Ficus design ideas

[NOVAbonsai]

Hi there,

So I was given this Ficus last year and I am having trouble visualizing what to do with it. It is unbalanced and some of the cuts are sloppy and odd looking. It lost some leaves over the winter when I got it because it didn't get enough light so I fixed that and it has been mostly coming back over the summer so I didn't really do much to it. It has a few aerial roots growing but I don't really like where they grew out of.....Just really not sure what I should do with it. I wired some branches just to get them in a rough position but just temporary because I need to figure out my plan...Also the lower branch is to thin and comes out of an inward bend so I am not sure I like that either....Any design ideas to help? Should I just hard chop it next year? Maybe someway to get the side branches to send aerials out?...So far it won't send more than it has despite being in pretty humid conditions (Near Washington DC in the summer).

 

[penumbra]

Play with the planting angle before you make any rash decisions. Personally I would tilt it to the left and have a different view of it.

 

[GroveBonsai]

Rough virtual and then cheesy app virtual but same idea

 

[penumbra]

Rough virtual and then cheesy app virtual but same ideaView attachment 326239

Exactly

 

[NOVAbonsai]

Thats a good idea and I was considering a different angle. That helps visualize so I appreciate it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I was typing a response, and @EddyFern 's virtual came through proposing almost exactly what I would do. Great minds think alike!

I would repot, while the weather is still warm, tilting the trunk to the left as in Eddy's virtual. I would simply remove, cut off flush to the trunk all the aerial roots. Next summer, the fig will sprout a whole new set, and next summer you can keep or get rid of the aerial roots as you see fit. Some of us keep aerials, and go for more a strangler fig look. Some of us tend to get rid of the aerials as soon as they form. This is noticeable in Chinese Penjing and Bonsai, they tend to remove the aerials.

And of course, get rid of that branch that is coming out at the inside of the curve as you mentioned earlier.
Have fun, this is not bad as a start.

 

[NOVAbonsai]

So looking at my tree and then the rendering its appears maybe after tilting it left you suggest I should cut the far left branches down and make them a pad and then maybe get rid of the top far right branch? Or maybe the top right branch is supposed to form a pad with the branch to the left of it?

Also I like aerial roots so I would probably just move them if I tilted it...I just want my tree to grow them all over if possible....Maybe now that its raining more it will throw a few out.

 

[Forsoothe!]

There is nothing about this tree that is amenable to any design that works. The bottom section too bare for too long to use the whole section, with or without the hard left branch at its top. The top section is too long and un-tapered with left hand only foliage which makes it misserable to work with, too, -at any angle. A design incorporating the lower right and middle left branch is a bridge too far because when you try to tie a hard left with a hard right you are dealing with an incongruous and unbelievable result of a tree windblown in two directions. That hard left hard right combo can only be believable in a cascade where the cascade snakes down in one direction and the rising counter balance snakes up in the other direction complementing the whole picture by the entire upper and lower trunks becoming a single, sinuous trunk held up by a short trunk usually not even visible. That can't happen here because the union between upper left and lower right is too long and straight to be believable between two sinuous ends. It's going to take a better man than me to use any part higher than 2 inches from the soil.

 

[Michael P]

Listen to Leo and Eddy.

 

[sorce]

When it ain't bonsai, it's penjing.

IMO, you can make it a bitching penjing, or listen to those who are suggesting making it a shitty bonsai!

I mean, they're right, that's the easiest way to make it a bonsai that looks like every other bonsai...but..

That aside, I think there are other things to consider first. One. The folaige. I have a ficus I have been working on for quite some time, and just this year, I realized how much the folaige sucks. Putting out clumps of foalige like yours, where, even thinned and maintained, it turn out mediocre looking at best.
The history of your tree isn't showing this happens all the time, so maybe you, we, can prevent it.

But grafting a new folaige on early may be better.

Then again, penjing don't mind that growth.

Do you know how those areail roots were formed?
The little bits coming off the left 2 make it seem like it was grown through medium, soil or moss. Otherwise it shouldn't have those hairs, I have never seen them anyway.

If that is how they were grown, contraptionalized, you may not get them naturally.

As a rule, I have found that Ariel roots will grow on a well watered tree, anywhere below the level of surrounding grass and weeds.
Seems that amount of shade and humidity is enough.

Sorce

 

[NOVAbonsai]

Thanks for the comment. I may try to change the planting angle and see if that inspires me and if not I may start to cut at it and make some new plants out of cuttings that inspire me more.

As for the aerial roots growing you are correct with the guess about the moss. The roots started to form so I gave them some moss to grow into until they made it to the ground.