ficus fusion

[jason biggs]

Starting this thread to encourage anyone with ficus cuttings, to give it a go... If you live in a frost free zone - planting in the ground can give great results in a short time. My 1st post is about 3 years in and as you can see the growth has exploded...

 

[jason biggs]

 

[jason biggs]

a few random trees over the years:

 

[Maiden69]

Interesting, but remember that the ground is not the "best" for all species. For ficus water and heavy nutrition are the way to go to get the maximum growth. Also, some device that will provide "constant" root pruning will help out with the basal flare. If not you will get a few thick roots running long and not a wide spread at the base.

Here is my ficus with 4 years of growth on a Rootpouch. The trunk on the left was added by fusion.

 

[DonielDoom]

I've got a number of fusion projects in the works. They all vary slightly in approach and supplies used (mainly testing out how different materials act as the girdle), but all show successful fusions. I think this goes to show the vigor and unique fusion characteristic of the Ficus; they really overcome challenge and find a way, plainly put.

One I'm excited about. It's roughly 12-16" from top of pot to top of tree. It started as 5-9 hardly-pencil-thick rooted cuttings that were strapped together and grown out (in containers, never ground grown, yet).

My images are too large to post and I'm already past what I desire to invest in social media time. If there's interest, I'll spend some time editing and resizing to come back and post. It's all beginner material. I don't expect anyone is super keen.