Ficus wired

[Hbhaska]

This big ficus was obtained a year ago as a potted plant. The top was cut off and the foliage was allowed to grow free for about a year. It’s now pruned and wired for the first time. Looking forward to developing this one.

 

[QuantumSparky]

Beautiful trunk! Do you find the need to put 'sealant' (not sure the name) on the cut part of the trunk to keep it from drying out? I've been watching Peter Chan's videos for education and he seems to do that on most of his cuts.

 

[Hbhaska]

Beautiful trunk! Do you find the need to put 'sealant' (not sure the name) on the cut part of the trunk to keep it from drying out? I've been watching Peter Chan's videos for education and he seems to do that on most of his cuts.

Yes, I do put cut paste on most deciduous and tropicals when I do large branch cuts. For smaller ones and most conifers, it doesn’t matter.

 

[Shibui]

Nice neat job on the wiring but I'm not sure that I can see much evidence of the pruning?
I would certainly have cut those long branches back much further to stimulate more new buds where they will be needed. Perhaps you have left them longer to encourage further thickening?

 

[Hbhaska]

Nice neat job on the wiring but I'm not sure that I can see much evidence of the pruning?
I would certainly have cut those long branches back much further to stimulate more new buds where they will be needed. Perhaps you have left them longer to encourage further thickening?

Hi Neil, yes I would like to thicken some of the primary branches from the trunk before pruning the tips on these branches. I agree with you there is a lot of foliage. I will remove some more leaves from these branches to stimulate back budding, leaving the tips intact. Thank you

 

[Shibui]

I would like to thicken some of the primary branches from the trunk before pruning the tips on these branches. I agree with you there is a lot of foliage. I will remove some more leaves from these branches to stimulate back budding, leaving the tips intact. Thank you

Not sure if you have grown many ficus as bonsai???
Letting branches run seems to be a good way to thicken them but I find that if I leave tips intact very little back budding occurs. Removing the tips usually gives me new shoots from the last couple of nodes but not so much further back. For reliable shoots further back on long branches the best results are by pruning back to the area where shoots are needed.
If there's a better way please let me know.

 

[Hbhaska]

Removed all the wires as they started to bite in. Ficus is such a vigorous species. Will wait a few weeks and defoliate and wire again. I would like to develop some pads and ramifications, not to mention, reduce leaf size.