60 Yr old Moreton Bay Fig " Bonsai"

[S Vuka]

Hi,

This is my first post, and my knowledge of Bonsai is limited. In the late 1980s, as a teenager, I did a five-day course at a Bonsai nursery where I learned the basics like traditional branch structure and plant care. I have a couple of old books from that time, but I haven't cared for any Bonsai in 30 years. I've always had a soft spot for the hobby and appreciated it from afar, as my interest in Bonsai led me to a greater interest in Japanese culture and language. This, in turn, led to me studying and working there, getting married, and having kids before all of us returned to Australia.

Now, onto the plant in question. In the early 1960s, my Australian grandmother found a Moreton Bay Fig growing out of a dead tree stump in her yard (we live just off Moreton Bay). She put it in a Bonsai pot and essentially did nothing to it for 40 years beyond watering and repotting it once. About 20 years ago, my mother took it to a Bonsai nursery to get "fixed." I'm not sure what they did to it, as I wasn't in Australia at the time, but they repotted it and severely pruned both the roots and top.

Over the next 20 years, none of the branches were trained, and they just grew very "leggy," with leaves constantly falling off and regrowing. My grandmother passed away, and the plant was passed on to my mother, who about eight weeks ago just cut off all the branches and let the plant reshoot, as seen in the photos. She has since passed the plant on to me.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Am I best just trying to focus on growing a few main branches and training from there? My youngest son just came back from Japan two days ago and brought back supplies my in-laws gave him, so I have wire, wire cutters, concave branch cutters, and cut paste and putty (?). I assume there's no point in applying cut paste to very old cuts. Should I clean up (re-cut) recent cuts and apply paste? Repot? I would like to fix that big root that sticks out of the pot. Any help would be great. It is summer here (though it's a sub-tropical environment, so winter doesn't get cold), so should I just let the plant grow before attempting more training/cuts in a different season? Thanks!

 

[Shibui]

Cut paste and putty don't do much, if anything, for old wounds but if you scrape back the edges to expose cambium and apply wound dressing that may help speed healing. Wounds will only heal over firm wood so if the wood in any of the wounds is rotting you'll need to carve back to solid surface to get good closure. If that takes the hole too deep it is also possible to fill the hole with epoxy or something solid and the new bark will move over the new, solid surface.

The new shoots appear strong and vigorous so somebody has been looking after this one well recently. Usually we see old figs with very weak new shoots so well done Mum.
Figs love fertiliser so keep fertilising, esp now in the growing season - but I guess that will be year round near Brisbane.
Trim growing shoots whenever they grow too long. New buds will always grow from dormant buds at any leaf node but , as you can see, also from older nodes hidden in older wood so very hard to harm a Ficus by pruning.
I can see there are clusters of new shoots growing close together after the recent pruning. Lots of shoots growing close together can cause local swelling and also don't look great so we usually thin out so there's only 1 branch growing at each site.
You can wire some of the shoots to start new branches in whatever shape you choose but best to try to emulate the natural shape of Ficus for best results. Those new shoots look pretty soft so maybe let them harden a bit before trying to wire and bend to avoid breakage while you are still learning.

The leaves on that tree are smaller than I'd expect from Ficus macrophylla. Note that Ficus rubiginosa also grows up there so it could be Port Jackson fig. Without fruit it's very hard to tell the difference and both are treated the same when grown as bonsai so accurate ID is not necessary.

Summer is a good time of year to repot Ficus bonsai in any area and no need to worry about cutting roots. Both PJ and Moreton Bay can have most of the roots removed and still thrive. You could probably repot any time of year given the tropical climate.

 

[S Vuka]

Thanks for advice, it very well could be Port Jackson Fig, always always told Moreton Bay (as here), will look into it more. Will thin out after your advice, just wasn't too sure about doing so after such drastic prune 8 weeks ago, but they do seem preety resielant. I did cut back that root that was growing over pot and that other one near edge that was to make it one curved root rather than root with another off cut heading over edge and sealed. With recent root cuts I can feel that it should be pretty easy to repot with no major roots stuck under outer lip of pot. Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

 

[BrianBay9]

That's a pretty spectacular trunk you have there. Good luck and welcome.

 

[NaoTK]

The tree deserves a good design and branch clean up. I see lots of crowded areas with 3 branches at one node. The best way to do this design work on ficus is to do a defoliate+ wire in one session, then you can see the branch structure clearly. It's a good idea to have an experienced bonsai person do this initial styling, since the angle you set the branches will set in stone once the branches thicken.

 

[Gabler]

... the angle you set the branches will set in stone once the branches thicken.

I don't know about that, but for sure the angle will be set in wood.