Shima
Omono
It's 2 views of the same beni.
Plan of action...my big benjamina
- Thread starter aml1014
- Start date
aml1014
Masterpiece
So here's where the tree is at today.
And a sketch of my plan.
It's explained in the picture but.
Trunk A is just about where I need it to start developing.
Trunks B and C are needed, but only have growth way up high so I'm trying to stimulate back budding.
Trunk D has 2 branches coming off of it. The far left branch I plan on bending down and to the back, the right branch can be removed.
Trunk E also has 2 branches. Far right branch is in a good place to start developing, the more upright branch will be bent down and toward the back.
Here's where I see it after the work and getting budding where I need it on trunks B and C. (Please don't make fun of my drawing lol)
I'm almost done pruning back @sorce , then I can begin to rebuild.
What do you think of my plan?
Aaron
And a sketch of my plan.
It's explained in the picture but.
Trunk A is just about where I need it to start developing.
Trunks B and C are needed, but only have growth way up high so I'm trying to stimulate back budding.
Trunk D has 2 branches coming off of it. The far left branch I plan on bending down and to the back, the right branch can be removed.
Trunk E also has 2 branches. Far right branch is in a good place to start developing, the more upright branch will be bent down and toward the back.
Here's where I see it after the work and getting budding where I need it on trunks B and C. (Please don't make fun of my drawing lol)
I'm almost done pruning back @sorce , then I can begin to rebuild.
What do you think of my plan?
Aaron
Last edited:
aml1014
Masterpiece
A couple guy wires later.
Aaron
Aaron
Redwood Ryan
Masterpiece
I don't agree with your idea of pruning it back. While it's good to get it in shape, you're also drastically reducing fusion time. You need the trees to grow wild to fuse.
Giga
Masterpiece
Correct and like a lot
aml1014
Masterpiece
Unfortunately it needed to be sized down to fit in the greenhouse, or go back to my mom's overwinter which definitely wasn't going to happen. Now that it's actually down to a size that can fit I plan to let it grow for a good year or so to fill in and gain health.
Aaron
Edit: also I don't plan on letting the trunk at the bottom to fuse till they are smooth, they are fused together solid and that's all I want, I plan on inducing aerial roots around the trunk down the road to fuse around all the main trunks.
aml1014
Masterpiece
So the last few nights we have been having pretty heavy winds and this tree has been partially pulled out of its put 3 times now so I slipped it into this heavy ceramic pot that is the same size as the nursery pot and I wired it in TIGHT! This things been threw worse lol its gonna be just fine, but I did have to undo those 2 guy wires.
Aaron
Aaron
_#1_
Omono
This will make for a pretty interesting trunk indeed! Loving the direction the base is heading.
Necrophilia???
Necrophilia???
aml1014
Masterpiece
my fiance really likes Halloween and is already setting up!
aml1014
Masterpiece
This thing has been loving the cool weather and high humidity.
Here's the current status of my greenhouse. 40°f and 90% relative humidity.
This thing is being stubborn about budding on the 5 long ass branches way up there, but, there is now sufficient branches down lower to remove 4 of them and rebuild the canopy.
Here's a branch that can be a new leader for 2 of those long branches
And here's another branch that can be a new leader. Oddly it only has white leaves.
Aaron
Here's the current status of my greenhouse. 40°f and 90% relative humidity.
This thing is being stubborn about budding on the 5 long ass branches way up there, but, there is now sufficient branches down lower to remove 4 of them and rebuild the canopy.
Here's a branch that can be a new leader for 2 of those long branches
And here's another branch that can be a new leader. Oddly it only has white leaves.
Aaron
Leo in N E Illinois
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I like the basic plan for this tree, but I think your plan won't give you the results you want. @Redwood Ryan is right, this needs to grow wild to get fusion higher up and to get the vigor you want to get the back buds where you want them. Now I do understand you needed to get it short enough to fit in the greenhouse.
First I want to say thank you for getting rid of that root that went up in the air like a wayward snake. It made me crazy just looking at it in pictures. Next you need a pot no deeper than the one it is in, but large enough that it holds two or three times the volume of media. This tree needs to grow, or your trunks will never fuse, not up top, not down low unless you let it grow. If you keep pruning it like you have, 10 years from now, when you remove the tape, the top will pop apart. It is not fully fused, and needs to double the diameter of the trunks to fuse it. Hence, you need room for root growth.
It is total volume of foliage that thickens trunks, if you can't let it escape upwards, let it grow outwards. Do the ''Walter Pall"" style hedge pruning to get lots of branches with lots of foliage. Once your trunks have grown enough to actually fuse, not just stick together a little, then you can finally start the branch structure. Ficus grow fast when given the root room, sun and heat. You could get to the place you need to be in 2 to 4 years.
Ideally, branches should be less than half the diameter of the trunk they come off of. Once your trunk is fully fused and the size you want, then the work on branches begins. You will need to remove almost all the by now overly thick branches, and rebuild the canopy from small new branches.
It is build a tree, first nebari and lower trunk, then the upper trunk, then the primary branches. You don't worry about the 3rd step until the first and second are where they need to be.
I like your tree enough to comment on it. It is a project that I would continue as you started, were it to end up on my bench. So I am not ''dogging you'', just trying to get you to change the plan for how to get to your end point. The final drawing is do-able from where you are at now. But you need to change how you are going to get there. Bigger pot, more foliage for a while, then down the road you can reduce.
