Rescued ficus b. "Nina"

[Zac]

Hi I'm newer to bonsai so still struggle to see trees potential sometimes. I rescued this ficus from neighbors trash pile when they moved out. It was only in a 2 1/2" nursery pot and only had about 20 leaves on it and the roots were just a knot of large tubers. I reported into a 6" pot it's still in and fertilized it and cared for it all spring and summer. It filled in nice in some spots but not others. Any way I'm struggling to see potential in tree as a bonsai or should I just keep as house plant. It's alittle over 2 feet tall and base of trunk about 1 inch across above roots. Any in site appreciated.
Thanks
Zac

 

[Shibui]

You appear to have done a great job nursing it back to health.
I'm not a big fan of F. benjamina for bonsai. You can't cut roots hard and sometimes they don't react well to hard pruning anywhere near as well as many other Ficus sp.
That said, some growers do get good results if they are aware of the limitations.

When looking at bonsai potential, just try to focus on the lower trunk and base of the trunk. The rest is simply sacrifice growth and will likely be chopped off. There's not much taper in the trunk so it will probably need to be chopped above a convenient branch - which will then become the trunk.
Maybe even this far back - cut at red line. Brown is the new trunk line.

That may seem harsh but sometimes it's necessary to take a few steps backward to move forward.

In early stage development just look for roots, lower trunk and lower branches. Everything else should develop from there. It's rare to style a good bonsai from raw stock in one go. You need to look 2,3, 5 years, or even more, into the future to allow time for the branches to develop and grow.

 

[Zac]

You appear to have done a great job nursing it back to health.
I'm not a big fan of F. benjamina for bonsai. You can't cut roots hard and sometimes they don't react well to hard pruning anywhere near as well as many other Ficus sp.
That said, some growers do get good results if they are aware of the limitations.

When looking at bonsai potential, just try to focus on the lower trunk and base of the trunk. The rest is simply sacrifice growth and will likely be chopped off. There's not much taper in the trunk so it will probably need to be chopped above a convenient branch - which will then become the trunk.
Maybe even this far back - cut at red line. Brown is the new trunk line.
View attachment 570031
That may seem harsh but sometimes it's necessary to take a few steps backward to move forward.

In early stage development just look for roots, lower trunk and lower branches. Everything else should develop from there. It's rare to style a good bonsai from raw stock in one go. You need to look 2,3, 5 years, or even more, into the future to allow time for the branches to develop and grow.

Ok thanks maybe I'll just grow it out into a house plant (tree).

 

[penumbra]

'Nina' is one of my favorite variegated dwarf benjamini. I have a few different variegated ones but I love the consistency of the color on this variety. It is very upright growing very apically dominant. This of course makes it a challenge for some styles. I would let it grow on and look forward to taking cutting or air layers. Normally I do not like variegated bonsai, but I have made an exception here.

 

[Zac]

'Nina' is one of my favorite variegated dwarf benjamini. I have a few different variegated ones but I love the consistency of the color on this variety. It is very upright growing very apically dominant. This of course makes it a challenge for some styles. I would let it grow on and look forward to taking cutting or air layers. Normally I do not like variegated bonsai, but I have made an exception here.

Thank you. Yes I find the color interesting. When I got it there weren't any leaves on the bottom branches and only a few on the top. I'd say the top 8-10" is all new since I got it. I thought of airlayering the top off since its growing well. Will have to repot next year because it's already filled the 6" pot and has started sending out air roots

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

That's a great catch. Awesome job on the aftercare. I'm not much of a "houseplant" guy, but if I had this one, I'd second-guess myself. But it does have potential. I agree with @Shibui as far as next steps for bonsai styling, but if it were my decision, I would wait until early summer to air layer and repot. Ficus can handle being root bound for a long time.

 

[Zac]

That's a great catch. Awesome job on the aftercare. I'm not much of a "houseplant" guy, but if I had this one, I'd second-guess myself. But it does have potential. I agree with @Shibui as far as next steps for bonsai styling, but if it were my decision, I would wait until early summer to air layer and repot. Ficus can handle being root bound for a long time.

Thank you. Yes I was going to wait. I know it can handle being root bound the 2 1/2" pot it was in was so distorted from the amount of roots in the pot.