Box Store Ficus Chop Advice?

[MaverickLancer]

So, my mother has decided that her ficus (maybe a variegated benjamina?) is too big and that she'd like me to bonsai it. Its your typical Home Depot special with 5 trunks all tied together and left to fuse. The result is a fat, but mostly smooth/straight base.

My two thoughts are to either chop right where the ties are and hope for aggressive back bud or to air layer where the ties are and then cut back hard. Im also not sure when the best time to cut it is.

Any thoughts are appreciated, since I have zero experience with ficus.

 

[Giga]

I been working with a ficus and I chopped mine right above all the fused branches-your pictures is not a good picture to get good advice on. Need to move all those plants, find the nebari and a better straight on shot.

 

[MaverickLancer]

I been working with a ficus and I chopped mine right above all the fused branches-your pictures is not a good picture to get good advice on. Need to move all those plants, find the nebari and a better straight on shot.

I checked out your ficus post on your blog. It has some nice gnarly banyan potential. Any updates after the chop?

Also, the photo was sent by my mother this morning. I'll try to take a better one when I see the tree this weekend.

 

[Giga]

I have a thread that's updated more in this tropical section

 

[sorce]

I gotta project like that too.
http://www.bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/purpose-of-the-past-post-giant-ficus.17047/

Giga's is going better. Mine's inside.

I would move those plants and expose that low section to some sun for a good while before chopping it.

Your climate. Damn. You could tell it what to do. You could Probly pack some Sphagnum around and get some Ariel roots growing. (I think these particular ones I'm talking about are Disney roots.) Hey Disney! Hellno!

Anyway, if you repot it, get it in good draining soil and water the hell out of it and you got a nice project in your hands!

Sorce

 

[sorce]

And I'd cut it right below that top green band, the lil one. Right now.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

A Smoke "safety cut". See what it'll do.

Sorce

 

[mat]

I have a few little variegated benjaminas. I think I got them at Home Depot 4 or 5 years ago. They are slow growers, very reluctant to backbud. I was originally planning to make a group planting with them, but after a few years of seeing how poorly they reacted to pruning I gave up on that idea. I still water them, but I have little hope that they will be bonsai. I think variegated versions of plants in general are weaker.

That said, your plant looks pretty big & healthy. Maybe start whittling it down & see how it goes? Any nebari under the soil?

 

[MaverickLancer]

I have a few little variegated benjaminas. I think I got them at Home Depot 4 or 5 years ago. They are slow growers, very reluctant to backbud. I was originally planning to make a group planting with them, but after a few years of seeing how poorly they reacted to pruning I gave up on that idea. I still water them, but I have little hope that they will be bonsai. I think variegated versions of plants in general are weaker.

That said, your plant looks pretty big & healthy. Maybe start whittling it down & see how it goes? Any nebari under the soil?

Variegation occurs due to specific tissue not being able to produce chloroplast. Its generally weaker than a fully green plant and most would die in the wild, surviving only through cultivation. Its not prime material, but you can't argue with free in this case!

I was hoping that since it was a tropical, it would bud back more aggressively. As I read more, it seems Benjaminas are very reluctant.

Ill probably start with Sorce's suggestion of a safety cut to asses the growth habit.

 

[michaelj]

My benjaminas (10+) all back-bud vigorously after chops, even severe chops, even when I leave no branches. But only one of them was variegated. So maybe I just got lucky on that one.

 

[mat]

For me, it's not an absolute lack of backbudding after big chops that's the drawback of benjaminas. If I chop them all the way back, new shoots will form. It's consistent backbudding, as I try to build branches and ramification, that's lacking. Over the medium-to-long-term, key branches tend to die off. Frustrating. I'm sure my technique isn't perfect, but my trees are healthy & I do have much more success with other Ficus species.

 

[MaverickLancer]

I spent some quality time with the tree today and did a safety cut at the indicated area. The tree is so ridiculously rootbound that the roots are actually growing up through the lava rock my mother was using as a top cover. I wasn't able to dig and look at the nebari due to all the fine roots at the surface. The extra plants were removed and it'll be getting full sun.

 

[sorce]

Nice to see it's not braided. Though that "wall" might also be hard to conquer.

I noticed that once they get rootbound, they start pushing higher roots. I think you can use this to your advantage and start some Ariel roots to drape down the trunk before you repot.

Speaking of repot. You could actuality just dig down some and add bonsai soil to the top few inches, let them
colonize it, and saw off the entire bottom of regular soil.


Wish I had! If I ever get another, it'll be a blind saw cut through about yea low. F messsin with the rest.

Sorce