Ficus pruning

[IdAu]

My Tiger Bark Ficus as getting bushy so I did my first pruning of what seemed to obviously need to go(long thing branches extending above the pad canopy, downward branches etc). This is what I was left with and I’m not sure what exactly to do next.

Back(?)



Should I remove these lower branches completely? They’re thin and I can imagine they will ever catch up to the other ones. Were they on there just to thicken the trunk?

Front(?)


I’m not understanding how Tiger Bark Ficus are trimmed. Should I not be trying to ramify the branches and instead just trim it like a hedge bush? The thick upper branches just suddenly stop and terminate at a ton of tiny branches.




In a lot of the videos they seem to just trim the pads like a hedge bush, cutting anything that extends past the rounded pad top. Is this all I should be doing? I don’t need it to get any bigger. The only thing I’d really like is more aerial roots coming down for the banyan look, but I think my lack of humidity is going to prevent that?

Thanks.

 

[hemmy]

This is what I was left with and I’m not sure what exactly to do next.

I do the hardest pruning in summer and active growth phase to get maximum budding and growth response. If you have good indoor light, you can maintenance prune and prune for light penetration this time of year to keep it from dropping interior branches.

Should I remove these lower branches completely? They’re thin and I can imagine they will ever catch up to the other ones. Were they on there just to thicken the trunk?

In the current pot, they aren unlikely to catch up in thickness. You could train them down to the ground to make them root like an aerial root. You can also pack sphagnum moss around the upper trunk/branches to promote aerial roots and then train them down. With aerial roots over time they can create inverse taper.

In a lot of the videos they seem to just trim the pads like a hedge bush, cutting anything that extends past the rounded pad top. Is this all I should be doing?

In design, there is the trunk then primary branches and from those secondary branches which branch to form the ramification. It looks like you need to thin and cut back the apex to follow that arrangement. You generally don’t want lots of little branches coming from one spot higher up as they cause unsightly thickening. Over time ficus tertiary and secondary branches thicken and may need to be replaced with other branches in the canopy. Which highlights the importance of good light penetration for future backbudding.

 

[hemmy]

You could thin some more of the weakest upper branches now to clean the branch arrangement.

 

[IdAu]

I do the hardest pruning in summer and active growth phase to get maximum budding and growth response. If you have good indoor light, you can maintenance prune and prune for light penetration this time of year to keep it from dropping interior branches.



In the current pot, they aren unlikely to catch up in thickness. You could train them down to the ground to make them root like an aerial root. You can also pack sphagnum moss around the upper trunk/branches to promote aerial roots and then train them down. With aerial roots over time they can create inverse taper.



In design, there is the trunk then primary branches and from those secondary branches which branch to form the ramification. It looks like you need to thin and cut back the apex to follow that arrangement. You generally don’t want lots of little branches coming from one spot higher up as they cause unsightly thickening. Over time ficus tertiary and secondary branches thicken and may need to be replaced with other branches in the canopy. Which highlights the importance of good light penetration for future backbudding.

I love the idea of training them down. How do I make sure I avoid future problems of strangling itself? I see lots of old cut marks on the trunk that look like either wire or aerial roots that cut in. Do I just make sure I train them straight down to the soil without wrapping the trunk?


How exactly do I trim the "weaker branches" for light penetration? Is it just taking maybe half of the many tiny similar branches around the apex and removing them completely? It sounds like I should be trying to follow the general bonsai rules of bifurcating branches and this tree needs a lot of work to recover from where it's at. One thin knobby apex with many tiny equally sized branches...

 

[Shibui]

The thick upper branches just suddenly stop and terminate at a ton of tiny branches.

Unfortunately, this is the result of past 'hedge pruning' It's what happens when someone concentrates on shortening long shoots but does not think about pruning for form.

It sounds like I should be trying to follow the general bonsai rules of bifurcating branches and this tree needs a lot of work to recover from where it's at.

This is exactly what now needs to be done. Sometimes that means cutting back behind the clusters of small branches and starting branch development again.

Should I remove these lower branches completely? They’re thin and I can imagine they will ever catch up to the other ones. Were they on there just to thicken the trunk?

