Mine has dropped it's leaves every winter for the past 5 years, since I've had it. It didn't leaf out this year until almost June. BUT this year, it didn't lose it's leaves and I have no idea whatsoever why.
[Dingus] Willow Leaf Ficus (ficus nerifolia) #1 & #2
- Thread starter LittleDingus
- Start date
LittleDingus
Omono
Interesting. They seem almost as finicky as BRTs this far north
I currently have 2 sets of salicaria (well 3 sets if the cuttings I planted today strike). I have these 2 and I have two that are smaller but are two halves of the same tree. I had cut the top off above the fat roots to see how the two would develop differently. I have a thread somewhere on those two also. They are grown right next to each other and not so far from these at all times.
The winter after the chop on that set, they both threw all their leaves when brought in. This year they aren't any bigger being in small pots, but they hadn't been disturbed and both kept their leaves.
Correlation does not equal causation...and my sample set is very small. It's just a curious observation and something I'll keep tabs on going forward is all. I put stuff like that in these threads because I'm lazy and don't document my work anywhere else as I probably should.
LittleDingus
Omono
These guys had a rough spring. There was a lot of construction going on around my house during the spring...still ongoing actually...with enough activity in/around the garage that I was having trouble maintaining a proper two-step. They both got frostbitten a couple of times. Then they got stuck in the dark garage for a week because excavators were digging up my lawn. I thought it would only be a day or two so I didn't bring them back into the basement...but it wound up being much longer before I could get them back outside during the day.
They both ended up dropping all their foliage and some of the smaller branches and were starting to look convincingly dead-dead...but now that heat has been turned on and we've had almost a full week on 90F days, they've begun to wake up again.
Haters gonna hate on the whole geode thing...but I rather like this larger one:
It really is a nice tree when it's all filled in. Hopefully I can keep some weep in the larger branches and start working on better ramification and fullness later this year and into next. It's starting to look as I initially envisioned. I was initially thinking an air root or two...but I'm going to forget about even attempting that and just focus on filling out a canopy and hoping the exposed roots don't plump up too much more...
Even though this was always the "backup" tree, it's starting to show some poential:
It needs some more root work...especially on the back. It was worse off than it's sibling though so for now it's just grow-grow-grow to gain back some vigor.
They both ended up dropping all their foliage and some of the smaller branches and were starting to look convincingly dead-dead...but now that heat has been turned on and we've had almost a full week on 90F days, they've begun to wake up again.
Haters gonna hate on the whole geode thing...but I rather like this larger one:
It really is a nice tree when it's all filled in. Hopefully I can keep some weep in the larger branches and start working on better ramification and fullness later this year and into next. It's starting to look as I initially envisioned. I was initially thinking an air root or two...but I'm going to forget about even attempting that and just focus on filling out a canopy and hoping the exposed roots don't plump up too much more...
Even though this was always the "backup" tree, it's starting to show some poential:
It needs some more root work...especially on the back. It was worse off than it's sibling though so for now it's just grow-grow-grow to gain back some vigor.
LittleDingus
Omono
I haven't been on here in a while. The nighttime temps are dropping and I'm late bringing in my tropicals. While I was bringing them in, I thought some deserved an update...
Like this one:
Lots of good growth on this one this year even though I barely fertilized it. It looks less square in 3d The top does need some pruning but I'll leave it alone through the winter now. All I did to it bringing it in was snip off all the new hair roots that were over the rock...I don't want any more roots thickening up and hiding all of the rock!
We're on well water here and you can tell by how the crystal has browned up. In person it is still sparkly and crystal like but in pictures, it is certainly muted from when it was bright white! Maybe that's a good thing??
If you're a traditionalist and feel root over crystal _never_ works...there is a reverse side
In person, the straight trunk with the slight bulge looks more natural. It leans forward in the front view and has some barky texture. The overall scale it is right now makes it look like quite the natural tree. Long term, I'd like maybe a 25% larger canopy. It needs to have a little larger volume to be able to form some realistic foliage clouds and not be perfectly round.
It's inside for the winter now. It should have come in two weeks ago. A lot of leaves are yellowing from the nighttime chill. We'll see what it manages to hold onto for he winter. It might help if it does drop everything as that would make it easier to see where to prune.
It's also been 3 years since last repot. There are a lot of obvious surface roots starting to poke through. It's time for some root work as well.
Like this one:
Lots of good growth on this one this year even though I barely fertilized it. It looks less square in 3d
The top does need some pruning but I'll leave it alone through the winter now. All I did to it bringing it in was snip off all the new hair roots that were over the rock...I don't want any more roots thickening up and hiding all of the rock!We're on well water here and you can tell by how the crystal has browned up. In person it is still sparkly and crystal like but in pictures, it is certainly muted from when it was bright white! Maybe that's a good thing??
If you're a traditionalist and feel root over crystal _never_ works...there is a reverse side
In person, the straight trunk with the slight bulge looks more natural. It leans forward in the front view and has some barky texture. The overall scale it is right now makes it look like quite the natural tree. Long term, I'd like maybe a 25% larger canopy. It needs to have a little larger volume to be able to form some realistic foliage clouds and not be perfectly round.
It's inside for the winter now. It should have come in two weeks ago. A lot of leaves are yellowing from the nighttime chill. We'll see what it manages to hold onto for he winter. It might help if it does drop everything as that would make it easier to see where to prune.
