Maiden's Shohin Ficus Tiger Bark

[Maiden69]

It was about time I put a tree in a pot. This is one of my 2-year cuttings, they were taken in late spring 2021 and cut back hard in spring 2022. I reduced the branches and foliage before moving them into my garage for winter in November 2022. They were developed in water all the time after they developed roots. In my climate, being in water helps them grow faster, but they do just fine on a regular pot. They were planted in the baskets around spring 2022.

I planted it slightly deeper, so some of the nebari is under the soil, seems to be flaring nicely and hopefuly in 2-3 years on the next repot I can raise it a little to show it better. The soil this time is 100% akadama 1/16" to 3/16". I may add a shallow tray for humidity control, but the tree will not be in water anymore as I want to slow down the growth and start the ramification process.

The pot is from Baldy Bonsai - 5.25" x 2" round. I really wanted to use the Walsall Studio (3 5/8" x 1 1/8" round) pot I bought a while ago but I think it is too shallow for now, especially since this will be my first go at dealing with a tree in a bonsai pot... the watering learning curve begins.

Ficus in water September 2022


Before getting cut-back November 2022 proposed Front


proposed Back


Today - 10 March 2023 - Back


Front


Roots




Bottom of the rootball before - after reducing - I went a little aggressive, let's see how the tree ( if ) recovers.




Finaly in a pot

Front


Back - after looking at the pics and depending on how the tree develops I may switch fron/back, not sure at this time.


Top - Looking from the top most of the green is towards the front of the tree, which points to my foot on this picture

 

[BrightsideB]

Looks great! Will be cool to see the updates!

 

[Carol 83]

It's amazing how easily Tiger Bark cuttings root and how quickly they grow. That pot is perfect for it.

 

[Colorado]

Nice little chunky ficus!

 

[luvinthemountains]

Boy, it is putting on some weight! I will be interested to see how you do with ramification. With mine which is a similar size and a little further along, I really struggle getting fine ramification - especially on the lower branches for some reason. Jerry Meislik has suggested this is due to apical dominance, and that a hard cutback on the top could force energy to the first two branches. I am looking forward to seeing your next update!

 

[Maiden69]

Boy, it is putting on some weight! I will be interested to see how you do with ramification. With mine which is a similar size and a little further along, I really struggle getting fine ramification - especially on the lower branches for some reason. Jerry Meislik has suggested this is due to apical dominance, and that a hard cutback on the top could force energy to the first two branches. I am looking forward to seeing your next update!

Thanks, don't know Jerry but he is right! In addition to hard cutback, you can also graft already ramified branches on the inside, this I plan to test on my bigger ficus during this growing season.

Here is an old video from David Cortizas, this one doesn't have CC or automatic translation but you can see the work being done on a shohin size ficus. I think if I cut mine to where I want the next trunk transition to go I would be still at mame size, under 6". The plan to move it into the pot was to start the constriction of the roots to help form tighter ramification. I think this tree will look decent if I can get some decent growth rate this year. My biggest fear is having the tree push too much roots forcing me to repot yearly, that will negate the benefit of the pot, and is one reason I don't see many highly ramified shohin ficus.

 

[luvinthemountains]

The plan to move it into the pot was to start the constriction of the roots to help form tighter ramification. I think this tree will look decent if I can get some decent growth rate this year. My biggest fear is having the tree push too much roots forcing me to repot yearly, that will negate the benefit of the pot, and is one reason I don't see many highly ramified shohin ficus.

I had this issue, the tree stalling to some extent after getting rootbound in a smaller container. Which is why this year I have up-potted from a mame pot to a shohin pot, to allow the tree more room to run. I will defoliate/debud the crown early- to mid-summer, and leave the lower branches alone so that they grow hard then cut terminal buds in late summer to force backbudding on those branches. I am noting the same problem with radical apical dominance (say that five times fast) in most of the ficus I have. We shall see how it goes.

 

[Baku1875]

It was about time I put a tree in a pot. This is one of my 2-year cuttings, they were taken in late spring 2021 and cut back hard in spring 2022. I reduced the branches and foliage before moving them into my garage for winter in November 2022. They were developed in water all the time after they developed roots. In my climate, being in water helps them grow faster, but they do just fine on a regular pot. They were planted in the baskets around spring 2022.

I planted it slightly deeper, so some of the nebari is under the soil, seems to be flaring nicely and hopefuly in 2-3 years on the next repot I can raise it a little to show it better. The soil this time is 100% akadama 1/16" to 3/16". I may add a shallow tray for humidity control, but the tree will not be in water anymore as I want to slow down the growth and start the ramification process.

The pot is from Baldy Bonsai - 5.25" x 2" round. I really wanted to use the Walsall Studio (3 5/8" x 1 1/8" round) pot I bought a while ago but I think it is too shallow for now, especially since this will be my first go at dealing with a tree in a bonsai pot... the watering learning curve begins.

