Geo
Chumono
Like Baja Sur,where I get no areal roots at all on the one benjamina i have. Unless I put it in plastic. Not doing that.
Pond baskets/colanders to be used on tropicals. Yes or no?
- Thread starter BK Bonsai
- Start date
Like Baja Sur,where I get no areal roots at all on the one benjamina i have. Unless I put it in plastic. Not doing that.
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
Well for what is worth, Wiki, in the Mango Article, states that Julie Mangoes do poorly in Florida,
because it is too humid.
Whereas on my side they do very well.
That said, in our dry season - no rain - the ficus p. still puts out roots, where ever it wishes, and
through air-pot holes or galvanised roofing and concrete walls in hot sun.
Good Day
Anthony
* Ficus p. in a 1" deep [2.5 cm ] pot of 5 mm gravel with dusting of compost on the surface,
Will thicken after a branch reaches close to 2' to 3' in length.
This is the only way thus far to control the coarse growing.
because it is too humid.
Whereas on my side they do very well.
That said, in our dry season - no rain - the ficus p. still puts out roots, where ever it wishes, and
through air-pot holes or galvanised roofing and concrete walls in hot sun.
Good Day
Anthony
* Ficus p. in a 1" deep [2.5 cm ] pot of 5 mm gravel with dusting of compost on the surface,
Will thicken after a branch reaches close to 2' to 3' in length.
This is the only way thus far to control the coarse growing.
carp
Chumono
Ficus produce aerial roots for a number of reasons. Too wet, too dry, not enough food, or not enough room.
Ficus are not truly epiphytes but do behave similarly in the sense that the roots can grow in air. A fig seed is swallowed by a bird, poops it into a tree, it germinates in that tree and lives off the moisture in the bark/rain until its roots hit the ground.
I've seen enough overgrown ficus to know that those holes in the colander would just fill up with roots instead of pruning them.
Ficus are not truly epiphytes but do behave similarly in the sense that the roots can grow in air. A fig seed is swallowed by a bird, poops it into a tree, it germinates in that tree and lives off the moisture in the bark/rain until its roots hit the ground.
I've seen enough overgrown ficus to know that those holes in the colander would just fill up with roots instead of pruning them.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
BK Bonsai
Yamadori
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
Sorce,
the way ficus grows, you need little real soil. We just fill the shallow pot with 5 mm gravel and sprinkle some compost on top.
Water in and rest from repotting in the shade / bright light for a week.
A month later, a weak fertiliser into moist soil.
That is all you need.
Aerial roots, can be decorative, so instead of just cutting off, see if they can worked into the design.
Our Ficus p. just likes lots of sun, and a watering in the morning.
When the compost is used up, sprinkle some more.
They do not like a lot of soil, and will grow poorly, especiallyi in highly organic material.
And that is all the growing of a fat trunked Ficus p needs, plus some love.
Good Day
Anthony
^Works on Ficus b and quite a few of it's sports.
the way ficus grows, you need little real soil. We just fill the shallow pot with 5 mm gravel and sprinkle some compost on top.
Water in and rest from repotting in the shade / bright light for a week.
A month later, a weak fertiliser into moist soil.
That is all you need.
Aerial roots, can be decorative, so instead of just cutting off, see if they can worked into the design.
Our Ficus p. just likes lots of sun, and a watering in the morning.
When the compost is used up, sprinkle some more.
They do not like a lot of soil, and will grow poorly, especiallyi in highly organic material.
And that is all the growing of a fat trunked Ficus p needs, plus some love.
Good Day
Anthony
^Works on Ficus b and quite a few of it's sports.
BK Bonsai
Yamadori
@Anthony check out my ficus http://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ficus-styling-advice.20907/. It's currently in a foot long pot that is about 3 inches tall. I will be re-potting it in the spring. How much wider of a training pot would I need to get it growing a thicker trunk?
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
Nick,
firstly, never experiment on the mother plant.
Please get at least 5 more plants. They don't have to be expensive bonsai, or take cuttings.
What you need to check is the response to the soil mix.
Talk to Seth = Carp. or Stacy = Sawgrass [ both in Florida ] or can you find a specialist in your area?
We are tropical, with no chance of frost [ always above 60 deg.F ]
It is much simpler than apartment growing.
