Green Island Fig

[Jeremy]

Figure I will keep on smashing the tropical forum and boring anyone who views this section to sleep lol
I bought this tree to enter a competition on the Ausbonsai Forum to create a shohin on raw stock in 18 months. No branch training allowed. The long overly thick branch on the left had a chop half way out so I was to remove the entire branch to be able to enter the tree. Needless to say, I did not win or place, though it proved a learning curve on being able to push a design onto a tree and get it there in a time frame. Ultimately, I would rather not rush.

The tree was trunk chopped, bare-rooted and aggressively root pruned in April '13 (middle of Autumn) with no ill effects. I would rather do this work in either late August or December but as we don't experience freezing Winters here, I knew the tree would be ok. After 5 months the roots had grown considerably so I was able to pot it up with minimal disturbance, it was also the first time I had defoliated this species without fully knowing the results..Results were good and it responded like all other vigorous Ficus varieties.

After the comp, I decided to change the viewing angle as it has better flow and feels more dynamic. I think I was put off by the large scars at first and wanted to hide them, but I feel I can make something of them. The first branch appears very straight in the photos, it actually has a lot of movement that is lost in 2D. Might be something to look at... Still working on an apex, got to work on the transition from trunk chop and get some more healing so its growing tall. Thoughts?

Enough rambling..



#1 as purchased March 2013
#2 June 2013, stretching out after initial work
#3-4 September 2013
#5 October 2014 - final submission
#6 Jan 2015

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Very nice progression! I see a lot on AusBonsai the recommendation of growing in Styrofoam containers for fast growth. Would you mind expanding on this?

 

[Jeremy]

No science to it really. Some people talk of the insulation it provides in the heat, others have developed fast growth methods in which they are dumped in almost purely chook manure pellets. I followed the crowd in the early days, now I prefer to use old nursery cans cut down, or even shallow storage baskets (square colander). Old kitty litter trays are the goods for root development, just pop a few drainage holes in them. Actually the REAL reason we use styro boxes is because we're too lazy to build our own timber grow boxes

 

[sorce]

Real nice.

Sorce

 

[Jeremy]

So I changed the front again, back to the original front with a bit of a tweak. I think I mostly lost interest in the pot. To me it looks a more powerful shohin now, but the apex is still the most bothersome part. I may need to start it again, ie; grow it out so the transition from trunk to apex isn't so abrubt...

 

[Jeremy]

Bit the bullet today and culled the lower left/back branch. I think its an improvement in terms of developing flow. The apex is starting to look a little better but still needs to thicken in an attempt to soften the angular curve.