Two Trees for beginner: Ficus & Cupressus

zradovan

Greetings,
my name is Zarko Radovanovic and I'am a brand new bonsai maker. I have just recently bought some books about the craft of bonsai making and I started growing some indoor plants with generous help from my girlfriend.
But I have some beginner problems that only trained bonsaimasters like you guys can handle easily.
Recently I saved 2 nice little plants from the hands of a big shopping centre and I would like to give them a fair chance to become a real little trees. I attached 4 pictures of my Cupressus macrocarpa and Ficus microcarpa.
The question is How to begin the treatment? I don't want them to grow any higher, I want them to start their horizontal growth (trunk and branch thickening, leaf size reducing, ...).
I have transplanted Cupressus into a bit larger, basic plant pot, I didn't do any root pruning. Is that correct for another transplantation period?

What to do with the Ficus? I want to shape it into informal upright (maybe twin trunk) style... Do I start growing it in a basic plant pot for another year or two or do I have to prone the roots now and plant it into bonsai container? Do I prune the branches right away or do I have to wait?

Thanks for answering me. By sending suggestions you help those nice plants growing and developing correctly. Write me as much details as you can...

Attached Images

x_cypress.jpg (58.9 KB, 144 views)

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zradovan

Cupressus 2:

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x_cypress1.jpg (57.9 KB, 140 views)

zradovan

Ficus 1

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x_ficus.jpg (64.4 KB, 137 views)

zradovan

Ficus 2

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x_ficus1.jpg (66.9 KB, 134 views)

TreeBay

Welcom Zarko,

The ficus is trainable. Please don't waste your time with the Cypress***. I have never seen a good one.

It's hard to see the trunk of your ficus, but if you can find two or three trunks in there with different thickeness you can remove the others (of identical thickness) and then we can work from there.

Triple trunks are much easier to develop than two trunk trees. With twin trunks the proportions and branch spacing and everything else becomes more critical.

If you have any choice in your trunk selection, the trunk with interesting shape or some amount of taper would take preference over a trunk that is dead straight with no taper.

Regards,

Matt

***This is true of most true Cypress, particularly Italian Cypress. The "cypress" that are good for bonsai are mostly the false cypress varieties. The foliage and branching characteristics of true Cypress make it very difficult to work with.

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zradovan

Thanks on the advice about the Cypress. I will grow it as a regular indoor plant and do some studying on it's growth.

But please tell me something more about the Ficus. There are 2 trunks of different thickness, and a thin one which may be just a branch growing from below the ground surface. All the trunks are (unfortunately), more or less, very straight but have some taper, good flexibility and a nice development on the main branches origin. I see an opportunity for a formal (or informal) upright?
Do I have to prune the roots now or just plant it into a bigger pot and determine the training style by placing the trunk(s), pruning shoots, shaping branches and trimming some leafs?
How do I improve thickening (horizontal growth)?

Sorry, but I don’t have a better picture for now.

Trunks radius ratio: 7:5:2

Regards
Zarko

Attached Images

x_ficus2.jpg (66.9 KB, 118 views)

TreeBay

Well, pull all the leaves off up to the first branch on each trunk, and we'll talk!

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Jose_Alberto

I don't see that the small one too thin... I believe that in the real trees, when having more than a trunk, one gets more food than the others, and there's one weak trunk... I believe that it is the way your tree will look... Just a thought, but you need to remove all the lower leaves, and take a far pic (I mean where the whole tree is visible) and if you can a close up one... And if you can try to pick a front, and take the pics from your front... ok? and good luck with your tree If you do everything as Matt says, you will not only learn TONS, but you will have a nice tree in some years... so, bye

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Jose Alberto Franco
Guatemala
Central America
http://www.doschivos.com

Jose_Alberto

Oh, another thing... this is for Matt... it's a question...

I don't know if this tree can be defoliated half way up or completely to work on the branches, and get smaller leaves at the same time?

I would like to learn some stuff here... (Of course I don't know if it can be done at this time on the year [a problem of me, I live in the everlasting spring country , no kidding, that's how Guatemala is called])

well, bye...

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Jose Alberto Franco
Guatemala
Central America
http://www.doschivos.com