[Dingus] ficus benjamina "too little"

[LittleDingus]

At least I think it's a 'too little'. I don't actually know. It may not even be benjamina though I'm 95% certain that it is. I bought it from the local nursery in a 4" pot labeled simply as "bonsai plant". Yeah, yeah, don't buy from dealers that don't know what they're dealing...blah, blah. This is a family owned place that's local and their "bonsai" section is mostly an "and" to their main business. I knew enough about what it was to be happy with it

Anyway, I picked it up because in our old home, I used to have a 7' benjamina as a house plant in our solarium. The solarium was also the home to our 4' long green iguana. Iguanas love to climb and I would often find him sitting in the canopy of my poor ficus. One spring, he even mostly defoliated the ficus for me! So, in memory of Rex, I dropped $8.99 on a stick in a pot.

I've had it in a @sorce pot for just over a year now. Last winter it almost died on me due to being underwatered and some dust mite issues and me not catching it early enough In the spring, it bounced back very nicely! This winter, I've paid much more attention to it and it hasn't lost hardly any foliage and is even growing out some.

Here's how it looked this morning. I forgot to take a picture with a ruler...but soil line to apex was just shy of 9"




I like the tall slender look, but it was getting too tall. So I chopped off the top



Part of the reason for the chop now is it was showing more signs of wanting to put out foliage a little faster. Where they sit, they get direct south east light a good portion of the day and are under supplemental lighting for the rest of the day. My hope is that the top has a good while to root out now before more serious heat shows up in the spring/summer. I'd like to grow it out into a more sizable tree over the next 5 years or so.

As for what was left of the main tree...



I trimmed of some dead twigs but will otherwise let it grow out some before any real pruning.

There was one aerial root starting higher up that I'm going to try and foster.



I filled the straw loosely with seedling mix and buried it in the soil about 1/4". The top of the straw is notched so it can lay against the trunk and some soil can be just above the root. I'm not sure I'll be able to get that root to grow...I'm not sure I want that root to grow other than I love banyans! But the tree seems to want to start a number of aerial roots from up around there so we'll see.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Sweet! Good to see it doing well.

I tend to agree with the species you have identified it as. I myself have a too-little and it's foliage reminds me of my own.

 

[luvinthemountains]

Cute little tree. I can't say if it is "too little" or not, but based on your estimate of 9" total height of the original plant, I would say probably not. That would make the leaves about 25-35mm I think. I cannot find a reference right now, but if I remember right then "too little" leaves are around 15mm. Still, yours has a good leaf size. Might be "natasja" or similar cultivar.

I have some very similarly-sized tree starts that I have grown from cuttings. For me, clip and grow has worked very well for directing branch growth. As long as you leave some green on a branch, it will sprout from a node and continue from there. Some people say never remove the terminal bud on a branch until it gets to the length and thickness you want. I have not found that to be true with f. benjamina. Just clip-and-grow all the way.

Good call on removing the top! With luck and patience, I think you can get a nice hunk of tree out of the cutting.

 

[LittleDingus]

Cute little tree. I can't say if it is "too little" or not, but based on your estimate of 9" total height of the original plant, I would say probably not. That would make the leaves about 25-35mm I think. I cannot find a reference right now, but if I remember right then "too little" leaves are around 15mm. Still, yours has a good leaf size. Might be "natasja" or similar cultivar.

I have some very similarly-sized tree starts that I have grown from cuttings. For me, clip and grow has worked very well for directing branch growth. As long as you leave some green on a branch, it will sprout from a node and continue from there. Some people say never remove the terminal bud on a branch until it gets to the length and thickness you want. I have not found that to be true with f. benjamina. Just clip-and-grow all the way.

Good call on removing the top! With luck and patience, I think you can get a nice hunk of tree out of the cutting.

You're estimates are very accurate! I just measured some of the largest leaves and they average about 30mm. When I used to grow orchids more seriously, I was really into the names and pedigrees...these days, not so much. It looks enough like my house tree which I know was a benjamina that I'm happy with it

I mostly clip-n-grow all my trees. I finally bought a set of different sized wire so I have some on hand to not have the excuse of not having wire to wire with...but I still reach for the clippers first! I guess I should just wire a tree to see if I even can!

 

[Cadillactaste]

My too-little which is a shohin...I've not measured it's leaves. But I know it's cultivar...Adam Lavigne was shocked to see how small this tree really was. The flare and being online he imagined a two handed tree to move around. (Took it to a demo in Cincinnati to have him take a look at it and make sure I was giving the tree its full potential. )

 

[Cadillactaste]

An old image of leaf comparison to my thumb nail

 

[Forsoothe!]

This is Ficus benjamina 'Too Little' var. 'Panda'...

 

[LittleDingus]

This is Ficus benjamina 'Too Little' var. 'Panda'...
View attachment 351743

How tall, roughly?

 

[Forsoothe!]

Roughly ~8" & 12"

 

[Carol 83]

My "Too Little", the only one of my ficus that I kind of like.

 

[Cadillactaste]

This is Ficus benjamina 'Too Little' var. 'Panda'...
View attachment 351743

I must say...your comment threw me. I've not heard of this Panda variety as a 'Too Little'...which I've done some research on the species with having one on my bench. I did however Google Panda Ficus. The foliage is completely different from the Too Little. So for clarification...I reached out to Jerry Meislik 'The Ficus Guy' as many know. This was the answer I got back. Assuming somewhere along the way...one gave you incorrect information.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Well, Google isn't what it used to be and I went ten pages deep looking for FbTL varieties, cultivars, history and other specific words and can't find any support or even a list of TL names. I have had several distinctly different TL varieties for longer than I can remember, almost all of which were store bought with and/or without nomenclature, so for now I can't provide provenance or documented epithet.

