Tigerbark ficus from raw material to?

[luvinthemountains]

I had this shipped from Bam Bam Bonsai in Florida. It is still in pretty raw form, but I think that it has some things going for it. I have not decided yet whether to keep most of the height but narrow down to one trunk line, or cut it down significantly.

Once the tree gets growing, I think I will repot it into the same training pot, but with a free-draining medium. Depending on how vigorously it grows before then, I might do some top work at the same time.

Probable front:


Could also go with this side:


Ass end:

 

[YamadoriFL]

I think photo 2 wants to be the front. Nice one.

 

[jason biggs]

That kardashian bulge is never going to even out...
hopefully you'll get some growth there or
threadgraft one of the bigger branches to make a strong low branch...
Florida has awesome ficus starter material

 

[luvinthemountains]

hopefully you'll get some growth there or threadgraft one of the bigger branches to make a strong low branch

You are right on. I see no point fighting it, so I plan to use it in the design. I am hoping that a bud will pop when I hard-prune the trunk, but grafting may be another option. Now if only I could settle on a trunk line...

 

[hinmo24t]

That kardashian bulge is never going to even out...
hopefully you'll get some growth there or
threadgraft one of the bigger branches to make a strong low branch...
Florida has awesome ficus starter material

baby got back!

 

[luvinthemountains]

I spent a little time staring at this tree today, and I think I have identified one possible course of action. I am starting to see shoot extension in the top of the canopy, so that tells me now is a good time to repot into my free-draining mix. This illustration shows the edits I might make. I am not sure yet if I will do this at the time of repotting or after the roots are established, in about 4-6 weeks.

The red lines are where I would cut. The large piece in the back would make a nice cutting, and the remaining subtrunk should throw multiple shoots that will eventually form the apex of the canopy. The cut on the lower right is a strong branch that emerges right between the front-right and back-right branches. There are just too many branches at that level, I think.

The two yellow lines illustrate what I could possibly use for a thread graft. "1" could be done very soon as it is long and strong, and would leave shoot "2" to grow for a future left-side branch. But if I want to keep the thickness of "1" for a branch, I could let "2" extend until it is a sufficient length to thread through the trunk as shown.

Right now I am thinking a sort of "informal broom", but whatever emerges after these changes may have other ideas for me.

 

[Carol 83]

I spent a little time staring at this tree today, and I think I have identified one possible course of action. I am starting to see shoot extension in the top of the canopy, so that tells me now is a good time to repot into my free-draining mix. This illustration shows the edits I might make. I am not sure yet if I will do this at the time of repotting or after the roots are established, in about 4-6 weeks.

The red lines are where I would cut. The large piece in the back would make a nice cutting, and the remaining subtrunk should throw multiple shoots that will eventually form the apex of the canopy. The cut on the lower right is a strong branch that emerges right between the front-right and back-right branches. There are just too many branches at that level, I think.

The two yellow lines illustrate what I could possibly use for a thread graft. "1" could be done very soon as it is long and strong, and would leave shoot "2" to grow for a future left-side branch. But if I want to keep the thickness of "1" for a branch, I could let "2" extend until it is a sufficient length to thread through the trunk as shown.

Right now I am thinking a sort of "informal broom", but whatever emerges after these changes may have other ideas for me.

View attachment 386828

Your yellow arrows made me laugh. Sorry, boring afternoon and I'm easily amused.

 

[luvinthemountains]

Your yellow arrows made me laugh. Sorry, boring afternoon and I'm easily amused.

So wrong and yet so right!!!

 

[luvinthemountains]

I wound up chopping the trunk much shorter than I was originally thinking. Since then, I have been letting it grow until I make up my mind.

 

[luvinthemountains]

I have continued working at this over the summer, hoping that an idea will coalesce for me. I need to choose a front. My problem is that the new movement I introduced with the chop is at odds with the best view of the trunk. Here are some possibilities.

#1 I feel like this view shows off the root base a little better, and makes good use of the strong first right branch. (The aerial roots will be repositioned at repotting.) The branch with the "X" would have to go, as it originates too close to the center line. Unfortunately, the first left branch is slightly too far back. The things that I don't like from this view are that the chop scar will be visible and the upper trunk leans too sharply away from the viewer. I might just chop it lower and use one of the shoots heading forward and left to continue the trunk line, which could work.



#2 I like this view because it mostly conceals the chop scar, it still shows off that strong branch (first left branch from this view), the first right branch is more prominent, and the movement and taper in the trunk look better. But the root base is meh (can't even see the base of the big aerial root).