Guess what, another Ficus....

[Redwood Ryan]

Using the virt in the beginning of the thread, a friend on another forum created this virt for me. It's a little out of proportion, but you get the idea. It's a semi-cascade, but I'm not too much a fan for cascades or semi-cascades. Just throwin' it out there

 

[Si Nguyen]

Do you think leaving the tree as it is now (current angle) would be enough to have it grow like you've drawn? In your third drawing the leader is pointed to the left, but as the tree sits now it is pointing to the right. I wonder if that'd make a difference?

Lean it to the right then. The key thing at this point is to hide the trunk chop. Looking at your original tree in the first post, I can see that maybe you could save one or two of the lowest branches and style this tree as a multi-trunk design. That would be the fastest way to develop this tree I think. Just look at your friend's virtual design and imagine that your tree is leaned more to the right and the first branch on the left is another smaller trunk going upward. That would be an awesome bonsai!! Expose those roots now. They will fuse later and make your nebari more interesting.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Using the virt in the beginning of the thread, a friend on another forum created this virt for me. It's a little out of proportion, but you get the idea. It's a semi-cascade, but I'm not too much a fan for cascades or semi-cascades. Just throwin' it out there

View attachment 29874

Cool design! and I really don't want to critique it, but do you see how ficus branches don't really grow downward like that? Your apex branch will never be able to develop into that look.

 

[Si Nguyen]

Thank you Si, for the sketch. Now all is clear, and makes perfect sense. Similar to Peter Adams techniques in the Maple book I have, but looks like you let the sacrifice trunk remain longer.

Thanks Judy. I will have to get that Peter Adams maple book to see how he described this process. I put ficus on the sketch here but the idea could apply to most deciduous trees too. Yeah, the sacrifice trunk should stay on until it almost matches the trunk below it. In this case, Ryan's ficus has a really tiny leader so the sacrifice trunk will have to grow out long for at least a year or two before it can be chopped back. If it was growing outside in warmer climate, then maybe 6 months would be enough. He needs to get a proper greenhouse already, if he got the ficus bug so bad!

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Lean it to the right then. The key thing at this point is to hide the trunk chop. Looking at your original tree in the first post, I can see that maybe you could save one or two of the lowest branches and style this tree as a multi-trunk design. That would be the fastest way to develop this tree I think. Just look at your friend's virtual design and imagine that your tree is leaned more to the right and the first branch on the left is another smaller trunk going upward. That would be an awesome bonsai!! Expose those roots now. They will fuse later and make your nebari more interesting.

Thanks Si, that's what I'm thinking as well. Not so sure as I'd want to go multi-trunk with this tree (I'm more of a single, powerful base, kind of person), but it's always a good idea to keep my options open.

Cool design! and I really don't want to critique it, but do you see how ficus branches don't really grow downward like that? Your apex branch will never be able to develop into that look.

Oh yes, I definitely see that, good point.

Thanks Judy. I will have to get that Peter Adams maple book to see how he described this process. I put ficus on the sketch here but the idea could apply to most deciduous trees too. Yeah, the sacrifice trunk should stay on until it almost matches the trunk below it. In this case, Ryan's ficus has a really tiny leader so the sacrifice trunk will have to grow out long for at least a year or two before it can be chopped back. If it was growing outside in warmer climate, then maybe 6 months would be enough. He needs to get a proper greenhouse already, if he got the ficus bug so bad!

Proper greenhouse, I wish, but my parents wouldn't be fans of that idea

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Chopped back:


Playing with a planting angle:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

After a short bout with spider mites, this thing is growing like a weed. I ended up cutting it back (to easily manage the mites), then planted at an angle. I'm not 100% pleased with the angle, but will toy around with it when I repot the tree and actually trim the roots.

Here's the tree shortly after being repotted/pruned back on February 10th:


Then the tree on the 18th:


And the tree as of tonight. Quite a substantial amount of growth in such a short time:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Here's this tree as of tonight. I repotted it again, planted it at a better angle, then clipped it back and wired it tonight:

 

[Joshua]

I am in awe of your collection.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I am in awe of your collection.

Thank you sir, but my collection is nothing to sneeze at, you should see the collections of people that really know what they're doing.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Tonight:


Tomorrow I'll be repotting it and reducing the rootball significantly in preparation for winter. No, it won't be coming indoors, but a smaller pot for when it is indoors will sure help. The bulb pans just take up so much room.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Tonight:

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Ryan,

Do you find that they do OK when repotted now? I have a ficus forest that really needs repotting and have been tempted to do it. I don't bring it or any of the tropicals inside unless it dips below 40.

John

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Ryan,

Do you find that they do OK when repotted now? I have a ficus forest that really needs repotting and have been tempted to do it. I don't bring it or any of the tropicals inside unless it dips below 40.

John

I don't look at repotting in terms of what season of the year it is, I look at whether or not the tree is actively growing. If it's actively growing then a repot won't hurt. If it's just sitting there I wouldn't touch it until it starts pushing growth again.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

OK, sounds good, it is growing some, but has slowed down significantly due to the cold. Looks like a repot this weekend.

Thanks,

John

 

[KennedyMarx]

Tonight:
View attachment 46216

Good start on the branching. Are you planning on putting this one outside during the summer? I imagine it wouldn't take long to thicken up the branches and start trimming for ramification.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Good start on the branching. Are you planning on putting this one outside during the summer? I imagine it wouldn't take long to thicken up the branches and start trimming for ramification.

Yep, this one will go outside with the others.