BonsaiMon

Jow .. do you have an indoor set up for tropicals..?
As stated by Will and Tony vigorous growth time is the best time to do anything drastic with ficus.. soil temps 70 F min.
Why Lowes?
Why a benj?
don't get me wrong benjs are nice but there are many other ficus varieties .. i feel are more fun to work with and survive trunk chops .. my favorite is the willow leaf fig.
.. years ago someone gave me a benj bought from a garden center about 4'+ and i left it tall .. knowing that they will girth up in trunk size over the years... anyway it is still tall 5' tripple trunk and imho looking good enuf to stick in a pot .. lol.. kinda big and I'm not gettin any younger. The reason I din't cut it back was the fact it was a benj and it needs tropical environment to survive this type of work (diaster for the tree .. like a hurricane) and I was in Tn at the time zone 5-6 mostly 5 while i was there.. growing in a free standing greenhouse with the min lows going into the 30's to many times :0( ,, the ficus' survived this but i found many other tropicals will not.
jus a lil grist for the mill...

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peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/