Ficus in water September 2022
View attachment 476154

Before getting cut-back November 2022 proposed Front
View attachment 476155

proposed Back
View attachment 476156

Today - 10 March 2023 - Back
View attachment 476157

Front
View attachment 476158

Roots
View attachment 476159

View attachment 476160

Bottom of the rootball before - after reducing - I went a little aggressive, let's see how the tree ( if ) recovers.
View attachment 476161

View attachment 476162

Finaly in a pot

Front
View attachment 476164

Back - after looking at the pics and depending on how the tree develops I may switch fron/back, not sure at this time.
View attachment 476165

Top - Looking from the top most of the green is towards the front of the tree, which points to my foot on this picture
View attachment 476168

the proportion is great on that tree and I like that you are trying to keep it mame to push the visual effect of that trunk. I'm glad I ran across this thread since I have a lot of new ficus material coming in the form of small and large cuttings off two of my old trees and you guys are thinking brainstorming the same issues I'm going to run into.

That is a great video and channel(kaeru en), right up my alley and new for me. I can translate the important parts (I'm cuban)

**he was thinking that it would be best to defoliate this ficus, not just for convenience, because he is not particular of defoliating for convenience alone, but because right now the ficuses are 'shooting off' implying strong trees (disparado) and now we are going to have 10 days without levante.

Levante in Cadíz, Spain means hot and dry winds, very punishing for plants, in the past he would play the lottery and not pay attention to the winds but it would result in a step back (retraso, delay) in growth due to the damage more than it being a lottery risk . So since we are going to have higher humidity, calmer winds (vientos parado), we will have at least 10 days to recover from defoliation.

Because the ficuses are strong now, and the dry winds will be slower, he will play the odds to both slow the growth and provide convenience for wiring and better being able to visualize the tree.

We will remove all of the leaves. He uses those scissors similar to those used for cutting sewing thread, it can be bought in any sewing supply or bazaar very cheaply. This tree has tons of defects. The ichi no eda is excessively developed and forward facing, the first and second branches are too close together on the vertical plane, the 3rd and 4th branches similarly, so we will be working on the visual perception of the planes to distract the viewer's eye from these defects. We will lower the first branch, leave the second alone, the third is fine from the frontal plane, but from the top plane it is too far behind so we will move it forward.

He talks about youtubers making fake accounts to get more subscribers because their content isn't that great (lol). Being baffled about haters, etc.
Last comment about specific design, he mentions attempting to get more torque/twist out of the second branch. Much much better he says, after the twist.

Mentions trying to visualize the tree from his camera's live view, but he finds it difficult to do while filming because the screen is so small.
He says that the two dimensional high definition video when he edits, it can bring out defects that he didnt notice in person because of the perpendicular camera angle to the front of the tree and definition of the video exaggerating those defects.

In the future he says he will make necessary edits to 'find solutions' for visual issues, as well from the top view, he will try to retain a slightly triangular view of the ramification. And "that's how it has to be"(asi es como tiene que ser). Then he talks about how the triangular view of the tree shouldnt be perfect, nothing is perfect in bonsai except him (LOL), so try to make the triangle irregular.**

End paraphrased translation. Only took a little bit, great video.

I had this issue, the tree stalling to some extent after getting rootbound in a smaller container. Which is why this year I have up-potted from a mame pot to a shohin pot, to allow the tree more room to run. I will defoliate/debud the crown early- to mid-summer, and leave the lower branches alone so that they grow hard then cut terminal buds in late summer to force backbudding on those branches. I am noting the same problem with radical apical dominance (say that five times fast) in most of the ficus I have. We shall see how it goes.

This is a good planning structure to try and get the right order of growth and ramification and slow down the top growth, I'm going to copy your suggestion this summer and see how it goes.

 

[Maiden69]

That is a great video and channel(kaeru en), right up my alley and new for me. I can translate the important parts (I'm )

So you're a brother from another island...

 

[Maiden69]

Enjoying the 100 weather degree in full sun... Slightly chlorotic, need to fertilize and supplement this weekend. we had a lot of rain last week.

 

[Maiden69]

Filling up slowly, should be wiring soon to bring the foliage down and get it strong for a possible cut back to stimulate back budding.

 

[Maiden69]

Removed some wire, added some wire... there is more starting to bite, so next week will be a "repeat" session. Its growing well, I hope to get some backbudding close to the trunk when I cut to transition to newly formed buds.

 

[giventofly]

looking really cool

 

[luvinthemountains]

I am loving what this little tree is doing in your climate! Great growth for sure. At this rate, it will not look much like its doppelganger in my garden soon. Especially since mine suffered a near-death drought stress while I was on vacation! Luckily, it is coming back and, depending on how things go, I will have an update for you to check out in a few months.