a bunch of nice roots growing down through the spaghnum moss over the rock. I was thrilled and hoped to allow the moss to rot away as the roots continued to grow. After a few rains I noticed where the tree was starting to sag down, which I could not understand as the rock should be supporting it. The rock was a neat piece of that stuff you find in Florida which is a bunch of compressed shells that are like they are glued together.

It looked white in the pictures but actually it had subtle colors of pinks and light yellows in it. I started to remove some of the moss due to the tree sagging and to my surprise the rock had come apart, more like it turned to mush, I assume from the water being trapped in the bottle which I grew the roots in.

I would say stay away from this stuff as it disintegrates when wet and does not make a good rock to grow something on at all. I went ahead and layered it, I had to cut off a lot of the roots as they had grown into the crumbled rock and had pieces of the rock/shell stuck in the roots, all in all a mess for all the trouble I put into it. I have yet to sever the layer, I did the moss and plastic wrapped with tape and it seems healthy, I will probably seperate it this week sometime.

ed