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5-Dec-2007
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#1 |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2007
Country: South Africa
Posts: 46
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Ficus - styling help needed
I have had this tree for a little over 6 months and have done nothing to it so far. But it is looking very overgrown and frankly I don't know where to start. As a beginner, I have a tendency to cut first and think afterwards. But I think this tree has potential and don't want to spoil it. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Sponsor Message
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Ficus - styling help needed |
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Forum Sponsor
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5-Dec-2007
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#2 |
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Not to be taken seriously
Join Date: Nov-2007
Location: Adelaide
Country: South Australia
Posts: 417
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Personally, i would wack it it a 30cm tube and sit it in 5mm of water to force the roots to grow down. Makes it a good candidate for foot over rock. As for styling, I'll let other people feed you with idea's, I'm still new to the art myself.
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5-Dec-2007
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#3 |
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Bonsai Remedial
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Reminds me of one of my trees a few years ago. Here's a link to a bit I wrote on its development (actually, it was an email I sent to Jerry about my tree which I brought to his workshop, which he put on his site): http://www.bonsaihunk.us/ficusforum/FicusTechniques/FigTechnique20.html
If you have some time, take a look around Jerry's site--incomparable for ficus info. If I were you, I'd start thinking about how you want this tree to look in a few years. Then start growing in that direction. There is some nice movement lower on the trunk of your tree, but the rest doesn't harmonize with it. I don't know how large your tree is, but if it is still bendable, put some wire on the trunk and make some pleasing curves around that bend. Don't forget to curve front and back as well as side-to-side. Once you have the basic trunk shape, select which branches to keep. Allowing some lower branches to stay on will help grow the lower part of the trunk and therefore increase taper, so don't be too quick to cut anything off. Just be sure you know why you want to keep each branch and you'll be alright. Keep the top of the tree cut back more than the lower part, and be sure to keep up on pinching or you'll have branches, especially upper ones, swelling rapidly. Another option is to chop the trunk back to a side branch which will become a new leader. This will create taper more rapidly. Also, don't be too quick to plop that tree into a small bonsai pot. A shallower pot, but one that is wider (like an oversized bonsai pot), will allow faster growth, lateral extension of roots which encourages basal trunk flare, and also (in my experience) help avoid the "potato roots" bengies are famous for. Good luck, and please keep us posted!
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Namaste, --Scott ><> "There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamakazi pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." -Herb Gustafson Last edited by Salvelinus : 5-Dec-2007 at 10:33 PM. Reason: Added link for Jerry's site |
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5-Dec-2007
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#4 |
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Bonsai Remedial
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Here is a more recent picture of my tree, from our club's show this past October. You can see it has filled out even more. Really, it doesn't take long with these trees.
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Namaste, --Scott ><> "There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamakazi pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." -Herb Gustafson |
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6-Dec-2007
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#5 | |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2007
Country: South Africa
Posts: 46
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Quote:
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm really not a big fan over root over rock style. |
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6-Dec-2007
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#6 | |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2007
Country: South Africa
Posts: 46
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Quote:
That's a real beauty. I would love for my tree to look similar to that one day. I had thought about taking off the thick lower branch because it's only about 2 inches from the bottom (the tree is about 10 inches high), but I forgot about its use for thickening the trunk. Stupidly I was thinking about what the tree would look like now, rather than in a few years' time. After reading your post, I think it might be best just to repot and wire the tree and keep all the branches for now. Should I shorten all the branches, or only the top ones? |
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6-Dec-2007
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#7 |
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bonsaiTALK ArchMaster
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If you want a thicker trunk, the tree shouldn't be pruned anywhere at all for a year or more. THe more growth, the thicker the trunk will become. A larger container would also aid trunk development, as would refraining from root pruning.
In other words, put the tree in a container a third bigger than the one it's in now and let it alone for a year --or more--to get some size on the trunk. Pruning is working at cross purposes if you're after a larger trunked tree. Branches on smaller trees are usually removed completely and new branches regrown after the trunk is developed to the size desired. Branches are expendable and renewable. Trunks are not. A good bonsai IS a good trunk. Branches are secondary concerns. |
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6-Dec-2007
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#8 | |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2007
Country: South Africa
Posts: 46
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Quote:
I actually contemplated more drastic action as you suggest, using that thick lower branch and air layering the rest, along the lines shown in the attachments. But I'm not convinced I want to lose so much of the tree even if I get two out of it. Would air layering slow the tree's progress down a lot? I must confess I'm not a patient person, which probably isn't a good thing where bonsai is concerned. |
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6-Dec-2007
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#9 | |
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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2007
Country: South Africa
Posts: 46
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Quote:
Do you suggest I leave the branches alone completely, or can I shorten the top ones as Salvelinus suggested? I assume that wiring the trunk to get better curve will not interfere with thickening. |
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7-Dec-2007
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#10 |
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Bonsai Remedial
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I wouldn't bother with air-layering that tree. You could probably just root the branch you cut off. Ficus root quite easily. In fact, you could (and probably should) root some of what you cut off. That way, you have more stock in development, and they are all free. That's what my tree was.
Having said that, if you want to go with a chop, there is no need to do it now. Rockm has some good suggestions. Just leave it as is, letting the part of the trunk you intend to chop off become the sacrifice branch to grow out the trunk below. Once the lower part of the trunk is near the size you want, cut off the part you don't want. In the meantime, grow out and train the low branch that is to become the new leader. Keeping the top cut back is something to do once the trunk is nearly done and you're starting to look at branch development. Just think far enough ahead so that you don't have excessively thick branches in the apex, where they should be thinner (because on a mature tree they are younger). Ficus are great to learn on, because they are so flexible, adaptable, and tolerant. Just remember that this hobby takes time. Ficus definitely take less time than a lot of other species, but you still need to invest time. The tree above was developed in 4 years. That's nothing in the bonsai world. It could have been a much better tree if I had taken even more time, but if you read the story you would realize that it kind of developed itself. I have other ficus which are much older, but they are much farther away from being presentable because I am taking the time to develop them from the ground up. In a few years, you just might have a little beauty there!
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Namaste, --Scott ><> "There seems to be no survivors to interview, but I suspect [kamakazi pilots] did not shout 'traytree' the moment before their personal sacrifice." -Herb Gustafson Last edited by Salvelinus : 7-Dec-2007 at 07:31 PM. |
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