I doubt these were intended as sacrifice branches to thicken the trunk. Most likely trying to promote the 'bushy bonsai' look without any real idea of what will work best.
For best look the small branch on the left should go. Branches growing from inside bends rarely look good, mostly just detract from the trunk flow.
It is possible to get the other lower branch to catch up but it will take a number of years, perseverance and diligent pruning to reduce strength of the upper branches and promote more growth in that low branch. It's far easier to remove that low branch and style a taller bonsai. The decision on which way to go will need to be yours.

Marks on the trunk are more likely to be wire marks. The trunk has the typical commercial S curve so has probably been wired at some stage. Aerial roots don't usually spiral around the trunk or leave marks. Roots that are tight against the trunk usually fuse to the trunk. That's one way of making a thicker trunk.

Aerial roots can be encouraged by raising humidity - frequent misting, enclose tree in a humidity tent, gravel tray under the tree, etc. How well any of these works will depend on the room ambient temperature and how diligent you are at raising local humidity.

 

[hemmy]

sure I avoid future problems of strangling itself? I see lots of old cut marks on the trunk that look like either wire or aerial roots that cut in. Do I just make sure I train them straight down to the soil without wrapping the trunk?

The left one could have the upper fork removed and both could be tied down to the trunk into a channel in the soil. Cut some bark (cambium) from the lower side that in the soil and then wire or point the leaves and tip back up so they can grow. This is ground layering. That said. I’d probably just cut them off to avoid taper problems. Also the right side has a 90deg angle that will not completely bend to an acute angle and likely look out of place.

If the aerial roots form and drape along the trunk they shouldn’t cut into the trunk and if the trunk overgrows them after ~10yrs they’ll all just fuse and look older (and cooler). I do see the horizontal marks on the trunk that you might be talking about. They might have been from wire when the tree was staked upright in training.

 

[hemmy]

How exactly do I trim the "weaker branches" for light penetration? Is it just taking maybe half of the many tiny similar branches around the apex and removing them completely?

Triming for light penetration is usually a partial defoliation where you remove leaves. I wouldn’t do that on yours now since it’s likely growing slowly inside. But you can remove the numerous small branches all coming from the same point on a branch, like the “X”s on the below pic. Just don’t go removing all the smaller branches if it takes more than a 1/4 or 1/3rd of the leaves off. You don’t want to weaken it in winter. It’s ok if 2-3 branches come from the same spot for another season as you slowly reduce and get better structure and ramification. It doesn’t appear to be growing so strongly to overly thicken a node in one season. Then as it fills in you can remove the extra branches.

 

[IdAu]

The left one could have the upper fork removed and both could be tied down to the trunk into a channel in the soil. Cut some bark (cambium) from the lower side that in the soil and then wire or point the leaves and tip back up so they can grow. This is ground layering. That said. I’d probably just cut them off to avoid taper problems. Also the right side has a 90deg angle that will not completely bend to an acute angle and likely look out of place.

If the aerial roots form and drape along the trunk they shouldn’t cut into the trunk and if the trunk overgrows them after ~10yrs they’ll all just fuse and look older (and cooler). I do see the horizontal marks on the trunk that you might be talking about. They might have been from wire when the tree was staked upright in training.

So something like this. Wire the left thing ugly branches into the soil, and chop the small right branch off?

 

[hemmy]

So something like this. Wire the left thing ugly branches into the soil, and chop the small right branch off?

Yes, but I agree with Shibui that you don’t want to keep them since they are on the inside of the curve. I’d remove them. I might leave the right branch for awhile if it was mine. I wonder about turning the tree to the right, to move the upper right branch about 30deg off the front plane.

The front should be the best trunk line with movement from “base to tip” and a flaring base. The apex should also lean toward the viewer to help with foreshortening.

 

[Topiarius_Peter]

IdAu, just wondering if you have also thought about Shibui’s other comment:

This is exactly what now needs to be done. Sometimes that means cutting back behind the clusters of small branches and starting branch development again.

Noting that here in Australia we would not be doing any serious heavy work on Figs in Winter, I would be thinking of reducing the tree by cutting back behind those messy clusters which would give you a great prospect/opportunity to rebuild by future better clipping methods (not ‘hedge pruning’). This for me would be a priority over removing the smaller lower branches. IMO they are not really your immediate major design issue.

 

[IdAu]

IdAu, just wondering if you have also thought about Shibui’s other comment:

This is exactly what now needs to be done. Sometimes that means cutting back behind the clusters of small branches and starting branch development again.

