[Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

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Pearcy001
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[Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

Hi all. Don't seem to be able to find the original thread so I've started a new one to have all the info together for a progression over the coming years.

This was the first tree I ever received, kicking off my journey into the world of Bonsai. It was a Moreton Bay Fig that I got for Christmas 2014 from my in-laws, along with a stick in a pot Benji. Ever since bonsai took over my partner has been furious it wasn't her that got me the trees haha.

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Two years on and it's still alive, but hasn't really progressed much. When I received it the tree was growing high up out of the ground, with roots only on the ends of 3 long mediocre twirling roots. There was a large scar at the rear of the tree where another root had been removed poorly.

The original substrate it was in was organic and held far too much water, causing this tree to get root rot over the summer of 2015-16. Due to the rot affecting the roots coupled with me moving the tree into a better position, it stressed the tree into pushing out some aerial roots around February 2016 (and not nice ones either haha).

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Still with no real direction I repotted the tree in March 2016, in an attempt to remove the roots affected by the root rot.

The tree was replanted into a (250mm?) orchid pot, in a 50%/50% pine bark and diatomite mix to try regain some vigour. At the time I pressed a large rock up under the roots to try fill some negative space under there, in order to force the roots to grow down around it in a nicer shape. From there the tree was left to grow freely for 12 months *cough* neglected...*cough*.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on February 7th, 2017, 9:51 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

Today I decided to give it a bit of a trim and a repot as the roots were spilling out everywhere and cooking in the heat of the sun.

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Before the trim;

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And after the trim;

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Looking at the photos it's put on more size than I had realised over the last 12 months being in a free draining mix.

After the chop I immediately sealed the cut with putty and cut all the exposed roots from the outside of the pot, in order to remove the tree. FYI - I never use the liquid cut paste in the tube on soft barked trees like figs, as it will stain the bark and not come off. Always use the putty from the tub and apply a thin coat by spreading it with a moist thumb (I lick mine so the putty doesn't stick to my thumb making it much easier to apply it :tu: )

The rock that was originally placed inside for the roots to grow around was removed and I began chopping back the roots.

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Once done I repotted it into a 300mm orchid pot to give it room to put some growth onto the new leader.

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Now to sit back and wait again for another 12 months, where I'll then cut the roots again and assess the progress of the new leader.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on February 7th, 2017, 9:47 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Boics »

Nice root work there Pearcy - The Nebari has come along an absolute treat!
Could you not find a larger leader? The change in taper is going to take an awfully long time to catchup I suspect?
One of the fabulous things about growing bonsai is as you get old and decrepit your trees get old and beautiful
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by jezz_39 »

Nice chop, I'd let that leader thicken without wire if you want to develop movement in the trunk. You could've gone harder on the roots but there's always next time. That leader will be up to size in under 12 months, perfect.
Regards,
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

Boics wrote:Nice root work there Pearcy - The Nebari has come along an absolute treat!
Could you not find a larger leader? The change in taper is going to take an awfully long time to catchup I suspect?
Hi Boics,

The larger branch/leader that was above always bugged me not being in the right position. I always found it to be too high up for my taste, constantly wishing it was that bit lower. The current chop was made in order to improve the overall tree (in my eyes) in the long run.

The good thing for me is time is on my side, having only just turned 28. Granted a smaller chop would heal quicker but hey, at least it's not a juniper that I'm waiting to heal over haha.
jezz_39 wrote:Nice chop, I'd let that leader thicken without wire if you want to develop movement in the trunk. You could've gone harder on the roots but there's always next time. That leader will be up to size in under 12 months, perfect.
Hi Jezz,

Not planning to use any wire on this for a long long time. At most I may use a guy wire if the leader begins growing in the wrong direction but that is it. Thanks for the tip about the roots, I'm sure I'll take off more next time around.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on February 7th, 2017, 9:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

12 months on and the new leader put on some size. I have been a bit slack with the feeding so growth wasn't quite as high as I would have liked.

More root work done and the tree has been repotted for another 12 months. I'll extend this section out a but further before making the next chop for movement.

Last year's major chop scar is healing over well, already rolled over around 1 quarter. Now it's time to feed!

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on February 19th, 2018, 4:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by bonborn »

That came up really nice. Love how the leader has thickened.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by boom64 »

Hi Pearcy ,Looking good , that original hard cut back is paying dividends already. Cheers John.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

Thanks guys.

It's interesting seeing difference in colour of the bark on the new growth. As you can see from the latest photo the new leader went from a couple of millimetres to an inch thick over the last 12 months.

I'll probably give it another 6 months or so with heavy feeding then I'll chop that leader for change of direction and begin work on the next section.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Last edited by Pearcy001 on February 20th, 2018, 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Pearcy001 »

Annual update on this one, although not alot has changed apart from trunk girth. This tree was touched for the first time in a while today, being repotted again for another year. The old trunk chop (2017?) has now completely rolled over and healed nicely, so I'm now continuing to try thicken the main leader. As you can see the base is packing on some mass now and starting to fill the majority of a 30cm pot. I'll also remove the old branch stubs and seal them in the next day or two as I ran out of time in the garden today.
20200315_182836_compress42.jpg
20200315_182916_compress46.jpg
Personally I prefer Ficus to halve multiple trunks rather than one single trunk, as it feels to me more like it's natural growth pattern. The rough plan is to work with multiple (2-3?) main trunks of various thickness coming from the tree to fill the canopy. Find attached a rough virt of the trees current direction, although I'll probably go a little higher due to the MB figs larger leaf size. I'm guessing in another 12 months the design will change.
20200315_221641_compress73.jpg
Thoughts welcome as always.

Cheers,
Pearcy.

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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by morrow »

Thanks for the update Pearcy. I’ve got notifications on so I can follow along :)
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by matlea »

Looking good... Come along way in the time. Just watch the second right branch as it may cause some swelling in that area. Maybe remove as its not in your envisaged design? Just my 2c
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by MJL »

Proper skills at play here! Thanks for the thread. Very insightful. :tu2:
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Re: [Pearcy] Morton Bay Fig.

Post by Greg F »

Enjoying the progress and keen to see its future development.
Cheers.

Greg
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