First I want to say thank you for getting rid of that root that went up in the air like a wayward snake. It made me crazy just looking at it in pictures. Next you need a pot no deeper than the one it is in, but large enough that it holds two or three times the volume of media. This tree needs to grow, or your trunks will never fuse, not up top, not down low unless you let it grow. If you keep pruning it like you have, 10 years from now, when you remove the tape, the top will pop apart. It is not fully fused, and needs to double the diameter of the trunks to fuse it. Hence, you need room for root growth.
It is total volume of foliage that thickens trunks, if you can't let it escape upwards, let it grow outwards. Do the ''Walter Pall"" style hedge pruning to get lots of branches with lots of foliage. Once your trunks have grown enough to actually fuse, not just stick together a little, then you can finally start the branch structure. Ficus grow fast when given the root room, sun and heat. You could get to the place you need to be in 2 to 4 years.
Ideally, branches should be less than half the diameter of the trunk they come off of. Once your trunk is fully fused and the size you want, then the work on branches begins. You will need to remove almost all the by now overly thick branches, and rebuild the canopy from small new branches.
It is build a tree, first nebari and lower trunk, then the upper trunk, then the primary branches. You don't worry about the 3rd step until the first and second are where they need to be.
I like your tree enough to comment on it. It is a project that I would continue as you started, were it to end up on my bench. So I am not ''dogging you'', just trying to get you to change the plan for how to get to your end point. The final drawing is do-able from where you are at now. But you need to change how you are going to get there. Bigger pot, more foliage for a while, then down the road you can reduce.
aml1014
Masterpiece
Thanks for the thorough reply! The trunks don't look fused in the pictures, but they were strapped together for 8 years and are THOUOGHLY fused, they don't for into one big trunk but they definitely are going to come apart.
My plan is almost exactly as you said. I'll hedge prune the tree over winter to keep it from eating the inside of my greenhouse, and next spring it'll be planted into a 14"×14"×6" grow box to grow freely as it likes all next summer, then it'll be potted into a smaller pot and pruned back again to fit in the greenhouse. Rinse and repeat. Hopefully doing this will allow the trunk to fuse enough to become a single trunk within the next few years.
Aaron
aml1014
Masterpiece
I now know why these are called the weeping fig, because when they are actually growing vigorously, the branches get so heavy when thin that they start to droop. 
Still waiting for buds on that long leader. oh and the picture is of the back of the tree.
Aaron
Still waiting for buds on that long leader. oh and the picture is of the back of the tree.
Aaron
aml1014
Masterpiece
Today I brought this one inside for a little work as it is growing into its neighbors. I reduced the heavy branch on the left to a shoot further back to induce more taper and have an actual trainable branch that will back bud. not sure why, but @sorce comes to mind when I have this question. Im thinking about trying my hand at grafting. since the leader doesn't want to back bud I was thinking about trying to graft the curvy branch on the right onto the bare trunk so I can cut back to it one day. Then I'll reduce the right branchback to the first shoot on it for the same reasons I reduced the left today.
Whole tree
Left branch reduced
And the right branch I'd like to try grafting and then reducing to the branch my hand is on.
Another option for the apex is to just cut it off and replace it with something I already have. reason I can do this is because that trunk actually through a bud down low, so I know it won't die off if I cut it back. Here's the bud.
So what is everybody's opinion on my next step forward?
Aaron
Whole tree
Left branch reduced
And the right branch I'd like to try grafting and then reducing to the branch my hand is on.
Another option for the apex is to just cut it off and replace it with something I already have. reason I can do this is because that trunk actually through a bud down low, so I know it won't die off if I cut it back. Here's the bud.
So what is everybody's opinion on my next step forward?
Aaron
aml1014
Masterpiece
And I almost forgot, that weird branch that is only growing white leaves seems to be dwarfed
Pretty weird lol
Aaron
Pretty weird lol
Aaron
aml1014
Masterpiece
So I decided that I would reduce them both, but first...
I can't waste those branches lol the top will be a mame in a month and a half and the other a nice shohin slant.
Aaron
I can't waste those branches lol the top will be a mame in a month and a half and the other a nice shohin slant.
Aaron
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Maybe cuz I was thinking of it too.
Note....
Proud to have said "fuck it" again!
I simply can't get over how much growth I got with my roots escaped into the ground.
So...
Was the person who said it takes 3 years for a plant to get going in the ground full of shit?
Or are the fellers putting colander into the ground onto some shit?
Or is it just because it's a ficus?
I never had anything escape into the ground before....
Either way...
I think you should utilize this process.
If you intend to keep the apex up there...
I would already have it in something twice as wide.
If you can get that done...and escaping into the ground....double plus.
If I'm here next year again...
I'm letting everything I can get some earth.
Sorce
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
3 times as wide.
Sorce
Sorce
aml1014
Masterpiece
The small container is mainly to keep it in the greenhouse overwinter, in late spring I'll repot into a 14"×14"×6" grow box to help beef it up over the growing season. I also plan on doing kinda what @Smoke does with his maples, and I'll secure the root ball directly to the bottom of the pot. That way it should put out some root where it's ugly right now and I'll be able to reduce the amount of wood that's inside of the pot (giant knot of roots)
Aaron
aml1014
Masterpiece
Started building boxes this weekend and decided you were right this needed a bigger pot ASAP. It's now in a 12"×12"×6" grow box where it'll stay for a couple years. I actually ran out of soil for the first time I'm a year and a half! Time to go buy more and start sifting for springs 200+ repots scheduled.
It's only in about 3.5" of soil
And I had to do some rearranging to get it in the greenhouse again.
I think this should up the growth rate a bit. The top layer got mites and died, the other one is rooting very well and should be removed in about 2 weeks.
Aaron
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