New World strangler figs for bonsai?

Michael P · Dec 22, 2022

Just returned from Costa Rica, and the strangler figs were magnificent! (So was almost everything else.) Their fluted trunks, aerial roots, and heavily buttressed nebari gave me serious bonsai fantasies. But the thing that surprised me was their small leaves, about the size of Ficus microcarpa. I think the species I saw were either F. aurea or F. citrifolia. Can anyone confirm this? Some photos are attached, but the trees were too tall to get details of foliage.

Next question, where can I get some?

SWfloirda · Dec 23, 2022

Aurea has huge leaves, I doubt that’s what they are. The trunks don’t look right either.

Michael P · Dec 23, 2022

Thanks! So that means F. citrifolia unless the ones I saw are exotic species imported as ornamentals. But that seems unlikely.

Michael P · Dec 23, 2022

With more research, F. citrifolia seems to be the one I saw. There are some very poor cuttings offered on EBay, and the species is listed but out of stock on TopTropicals. Any other suggestions for a source?

Guy Smiley · Dec 23, 2022

I would recommend looking at a ficus natalensis. Hank with https://www.tandamiti.com/ has some nice trees that he is looking to sell. I bought a tree from him this summer. Here is a ficus natalensis from the National Bonsai exhibit in Washington DC. I will post some pictures of the tree that I purchased from Frank later.

Michael P · Dec 23, 2022

Looking forward to seeing your tree. Most of the links on the home page seem to be broken, so I can't view any trees offered for sale.

Guy Smiley · Dec 23, 2022

Michael P said:
Looking forward to seeing your tree. Most of the links on the home page seem to be broken, so I can't view any trees offered for sale.

If you are interested in one of his trees I would recommend calling him. He is an older guy and still has many trees but has not been updating his web site. He is also in New York so I would think it would be hard to ship a tropical tree until spring time. I was reading the Jerry Meislik book Ficus Bonsai and the ficus natalensis was one of his recommended varieties. I looked around a lot of different places for a natalensis before finding Frank at Tandamiti. It was also nice that he had some larger trees available and was willing to ship.

SWfloirda · Dec 23, 2022

The website mentioned above didn't work for me either. Wigert's has a Dwarf African Strangler that is a variety of Natalensis.
FWIW here is my attempt at potting up an Aurea. These pictures are from July and August. It is still alive but was beat to hell in the hurricane.