 

[Cadillactaste]

@Forsoothe!
I wonder if...because a 'Too Little' is just that, a 'Too Little'. I've looked through Jerry Meislik's ficus book. What you are looking for it's just not mentioned. The smallest ficus are noted. Maybe a name will ring the bell along with photos of the foliage.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I have a Green Island, Green Mound, orientale, tigerbark, willowleaf, dwarf & standard benghalensis, variegated elastica, burtt davyi, benjamina Golden, Starlight, 'Too Little', and five other 'Too Little' variants: (lost a variegated 'Kiki'), 'Panda' two other green variants, one I think is 'Dutch Treat', and two variegated variants. I've been in the market for a gold and a gold variegated 'Too Little' which are hard to find. There are lots and lots of TL variants. I am still looking for the registration agency for Ficus cultivars.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I have a Green Island, Green Mound, orientale, tigerbark, willowleaf, dwarf & standard benghalensis, variegated elastica, burtt davyi, benjamina Golden, Starlight, 'Too Little', and five other 'Too Little' variants: (lost a variegated 'Kiki'), 'Panda' two other green variants, one I think is 'Dutch Treat', and two variegated variants. I've been in the market for a gold and a gold variegated 'Too Little' which are hard to find. There are lots and lots of TL variants. I am still looking for the registration agency for Ficus cultivars.

So you have a Panda Ficus Microcarpa too then. Since we know it's not a Too Little.

Since you nor I can find this elusive list. I sent Jerry another message. Maybe he can finally bring clarity to this topic...because he is the Ficus Guy.

Do you have posts on all those Ficus? I must confess...dormancy spoiled me.. tropical are a lot of work verses once a week watering my dormant trees take.. I've 6 tropical bonsai and a novelty adenium that is more like...broccoli. lol plus 4 house plants. That has me saying...I'm good. I don't need any more..

 

[Cadillactaste]

Well...the ' Ficus Guy', Jerry Meislik got back with me. I don't mean to discredit you @Forsoothe but I was trying to help you with your search. But alas...there are none that the Ficus guy is aware of as a 'Too Little' variant.

 

[Forsoothe!]

My 'Panda' is a 'Too Little ' variant as far as I am concerned until I see otherwise. It is more like 'Too Little' than like benjamina. I know that Jerry is the go-to guy for Figs, but I will continue to believe that the variants are either chimira of the original Ficus benjamina 'Too Little', or crosses with 'Too Little' as one of the parents. The registration documents for each plant will show probable origin. I have registered four Hosta sports with the American Hosta Society so I know that somewhere there is such an authority that registers new plants in the genus Ficus. We can agree to disagree until I find this group.

It would be unusual for two cultivars in one genus to use the same name, but never say never in commerce. Registering a name either similar or already accepted is not allowed for Hosta or for hort in general, but we know that there are many names in worldwide trade for Ficus microcarpa and retusa to the point where it is unsure who's on first. How many fig species are called Banyon which is spelled Banyan half the time? If there ever was a genus full of plants of unsure name, heredity or origin, Ficus is numero uno. The western explorers were always searching for plants and carried new finds back and forth between their colonies. Many if not all of these new plants were "discovered" by Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Italian, et al expeditions and taken to other colonies they held all around the globe. The plants had native names and were renamed in the language of the crew, often taken to other colonies where the local natives called them something in the native language, so it's not surprising that many tropical plants which are the same plant with Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Italian, et al names and however many secondary native names. There are over 200 major languages spoken in India! I have a book, "Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands" which lists all the alternative names for each species. You only need to read a couple lists to understand why we use the accepted Latin name when it's important to know which plant you're talking about. And, why there are so many nomenclature changes every year, too.

There are 5,000+ registered Hosta, and hundreds more new every year. Anybody out there that would like to tell me they know the names of all the 'Too Little' variants or variants that look like they have 'Too Little' genes may now take the floor.

 

[luvinthemountains]

Patent Public Search | USPTO

patft.uspto.gov

 

[luvinthemountains]

@Forsoothe! you might have f. benjamina var "pandora" which is very similar to "too little" but not the same.

https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/177585/

I have seen "panda" many times to refer to a sport of f. microcarpa, typically either "green island" or "green mound" both of which originate from Taiwan.

You are right that there is a lot of misusage of species and cultivar names for ficus. It can make proper identification difficult., for sure!

 

[Forsoothe!]

@Forsoothe! you might have f. benjamina var "pandora" which is very similar to "too little" but not the same.

https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/177585/

I have seen "panda" many times to refer to a sport of f. microcarpa, typically either "green island" or "green mound" both of which originate from Taiwan.

You are right that there is a lot of misusage of species and cultivar names for ficus. It can make proper identification difficult., for sure!

That's a very good example of a fig I would expect to be a variant of 'Too Little'. It is nothing like microcarpa except it is intermediate in thickness between benjamina and micro and if you describe the characteristics of 'Panda', they all point to 'TL'. I will believe it is from micro when I see it in a registration statement. I have to look closely at mine today to see if one is 'Panda', the name is familiar. I have a better system of history now with the advent of Bonsai Album software. I take photos of everything and embed a photo of the tags on the intake photo now. Before the new software (~2012?) I didn't have a real system for preserving knowledge, and never kept progression photos of anything, like everyone else I suspect. The advent of everyone having a camera in their pocket around the clock has also changed the way the world works. Thanks for the input.