Wonderful tree! I hope to see the work you do to it in the future.I heard that Ficus benjamina doesn't backbud as well as other species, that's probably why they're not so often seen as bonsai.
But other esily available house plants are fun to play with. I bought this Ficus "Natacha" (different spellings according where it is sold) more than 15 years ago I think. It was actually a handful of cuttings grown in the same pot.
As a house-plant, it didn't go that well:
2007:
Leggy branches, a soil that hadn't been changed for years, and all the mistakes you can do to a house plant.
But I thought that the base could maybe be interesting. So I started to work on it. It was quite promissing, but I didn't take care of it in the past two years.
2012:
2016:
Actually, I really don't know how to shape it!
I think I will repot it in early spring (April) and take a lot of cuttings from the branches, reducing the taller ones to a quarter of their lenght in hope of making it develop more horizontally.
I have a similar story but mine got to big. So now I have started reducing it to see where it goes.I heard that Ficus benjamina doesn't backbud as well as other species, that's probably why they're not so often seen as bonsai.
But other esily available house plants are fun to play with. I bought this Ficus "Natacha" (different spellings according where it is sold) more than 15 years ago I think. It was actually a handful of cuttings grown in the same pot.
As a house-plant, it didn't go that well:
2007:
Leggy branches, a soil that hadn't been changed for years, and all the mistakes you can do to a house plant.
But I thought that the base could maybe be interesting. So I started to work on it. It was quite promissing, but I didn't take care of it in the past two years.
2012:
2016:
Actually, I really don't know how to shape it!
I think I will repot it in early spring (April) and take a lot of cuttings from the branches, reducing the taller ones to a quarter of their lenght in hope of making it develop more horizontally.
Bleep yeah. That is some big bonsai. One would amost call it a tree!but mine got to big
Was wondering if we'd see a too little benjamina here. Probably my favorite ficus of those I've worked with. If you want that trunk to bulk up, put it in a larger pot and let it grow unrestricted for a few seasons. You'll definitely see a difference after a while. Trunk size stays the same forever on these otherwise.Benjamina too little. I've had this thing for about 17 years had i known what I know now I'd have been growing this thing out in a bigger pot for a while but since I diddnt it still looks the same as it did ten years ago. maybe the inverse taper has gotten a lil bulkier. I've made several cutting off this over the years but all seem to be quite slow growing. Sorry for the shit in the background View attachment 122097
That tree is my inspiration for the giant ficus I got a little over a month ago, should only take me 10 years or soHere's one a bit further along. View attachment 125355 View attachment 125356
Your absolutely correct about all of those things. These can and will back budd, but not reliably, and NEVER where you want a branch.Some nice trees in this thread, but most are tall, leggy, thin. Since everyone agrees that they don't back bud well, I wonder if we should be treating them differently in development. Instead of letting them grow unchecked until we get the trunk girth we desire, perhaps we should be focused on keeping low limbs? Sacrifice top growth and speed of thickening to keep better limb choices during development?