Ficus retusa, grows in very little soil down here. 5 mm gravel and a sprinkle of compost.
Or 5 mm of a non porous inorganic and a sprinkle of organic.
Good Day
Anthony
firstly, never experiment on the mother plant.
Please get at least 5 more plants. They don't have to be expensive bonsai, or take cuttings.
What you need to check is the response to the soil mix.
Talk to Seth = Carp. or Stacy = Sawgrass [ both in Florida ] or can you find a specialist in your area?
We are tropical, with no chance of frost [ always above 60 deg.F ]
It is much simpler than apartment growing.
Ficus retusa, grows in very little soil down here. 5 mm gravel and a sprinkle of compost.
Or 5 mm of a non porous inorganic and a sprinkle of organic.
Good Day
Anthony
carp
Chumono
carp
Chumono
The above is Ficus natalensis. It would eat the basket. Air pruning doesn't work on roots that grow on the air??
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
BK Bonsai
Yamadori
Sorry, should have been more clear. I have read tons and tons about bonsai soil and their ingredients, but I have had little time to experiment with it yet, so this will be going into a bonsai soil mix made by a professional and owner/operator of bonsaiofbrooklyn.com He makes one soil mix that he swears will work very well for every species. I'm a big believer in that every species should have its own type of soil mix, but until I have time to test my belief, I will be using his soil mix. It consists of about 13 ingredients. I have no idea how much of each ingredient he uses, but I do see turface, pinebark, possibly decomposed granite, some bonemeal...not sure about the rest. He claims it has enough nutrients in the soil for the tree to grow vigorous with out vitamins or fertilizer for up to 6 months.
Anyway so assuming I'm using this soil, how big/wide of a training pot do you think it should go in?
Last edited:
milehigh_7
Mister 500,000
Like everything else, the answer is, it depends. Carp knows ficus in Florida and humid areas but here is a Ficus microcarpa in Phoenix. no air roots just a normal looking street tree. Not a single air root to be found. When roots hit dry air, they die. If the roots fill your basket then, A) get a bigger basket or B) reduce the root mass as desired. The point to baskets is not that the roots won't fill up the basket but rather that the roots in the basket are mainly fine feeder roots as close to the trunk as possible. Whereas, that simply will never be the case in the ground or a regular pot. This is why the double basket/ basket in the ground is idiocy...
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
Nick,
okay here is the problem. For us Ficus does poorly in soils high in organic mixes and normal pots.
I will illustrate below with images after all of this writing.
So my advice might not work on your side.
Still here goes.
[1] Use a shallow pot at about 1" to 1,5" in depth.
[2] Use a soil mix with [ by volume ] 5 shovels of non porous inorganic and 1 shovel of organic material.
[3] A 1/3 strength fertiliser into moist soil.
[4] As close to sunlight as you can get and some form of a light breeze.
A pot about as long as the tree is tall, and very shallow.
[5] Talk to the guys from Florida
[6] Ignore all I have written and ask the guy at Bonsai Brooklyn.
[1] Images, 1st attempt at grow Ficus p. [ looks like the popular one from Florida, but ours is also a proper tree that weeps.]
Disaster, coarse and wounds will require special techniques to heal properly.
[2] Started over in 2009 / 2010
[3] 2015 - 3" trunk and good surface roots - pot at 1" or so deep.
Next refinement of branches.
Tree behaves like an orchid, needs little to live on.
Wounds are minimal and healing nicely.
First attempt back in 1990's
second attempt - 2009 / 2010
4th year 9 month 2013 - extension branch for thickening
November 2015
okay here is the problem. For us Ficus does poorly in soils high in organic mixes and normal pots.
I will illustrate below with images after all of this writing.
So my advice might not work on your side.
Still here goes.
[1] Use a shallow pot at about 1" to 1,5" in depth.
[2] Use a soil mix with [ by volume ] 5 shovels of non porous inorganic and 1 shovel of organic material.
[3] A 1/3 strength fertiliser into moist soil.
[4] As close to sunlight as you can get and some form of a light breeze.
A pot about as long as the tree is tall, and very shallow.
[5] Talk to the guys from Florida
[6] Ignore all I have written and ask the guy at Bonsai Brooklyn.
