Ficus Fusion Project

[jkd2572]

Do you want these? They are cuttings I took about three weeks ago. If the take I could mail them to you in the fall when it is cooler and I'm sure these have taken. I have no use for them. I have one little ficus I was trimming up. not sure of the cultivar.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Do you want these? They are cuttings I took about three weeks ago. If the take I could mail them to you in the fall when it is cooler and I'm sure these have taken. I have no use for them. I have one little ficus I was trimming up. View attachment 39636 not sure of the cultivar.

Thanks, but I think I'm just about out of room as it is

I'd have to make a whole new tree using just those anyway, and it doesn't quite appear that there are enough to make a new tree.

 

[jkd2572]

Fine I will just let them grow. The offer is good to anybody else as well. Just pm me.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Definitely rethinking this project. I was toying around with some cuttings today and realized that I've got nowhere near enough cuttings to go all the way around a frame. It was a good idea, at least

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I would also use only cuttings from the same plant so that there is no genetic variation between the branches. Maybe next time you do a chop of one of your big ones or even trim off many branches at once you could get 20-30+ cuttings of the same tree at once. let them grow out individually until they were nice and tall and then attach them to the frame? Sorry if this was covered earlier in the thread; it would be a lot to wade through.

Thanks,
David

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I would also use only cuttings from the same plant so that there is no genetic variation between the branches. Maybe next time you do a chop of one of your big ones or even trim off many branches at once you could get 20-30+ cuttings of the same tree at once. let them grow out individually until they were nice and tall and then attach them to the frame? Sorry if this was covered earlier in the thread; it would be a lot to wade through.

Thanks,
David

That's what I'm doing, and what I've mentioned

Even after trimming back the big microcarpa, I still didn't get enough cuttings to cover even the smallest of frames that I constructed. Thinking maybe this project will just be a no-go.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Well, I went ahead and tried something out. I had trimmed back one of my microcarpas this morning, and put them aside without knowing what I would do with them. I picked them up and noticed how many I had, quite a few. So I found a smaller frame I had lying around, and took the small cuttings, and wove them through the wire frame. Sure, there are a good amount of gaps, but if left unrestricted the trunks could swell and fill those gaps. And, this first go around is just an experiment. The head of leaves at the top scares me and I will probably end up losing some cuttings. But hey, we'll see. Picture time:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

And potted up:

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Using the rooted cuttings, FrankenFicus has been created:






I'm afraid of the soil holding too much water due to the particles being too small though, so tomorrow I may repot into some better soil.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Repotted FrankenFicus into some better soil today, in a different pot, and added another tree. Under the lights it goes.

 

[tmmason10]

Well, I am definitely curious on how this fares. I think more cuttings in the gap would have helped immensely, do you have any left? Might be able to add some later I guess.

Any thoughts of maybe wrapping with spaghnum moss to increase aerial roots? The roots may help the fusing maybe.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Well, I am definitely curious on how this fares. I think more cuttings in the gap would have helped immensely, do you have any left? Might be able to add some later I guess.

Any thoughts of maybe wrapping with spaghnum moss to increase aerial roots? The roots may help the fusing maybe.

More cuttings would've helped, but regardless they'll still swell over time and thicken and fuse. I could easily add some later since I just plan on letting these grow wild.

I could wrap with sphagnum, but I don't see the need, I'll just let them grow crazy.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

On second thought, I'll put this guy outside so that he can enjoy the rest of summer while I work on setting up everything indoors.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Nope, brought him back indoors

Put him under a bank of 6 lights inside a little greenhouse. The humidity in the greenhouse should be pretty high, so hopefully the trees will be happy. The trees were outside in the shade anyways, so they weren't getting much light out there. They hadn't been transitioned to the full sun yet.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

If it happens to pop aerials in this greenhouse that's an added bonus, but I defoliated some of the cuttings, which is why I prefer to have it indoors under bright lights in high humidity:

 

[coh]

You rebel!

It'll be interesting to see how well these fuse (and how long it takes). I remember seeing an article about fusing tridents in International Bonsai. The seedlings were fastened to the frame at many locations to keep them from moving. That was a much bigger project, though.

Chris

 

[Redwood Ryan]

You rebel!

It'll be interesting to see how well these fuse (and how long it takes). I remember seeing an article about fusing tridents in International Bonsai. The seedlings were fastened to the frame at many locations to keep them from moving. That was a much bigger project, though.

Chris

Thanks Chris .

Yeah Doug Philips did it with his Tridents and they fused relatively quickly. Granted, they were able to be planted in the ground. This should be a fun project though.

 

[GrimLore]

I think it would be easier to get and chop a banyan - Just my thought

 

[bougie nights]

Just a thought: You may want to wrap Frankenficus with some moist sphagnum and then wrap it tightly with some strips of seran wrap to keep the little whips held firmly against each other. Without that, they may take longer to fuse.
Cool project.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I think it would be easier to get and chop a banyan - Just my thought

Sure it'd be easier, but where's the fun in that? Plus, it's next to impossible to find something with a decent base online. I order from down south, but I don't actually get to see the tree I'm buying.

Just a thought: You may want to wrap Frankenficus with some moist sphagnum and then wrap it tightly with some strips of seran wrap to keep the little whips held firmly against each other. Without that, they may take longer to fuse.
Cool project.

Thanks! There aren't enough of them to push them together anyway, unfortunately. I have thought of keeping them pinned to the frame by using grafting tape, though.