Jerry-rigged Ficus B....

LostHawken

hi,

I want to get started in Bonsai, and plan to buy a nice starter juniper after Christmas. But in the meantime I was getting board so I bought a Ficus benjamina to experiment with.

The tree was an untrained mess ~45 cm high, with about a dozen twig width stems growing straight out of the soil. I wasn't sure if it was all one plant or not and the biggest stem was only the width of a pencil. Knowing that it was just a practice tree, I didn't feel like chopping all the twigs off and waiting for the one stem remaining to grow into something like a bonsai.

Instead I wrapped and twisted all the stems together making a ~2.5 cm trunk base and 3 bonsai style main branches. My question is; will this work?? and further, how long will it take for the stems to accept their forced position and no longer need the training wire?

Thanks a bunch,

Justin

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TreeBay

It will work, but maybe not quite as you expected. Depending on how it's done, the evidence may be visible for years to come. The time for the trunks to fuse depends on the rate of growth, which in turn depends on your growing environment. Could be 2-5 years, and some trunks might die back if they don't get sustainable growth (as in the interior of the bundle).

Don't forget the Golf Ball!

Good luck!

Matt

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LostHawken

Thanks Matt,

That was a fast repy, I used to have a Golf ball fig when I was a kid, that's why I decided to try this project with a ficus. With an "indoor" bonsai like ficus benjamina when should I be pruning it? I'm especially interested in when I should prune the roots, the one I just got has overgrown roots already. I assume that I should @ least wait until it has acclimated to it's new environment, shape and watering cycle (I seem to remember my old ficus being really sensative to change; dropping most of it's leaves whenever it got moved), but is there a certain time of year (like spring) that is better as well?

Thanks again.

Justin

TreeBay

With tropicals the timing is less critical, but I would repot when the tree is showing some growth, rather than going into a climate-induced dormancy.

So if you were in Florida, it probably wouldn't matter, but Maine, wait for spring.

Regards,

Matt

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JoshMoRenaud

Justin,

I've got a couple small pots of ficus benjamina cuttings that I've woven together with the same idea in mind: they'll fuse together and form a single, thick trunk with decent taper. Over the last year, I've noticed that ficus will explode in growth if it has a good amount of root-space (1-3 gallon) and light, airy soil (lots of sphagnum-peat). The ones that were left in the smaller 4" pots have grown very little. Since the goal is to thicken the trunks quickly, I'd recommend putting them in larger pots with a really light soil, almost like a cutting mix.

Good luck!

Josh

LostHawken

Thanks for all the great input!

I had thought of using raffia, but I don't quite know where to get it. I'm in western PA right now, so it should grow a little better than @ home, but I don't have the supplies to repot him just yet %) so that might have to wait until thanksgiving break.

Since I'm living in a dorm room, and will likely be moving to a small apartment upon graduation this spring, I'm thinking of starting some indoor mame. I posted a question in the minibonsai forum, but it hasn't been answered yet (perhaps it's misplaced should I delete it?) Does anyone here have recommendations for something flowering that will grow as a mame?

LostHawken

Hey all,

A few weeks ago I posted my first thread about a f. benjamina group that I wanted to twist together into a single trunk, and fewer branches.

Thanks you all of your help the project is coming along nicely, unfortunately I don't yet have access to a digital camera to show you. I'm very pleased with the result though, this method was much faster than taking a single twig and waiting for it to mature. It was also much more satisfying to a seedling bonsai artist with only one tree to speak of.

Now the tree is starting to back bud all over and I need some advice as to how to manage this. Again the situation is, I have a dozen or so twig sized ficus benjamina shoots twisted/wrapped together to form a Bonsai through fusing, not the twigs having been pruned are sending out new branches in many places.

In order to help the stems fuse faster should I let the shoots grow? If so for how long? or should I pick them off and let the tree focus on developing good leaf pads allowing the stems to thicken and fuse in that way?

Let me know your thoughts, I'll be trying to get a camera so that you can get a better understanding of what I'm talking about. I;ve been having alot of fun with this, Ficus seems to be an exceptionally hardy plant, as I've put this guy through all kinds of "abuse" to encourage it into a bonsai.

Thanks,

Justin