[1] Images, 1st attempt at grow Ficus p. [ looks like the popular one from Florida, but ours is also a proper tree that weeps.]
Disaster, coarse and wounds will require special techniques to heal properly.
[2] Started over in 2009 / 2010
[3] 2015 - 3" trunk and good surface roots - pot at 1" or so deep.
Next refinement of branches.
Tree behaves like an orchid, needs little to live on.
Wounds are minimal and healing nicely.
First attempt back in 1990's
second attempt - 2009 / 2010
4th year 9 month 2013 - extension branch for thickening
November 2015
aml1014
Masterpiece
You my friend have convinced me to grow some badass sacrifice branches starting now. Lol
Aaron
carp
Chumono
@milehigh_7
let's stop and think about this.
*we're currently in a low humidity climate.
our ficus is now in a colander, in bonsai soil, probably mostly inorganic.*
you are watering your ficus bonsai (most likely) everyday and surely you are fertilizing as well.
your fertilizer is either on the soil surface, or you use water soluble, doesn't matter either way.
and to water properly, the entire soil mass needs to be drenched.
which means nutrient-rich water flows out of the bottom of the pot.
in this case a colander, which means, water flows out from everywhere.
which means roots hanging in the air are getting wet and fertilized...everyday.
suddenly, you have moisture on the roots exposed to the air.
boom.
ficus have an epiphytic nature.
they are not true epiphytes, but can grow their roots in the air if they can find moisture.
its part of their DNA, not a climatic phenomena.
you're talking about aerial root formation on trunks.
i'm talking about roots that grow from within the soil and then out out the drainage holes.
in a dry climate, you need to stimulate aerial root formation, that is correct.
let's stop and think about this.
*we're currently in a low humidity climate.
our ficus is now in a colander, in bonsai soil, probably mostly inorganic.*
you are watering your ficus bonsai (most likely) everyday and surely you are fertilizing as well.
your fertilizer is either on the soil surface, or you use water soluble, doesn't matter either way.
and to water properly, the entire soil mass needs to be drenched.
which means nutrient-rich water flows out of the bottom of the pot.
in this case a colander, which means, water flows out from everywhere.
which means roots hanging in the air are getting wet and fertilized...everyday.
suddenly, you have moisture on the roots exposed to the air.
boom.
ficus have an epiphytic nature.
they are not true epiphytes, but can grow their roots in the air if they can find moisture.
its part of their DNA, not a climatic phenomena.
you're talking about aerial root formation on trunks.
i'm talking about roots that grow from within the soil and then out out the drainage holes.
in a dry climate, you need to stimulate aerial root formation, that is correct.
Anthony
Imperial Masterpiece
George,
our Ficus p, doesn't seem to like too much water. The non porous inorganic satisfies the situation.
By the way, we have this ficus test as, formal, informal, broom and slanted, same pot design.
Full sun, and breeze also knocks out the water retention problematic of shallow pots.
Tamarinds according to the more experienced folk from the Philippines, should be repotted around May / June.
After a month of Fertiliser, you can safely defoliate, so say May 1st repot, and June first fertilise, July first or so
defoliate to get more branchlets.
Be prepared to take a fine piece of say, Bamboo Skewer, to carefully remove the extra buds, as you make your
choices for branchlet direction.
Got a tree here, went into the grow trough at less than 1/2" in trunk last year around this time, presently just about
2" in diameter and it is hoped that it will make 3" by May. for branch placement, then removal for fine training.
Good Day
Anthony
our Ficus p, doesn't seem to like too much water. The non porous inorganic satisfies the situation.
By the way, we have this ficus test as, formal, informal, broom and slanted, same pot design.
Full sun, and breeze also knocks out the water retention problematic of shallow pots.
Tamarinds according to the more experienced folk from the Philippines, should be repotted around May / June.
After a month of Fertiliser, you can safely defoliate, so say May 1st repot, and June first fertilise, July first or so
defoliate to get more branchlets.
Be prepared to take a fine piece of say, Bamboo Skewer, to carefully remove the extra buds, as you make your
choices for branchlet direction.
Got a tree here, went into the grow trough at less than 1/2" in trunk last year around this time, presently just about
2" in diameter and it is hoped that it will make 3" by May. for branch placement, then removal for fine training.
Good Day
Anthony
Geo
Chumono
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