Bonborn - Ficus senior progression from 2014

[bonborn]

This thread is to record the progression of this ficus i purchased in 2014. Species is unknown. I welcome advise, criticism and all comments.

This was cut back hard in early February. Budded back crazy and has since been plucked of unwanted buds. I still can't make it to bud in 2 spots where i would like it to happen therefore some grafting is in plan for the future. I am really interested in the insertion grafting technique someone posted in another thread.




I am trying to encourage ramification in some of the branches which i believe is ready for. Here is a top view of one of the branches. Can someone point out what i should be doing next.



And also what do you think of my decision to remove branch X. I feel there are too many branches in close vicinity. 1 , X and 2 lies in a straight line. 3 is directly below X. However cutting X means exposing the large cut which is very visible due to the cut paste.



More pictures coming up soon.

[shibui]

Absolutely - remove branch x. Your tree already has thickness so does not need extra branches. Excess branches at one point will start to thicken the trunk and create inverse taper so get rid of any that are at the same level whenever possible. Can I also see some more up the top? As the remaining branches develop they will fill any gaps

What to do now - Feed copious amounts of any and all fert to produce growth. Pinch/ prune as often as you can and be patient. You may not even notice it is ramifying but suddenly you will realise how good the branches have got.

[deepeetee]

A little further to Shibui's excellent advice.
Allow 3-4 leaves of growth and then pinch/ prune back to 1-2.
As Shibui said, be patient, this can seem to be a very slow process.

[bonborn]

Allow 3-4 leaves of growth and then pinch/ prune back to 1-2.

Is this sort of what you mean ?





Thanks Shibui for the advice. My tools have arrived so that branch will definitely be going this weekend.

[bonborn]

Can I also see some more up the top?

This removal is in plan for this weekend.





The site where i am hopeful something will bud. I get a lot of green coloring happening there but no buds.

[deepeetee]

Yep. That's what i meant.
Make sure not to close, so you allow for a little bit of die-back.

Dave

[bonborn]

Ficus senior suffered some damage during us moving homes. One of the good branches broke. I did tie it back up using grafting tape and defoliated it but it doesn't look like it will recover. Time to cut back and grow the branch again. Shame.

It has also not backbudded where i was really hoping it would. So it's time to start the hairpin graft i have been thinking about for some time. I bent the potential candidate and only unravelled it today. It looks good.

I am a bit concerned that i might crowd that area a bit. Please refer to pics. Any comments before i make my move.

[bonborn]

Oh boy this looks really bad. I ended up repotting this one as i noticed the soil wasn't draining well. So i made the magic mix of scoria, pine bark, diatomite and coco peat and did the potting up yesterday. Was going to use the same pot as it suits it well but what i found was that the pot was too small for this tree. There were barely any feeder roots. The large roots were rotten hollow inside and the soil had started to smell. The soil was very sticky and mainly some sort of garden soil with lots of sticky clay. Took me a good 3 hours trying to ease out the feeder roots trying to save as many as possible.

I am suprised this fig was still putting out a lot of growth. I treated it will antifungal and see how it goes. For now it have been potted up in a plastic compost box with numerous holes underneath and i am planning on drilling some holes on the side as well.

It need a lot of recovery.

[Ces]

Hi bonborn,

Nice base you have there. Should be good given time.

And that's exactly what i would suggest you do.... give it time. Dont kill it with kindness. you've done a lot of work to it, mostly in a period when figs dont like to be worked on. Looking at the latest pics I would think it had only just been repotted when you first bought it. now that its in a good mix... give it good after care and then let it recover (feed, nutrients and pesticides as appropriate). For this whole season at least.

Just my opinion.

Ces.

[bonborn]

A little update on this one. It's putting out a lot of roots. That's good. I did however did go ahead with the hairpin grafting i have been wanting to do for a while. Initially i though the graft failed but then it took off again. No more procedures till next growth season.

[Ash]

Hi,

Your fig has an excellent base Bonborn and should certainly go far. I wouldn't prune too hard on anything down low as you want some growth to keep those roots developing and those root-chop scars closing. Regarding your hairpin graft - a good idea and good placement. If an aerial root forms anywhere you can let it thicken to about 3-4 mm and then do a hair-pin graft to improve your nebari. The shape on one side (RHS when viewed) is very beautiful so it is worth the effort to make the LHS side complement it.

cheers

Ashley

[bonborn]

Thanks for the tips Ash. Lot more work to be done on this tree. I also am in love with the base.

[bonborn]

[Rintar]

looks like it is coming along well now

[bonborn]

Can someone tell me why are the leaves going yellow please.