Any Restyling Ideas On This Ficus Passed On To Me?

Happy Gilmore

3b

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Happy Gilmore

pic4

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Happy Gilmore

4b

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washout03

one way you could go is develop the tree into an informal broom style. Ficus trees bud back easily. If you keep pinching new shoots back, those branches should ramify pretty quickly.
Tom

D3rutat

here;s a quick virtual it's a broom. I have coloured the trunk and roots with black bcos it was really hard to distinguish otherwise. After taking a quick look at my virtual, you can actually go a bit lower with the branches

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Bonsai Club Romania

Jerry Meislik

D3's design looks good.
Bring the soil back up to the rootline and then use wire to bend branch one, two and tree to near horizontal.
Allow the tree to fill out and then prune back to push back-budding.
Good luck,
Jerry

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Jerry Meislik
Whitefish Montana USA
Zone 4-5
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/

Happy Gilmore

Thanks a lot guys! I guess I've seen it quite sparse and wasn't looking with the vision of it being filled in with care/pruning etc. I did replace the soil back to root line after exposure the other day.

Since D3's response & Jerry's request for improved pics, I checked out Jerry's site and saw some fine ficus pics that helped my 'vision'!

I may see if I have a suitable rock to place underneath it yet. Their's also a part of me that wants to encourage a lot more 'rooting' at the base of this ficus instead of the two or three much larger main roots. Can one score the trunk below the soil line and place rooting gel on these areas and hope for roots to initiate? Was wondering if the present 'large' roots are good future candidates for 'cuttings' for new plants and generate some new replacements from the main trunk in the meantime?

Jerry, one letting it fill out......how long would you allow shoots to grow before snipping to promote backbudding etc?

At present, I haven't let any shoots go beyond about 2" in length before tearing a leaf in half etc......

You're suggesting let it grow freely for ~2-3 months and then trim back reasonably triggering a major back budding response to help it fill in at that point?

D3rutat

if you choose to go for a root-over-rock style then you should let the roots develop for a few more years(2 at least) and then get a nice looking rock(with many holes,cracks,crevases) and wrap it with roots.Don't use any rock, remember that it's a root-over-rock style, and the rock is important.here's what you have to do to get a nice root base:

1rill some holes in the current roots/lower trunk add rooting hormone in them and bury the tree deeper.
2:take some ficus seedlings(same species) and plant them near the trunk, carve a little of the trunk out and use duck tape to join the seedlings and the trunk together.After a few years, they should fuse, and you can remove the seedlings foliage leaving only the roots.
Jerry's site has more info on grafting roots i think....

About backbudding:
Let it grow freely for 2 months, fertilize aggresively. Then hardprune all the branches.

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Bonsai Club Romania

Happy Gilmore

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions, helped me form a plan and feel good doing some work on this plant. Did some wiring tonight (used aluminum) on the ficus, I believe this view makes for an interesting front, I may tilt the top forward in the future, it's got a bit of halitosis at present. With my few pieces of wire I think I got the general concept in on the wiring but am sure open to all suggestions as I've done very little wiring. I took the branches as horizontal as I was comfortable with and tried to introduce some movement from top plane (see 2nd pic below) I'm wondering if I should remove the small buds at the base of all branches to help eliminate a big 'knob' their or if it's inevitable I'll have a big knob with 3 branches emanating from same point and my future foliage I want to cover this anyhow??

here's my anticipated front

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