Help with fig, direction needed please

[Bek]

Hi all,
A couple of months ago I was kindly given a few stock trees by someone in my bonsai club. Slowly I'm starting to have a look at each and try to visualize what I want to do with it. Unfortunately unless there's a really obvious direction, I'm suffering from a lack of ideas. Today I've been looking at this fig (unsure of what kind). Really hoping that maybe someone here with more knowledge/imagination might be able to come up with a future direction for this tree. Of course, it could turn out that it was a freebie for good reason, haha!



Sorry about the amateur-ish photos!

[Boics]

Hello Bek.

I'll bite..

I'd be looking to cut back the trunks to a single line with taper.

The right hand facing trunk to branch structure on pic #4 is the most appealing to me.
The major cuts/branch removals from this tree can likely be put into propagating mix or even a standard soil and will likely take at this time of year.

Either that or still looking at pic#4 I see a general reduction by about 50% to grow a rounded canopy multiple trunk style...

This advise is all provided you are happy with the current trunk thickness..

[trident76]

Hi Bek.
There are a number of ficus thoningii, african veld fig doing the rounds at the sa club at the mo. Might be one of these although it looks like ficus natalensis. Not sure. Could probably tell from closer inspection.
The tree seems to have two trunks. One quite long straight and boring, the other with a few more curves. I would lose the straight one for now. Then repot at a different and suitable angle to suit the chosen trunk. Best to do figs in warm weather. 29 degrees tomorrow!
Cheers,
Luke

[Bougy Fan]

Looks like a natal Fig to me. The collar at the base is a worry - you could bury it a bit deeper and make it a twin trunk if you like. Then cut the two trunks back hard and clip and grow to get some movement in them. They bud back readily all the way down the trunk. Feed it with lots of chook poo

[Inspired]

Great photo.. nice tree!

[Bek]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yeah the base of the trunk looks a bit ugly to me, so burying it might be an idea.
Luke/Boics -I did think about cutting that straight trunk off, so I might look at that too. Luke, I might bring it to the next workshop (if you're going) so you can ID it for me, although you and Bougy have both said Natal fig, so maybe that's the one.
Bougy/Boics, thanks for the suggestion of the major cut back. I used to be scared of doing those, but I've seen some amazing results on Ausbonsai with figs being cut right back, so I may even take the plunge and do that. Exciting!

[Andrew Legg]

Definitely Ficus natalensis, or Natal Fig.