Noting that here in Australia we would not be doing any serious heavy work on Figs in Winter, I would be thinking of reducing the tree by cutting back behind those messy clusters which would give you a great prospect/opportunity to rebuild by future better clipping methods (not ‘hedge pruning’). This for me would be a priority over removing the smaller lower branches. IMO they are not really your immediate major design issue.

I thought I had thought about it but after thinking about it again I think I thought about it incorrectly. Haha

Does “cutting back behind the small clusters” mean more of a trunk chop up high to start that whole branch more or less completely over? I don’t think I was understanding exactly what he meant. Or more of what Hemmy posted showing chopping most of the individual small branches to the thick trunk?

I’m not in a huge hurry. I want to get this tree used to the new light first and start getting an idea what I need to do. It grew a lot faster than I expected in a couple of months.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

I thought I had thought about it but after thinking about it again I think I thought about it incorrectly. Haha

After some consideration, this is exactly what I thought you were thinking. As my son often says "Never second guess yourself. Unless your first guess is wrong."

What you have looks like the classic "over-loved" bonsai. I don't know how long you've had your tree, but you are not the original owner, correct? My guess is the previous owner knew a little about bonsai, but didn't have (or didn't know about) the vast resources available here. There's a lot of very solid threads detailing styling and care for multiple ficus species. Paired with the great wisdom in this thread for your specific tree, you'll have a tree to be admired in just a few short years.

 

[IdAu]

After some consideration, this is exactly what I thought you were thinking. As my son often says "Never second guess yourself. Unless your first guess is wrong."

What you have looks like the classic "over-loved" bonsai. I don't know how long you've had your tree, but you are not the original owner, correct? My guess is the previous owner knew a little about bonsai, but didn't have (or didn't know about) the vast resources available here. There's a lot of very solid threads detailing styling and care for multiple ficus species. Paired with the great wisdom in this thread for your specific tree, you'll have a tree to be admired in just a few short years.

I bought it from Russels Bonsai about 4 months ago. It was a mass produced tree. It was suggested I go that route to learn before screwing up my other one's and so far it's working perfectly for that.

 

[JesseKane]

Depending on the final height you want this tree to be, you might consider leaving the lower branch on the right. It's weak now, but it's in a good position on the trunk to be the first branch of a normally proportioned tree. If you remove it, the only branches will be fairly high up the trunk and will push you to have a taller overall composition, something I personally don't associate with tropical trees. You can help that little branch grow faster by pruning the branches up top and removing their growing tips while giving the lower branch plenty of sun. Tiger bark ficus don't seem to back bud very well on the trunk, so think very carefully about where you want the design to be three or four years from now before you discard well placed but weak growth.

 

[IdAu]

Depending on the final height you want this tree to be, you might consider leaving the lower branch on the right. It's weak now, but it's in a good position on the trunk to be the first branch of a normally proportioned tree. If you remove it, the only branches will be fairly high up the trunk and will push you to have a taller overall composition, something I personally don't associate with tropical trees. You can help that little branch grow faster by pruning the branches up top and removing their growing tips while giving the lower branch plenty of sun. Tiger bark ficus don't seem to back bud very well on the trunk, so think very carefully about where you want the design to be three or four years from now before you discard well placed but weak growth.

This tree is plenty high for me already!

Would doing encouraging aerial roots from that lower right branch to the ground help thicken it up quicker over time?


Right now it sounds like I should probably cut the two smaller lower left branches, develop the lower right, and then do the thinning and work on the sad apex and upper branches.

 

[JesseKane]

A branch will thicken as it extends, putting tissue on as resources flow between the roots and the branch tip. If an aerial root matures and takes hold all the way down to the dirt, the branch tip has access to the resources of the primary roots attached to the main trunk in addition to the new root originating from the branch. The section of the branch from the trunk to where the aerial root originates will still only see the resources from the primary roots. The section above will see the combined primary roots and aerial root. The result is that the branch will thicken unevenly, with the section closest to the trunk thickening slower than the rest of the branch and potentially causing a good deal of inverse taper. This effect will be significant on a thin branch that has a lot of growing to do, but much less so with a developed branch.

If it were my tree, I would concentrate on the work you outlined (thicken lower branch, thin apex, fix structural flaws like branches on the inside of curves) and get the tree to a better state before looking at encouraging more aerial roots.

I personally think the current base looks great and the overall composition and scale doesn't need any more aerial roots. That could change as the tree develops.