Ficus Buxifolia (is It?)

zradovan

I hope I am not wrong if I say this is a Ficus buxifolia. It is about 18’’ tall and I planted it into nursery pot (is it called ‘nursery pot’?) two months ago and I made a first styling by making couple of curves on the trunk by using a central stick (since it has almost no taper it seemed as a good idea) to become an ‘informal upright’. Ever since than it adapted very well to my apartment environment and it has grown many small, green fruits. I have cut a damaged top and a nice new leafs appeared on the spot. Also, very soon the soil surface become covered with young roots. All of that gives me a clue that it is healthy and growing just fine.

What gives me some doubts is what to do with those thin and long branches. They are completely out of proportions (length) and I would really like to encourage some 2nd generation branching (back budding??) on this branches. Do I have to prune them back now and to what extend, or do I have to let the plant grow freely for some period of time and wait for the nature to do it’s job?

What do you think about the first styling and treatment procedure?
What about defoliation?

Thanks,
Zarko

Attached Images

x_ficus_bux1.jpg (70.3 KB, 115 views)

Advertisement

zradovan

Branches

Attached Images

x_ficus_bux2.jpg (51.7 KB, 106 views)

zradovan

The trunk

Attached Images

x_ficus_bux3.jpg (65.0 KB, 103 views)

TreeBay

I am not familiar with the variety, so I can't help you there. But I think this plant just needs to grow some to let the trunk thicken and begin to look more like a tree. At this moment the trunk isn't much thicker than the branches.

If you want you can remove some of the branches that wound up pointing down after you restyled it. That will make it look more like a tree, but it will also slow its growth somewhat. Cutting back the branch tips to 4 leaves or so will also promote back budding, but it will again slow down the growth. So you will have to arrive at some compromise for the plant looking acceptable and developing at a rate you can accept.

I think the trunk shape you have in mind is fine.

Life is full of compromises!

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

KZitzewitz

Heres my two cents. The tree style idea is fine, only problem is it is really thin, because it already is in a small pot, that will constrict grow, if anything is prunded, I suggest from the third branch from the bottom up to about the top quarter, only back to the second or third, this will leave growth on the bottom, and some on the top. When the brances are at that bottom, they thicken the trunk, and while at the top, it will help get the tree growing in general. My ultimate suggetion would be to, in a year, trim down two or three leaves on each branch, but do not elimate any, and a year after that, transplant to a much larger growth pot, that will significantly increase growth, and fertilze well....

__________________
--Kristopher