It's also been 3 years since last repot. There are a lot of obvious surface roots starting to poke through. It's time for some root work as well.
LittleDingus
Omono
By contrast, the "backup" tree over the other half of the same geode has some issues I don't care for.
The roots on this one didn't follow the contours of the rock as well. Some of them on the side not pictured are long and straight with large gaps between the roots and the rock.
I had tried new sphagnum against the rock to try and encourage some new roots to follow closer and adhere. It did help some new roots follow the contours closer, but they didn't adhere. I should have taken pictures for educational purposes, but I didn't
I've already cut those new roots off.
I also forgot I wired this tree this year and it bit in pretty bad in a couple of spots.
I haven't decided if this tree is worth the effort to fix up some of these issues. I might be better off layering off the top and starting the process all over again.
I really like this pot/rock combination, but the tree if failing to inspire me. I have a ficus benjamina 'too little' that outgrew the shohin pot it was in that I started to grow out as a mother tree. I still need to bring that tree in but if it looks like there is something I can layer off, I might rebuild this pot/rock with a 'too little' instead and turn this tree into a future mother tree.
The roots on this one didn't follow the contours of the rock as well. Some of them on the side not pictured are long and straight with large gaps between the roots and the rock.
I had tried new sphagnum against the rock to try and encourage some new roots to follow closer and adhere. It did help some new roots follow the contours closer, but they didn't adhere. I should have taken pictures for educational purposes, but I didn't
I've already cut those new roots off.I also forgot I wired this tree this year and it bit in pretty bad in a couple of spots.
I haven't decided if this tree is worth the effort to fix up some of these issues. I might be better off layering off the top and starting the process all over again.
I really like this pot/rock combination, but the tree if failing to inspire me. I have a ficus benjamina 'too little' that outgrew the shohin pot it was in that I started to grow out as a mother tree. I still need to bring that tree in but if it looks like there is something I can layer off, I might rebuild this pot/rock with a 'too little' instead and turn this tree into a future mother tree.
LittleDingus
Omono
This one had a rough winter. I had some major spider mite problems in the shelves it was located on. Also some scale on a couple of orchids that are on the shelf though I didn't see any scale on this tree. Most of the leaves are gone from the mites though.
I took it outside and hit it with a hose today to knock off some of the remaining dead leaves and soak the soil well, Temps are climbing in the house so it should start to wake up any day now. The arabicola that is also on this shelf and also hit hard by mites was chopped back to no leaves back in January and dozens of new buds are waking up on it already. I should start seeing new growth on this guy within the next month.
I did take pictures from all sides while it is bare:
It was moved into this pot in Nov 2021. It's been over 3 years in this media now...it needs repotting this year.
Unfortunately I've moved and my local NAPA has the crappy tiny grain 8822. It's almost like sand! I have some cork oak acorns that I started in it last fall as a test. They have sprouted and are growing well. It feels too fine to use long term, though. I have other options available to me here, but they are all on the expensive side. I definitely want to stay with a full inorganic mix.
I'm also thinking it's time for a ground cover to "finish" off the composition. There are some mosses out in the area of the yard I'm re-wilding that look to take sun well and are filling in some spots. I'm also thinking maybe a sprig or two of thyme to look like understory shrubbery. Back in Kansas City the local nursery stocked almost 2 dozen different types of thyme in 2" plugs. It was easy to shop for variety in understory shrubbery just in variations of thyme plants I might have to look for order seed to get the same variety now
This tree has worked out well enough that I've ordered a new rock!
I got this from the same vendor on Etsy. It's broken off and not sliced like the other one. It looks like a more natural cave entrance. I'm thinking of trying a dawn redwood on this one. I hope to start seed in the spring and have seedlings and move something onto the rock either in the fall or early next spring.
I took it outside and hit it with a hose today to knock off some of the remaining dead leaves and soak the soil well, Temps are climbing in the house so it should start to wake up any day now. The arabicola that is also on this shelf and also hit hard by mites was chopped back to no leaves back in January and dozens of new buds are waking up on it already. I should start seeing new growth on this guy within the next month.
I did take pictures from all sides while it is bare:
It was moved into this pot in Nov 2021. It's been over 3 years in this media now...it needs repotting this year.
Unfortunately I've moved and my local NAPA has the crappy tiny grain 8822. It's almost like sand! I have some cork oak acorns that I started in it last fall as a test. They have sprouted and are growing well. It feels too fine to use long term, though. I have other options available to me here, but they are all on the expensive side. I definitely want to stay with a full inorganic mix.
I'm also thinking it's time for a ground cover to "finish" off the composition. There are some mosses out in the area of the yard I'm re-wilding that look to take sun well and are filling in some spots. I'm also thinking maybe a sprig or two of thyme to look like understory shrubbery. Back in Kansas City the local nursery stocked almost 2 dozen different types of thyme in 2" plugs. It was easy to shop for variety in understory shrubbery just in variations of thyme plants
I might have to look for order seed to get the same variety now This tree has worked out well enough that I've ordered a new rock!
I got this from the same vendor on Etsy. It's broken off and not sliced like the other one. It looks like a more natural cave entrance. I'm thinking of trying a dawn redwood on this one. I hope to start seed in the spring and have seedlings and move something onto the rock either in the fall or early next spring.
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