How about some ficus benjamina love? (Let's see yours)

[Brian Van Fleet]

Here is a Ben that belongs to a friend. He's not really into bonsai, but has had this one for a very long time. I repotted it for him a few years ago, and he mentioned last week it was looking weak and maybe it needed to be repotted. Last time, it barely came out of the pot, but it did, and I managed to trim it back enough to get it back into the original pot.
Here is how it arrived today. Unfortunately, the pot broke this time as I was working to extract the tree.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

So, here are a few options...

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I went with the unglazed rectangle. Allowing those roots a little legroom will be good for the health of the tree, and a shallow, wide container suits a banyan nicely. It's clear the tree has been in a bonsai pot for many years. The shallower, wider pot may encourage a wider nebari. It's definitely trying:

 

[sorce]

wider

Awesome base!

Shoulda gave it back sumo!

Keep it or cut it?

Cut it!

That's impressive!

Sorce

 

[Anthony]

Here comes Alligator glue to Brian 's aid.
Beautiful tree !!
Thanks for showing.
Good Day
Anthony

 

[MrFancyPlants]

The "Christine"s are looking a little weak due to some leaf cutting / defoliation this summer. I know leaf reduction is possible, but I haven't nailed down the process quite yet. And the "too little" had to be chased back after getting too leggy, but should come around now that I have outdoor space for the summers again. Benjamina do back bud, they just take their sweet time, and often not where you want it, but eventually it will.

 

[Jarath]

Hopefully this trunk cut will be worth it in time. I found this tree in a nursery severely in need of help. Bonsai help. Haha. The nabari is nicely spread around the trunk. I buried the roots to ensure it would survive the drastic cut it took. By next year or so I hope to repot and have some branches to decide upon. Maybe a sumo look. Currently the trunk is about 4 inches wide and 4 inches tall.
I will show the progress of this tree as it grows.
Much love here in Tampa, FL. for ficus Benjamin's.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

I broke a rather small twig of what I think is a Benjamina from a friend's house plant. Rooted in a glass of water and then put to grow in regular potting soil. It has since put lots of new leaves which are actually smaller than the original ones.

 

[leatherback]

This is a root over rock project started in 2013 with benjamina cuttings. Clearly, my climate does not help, and I am not treating it well enough because progress is sloooow..



Today:

 

[Quince]

This is my Benjamina started as a cutting in 2008 at the beginning of my bonsai journey. It's kind of a mess, but I keep it around for sentimental reasons. Maybe someday it will earn itself a proper pot.

 

[Bonsaikev1985]

This was a good 5-6ft when I got my hands on it. I found it on a yard sale site and the people were moving and needed to get rid of it. I chopped it back to about almost a foot, repot, and prayed lol. It's 3 years in and when I first started out it was just a trunk in a pot. Not a single branch. I didn't do to much to it at all until this year. It was a big low over grown bush. Not pretty at all lol. So in June I trimmed it up and wired a couple branches. Took a strong branch to make a leader, wired a couple branches out, and I have to say for something I don't pay much attention to it's coming out pretty good no? Starting to look like a Bonsai.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

This is my Benjamina started as a cutting in 2008 at the beginning of my bonsai journey. It's kind of a mess, but I keep it around for sentimental reasons. Maybe someday it will earn itself a proper pot.
View attachment 155862 View attachment 155863

If the base on this thing is as good as it looks in the first picture I'd give this tree a pot of its own and the brightest light money can buy cause it looks gorgeous.

 

[Quince]

If the base on this thing is as good as it looks in the first picture I'd give this tree a pot of its own and the brightest light money can buy cause it looks gorgeous.

Yes and thank you. The nebari needs a bit more development on the backside, but roots are in place for it to be quite good with time. Im hoping that an additional 1/4" - 1/2" of trunk girth will absorb the inverse taper/potatoe shape that some of the roots have.
I suspect that taking this tree to the next level will require a rebuilding of the first two branches and a trunk chop, but I fear loosing much of the tree.

 

[J. Adrian]

Here is my Benjamina clump.

 

[Quince]

After seeing everybody's trees here, I decided to "reinvest" in my little fig. Built an air pruning pot from an old drying rack and removed all downward growing roots. Not exactly a bonsai pot, but I think this will get me the caliper and roots I'm looking for. This winter it's going under 180 watts of led power.


Does anybody here use a heat mat to keep their tropicals warm in the winter?

 

[Jarath]

Look at this beast

 

[GSCarlson]

I did a little work on my wife's ficus before bringing it indoors for the fall/winter. She was so happy she started to cry.

before:



after:

 

[ohiogrown]

Not the greatest but I like it.

 

[ohiogrown]

This was at the 2017 Columbus Ohio bonsai show.

 

[music~maker]

Here's one I've owned since 2000, and it's the tree I've had for the longest amount of time that is still alive. This is a pic from a few days ago.

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I've been growing it outside during the growing season and indoors for the winter since 2009. Prior to that, it lived in an office, and for a number of years was being taken care of by a co-worker while I was out on the road all the time.

This is what it looked like back in 2001 (earliest pic I have of it):

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It was doing OK for a while, and was thriving reasonably well despite being 100% indoors, though I don't seem to have any photos of it from back then.

But then there was "the incident". There were probably 2-3 years in a row where I didn't see it at all, and a co-worker was looking after it, and this is how I got it back from him in 2009:

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Getting this thing to recover and develop properly is probably my proudest bonsai accomplishment to date.