Ficus, Help with direction.

[joelham]

Hey guys,
Searching for some help with this ficus i got my hands on. Not sure wether to keep all the trunks or remove the middle one?. How hard to cut it back? Any help with future direction for this would be much appreciated as I'm struggling to make a move on this. Or if anyone can ID the species.
cheers!!!
Joel

[KIRKY]

I would grow it as a twin trunk. You would need to shorten the thinner of the two trunks. I would go thru the branches wire what to keep shorten as required, remove the rest. Repot. Then I would defoliate as it looks to have fungus on the leaves. Water with Seasol and in 4 weeks start Powerfeed every couple of weeks. Your further North to me so you should be able to do all this now as the weather is right for Ficus. Unfortunately in Melbourne we are still getting 10 n 14 degrees over night so not quite time for Ficus work.
Cheers
Kirky

[joelham]

Thanks for your input Kirky,
Just unsure what to with the mass of the trunk over on the right hand side.
cheers

[robb63]

Hi Joel
Your fig looks like a PJF but there is lots of variation in the PJ group and fruit will tell you for sure.
That mass you mention on the right IMO is a keeper. Why make a huge scar you can avoid.
If you reduced the two main trunks then your left with 4. If bothered by 4 you later cut one off to 3.
As the tree powers on the small one will catch up to larger 2 with less pruning.
What I would do now is first sort the roots out, cutting back to widest part of base and repot
A flat and wider container will grow better roots than deep pots.
After that even if the front changed I would still cut back the thickest first trunk more than the second trunk.
That leaves the second trunk at about the first branch on it as the top for now if that makes sense ?
Then a slight tilt to left and removing that thick root on first trunk would improve it IMO
hope that helps

[shibui]

It is hard to be definitive about styling a tree when you can only see one view of it. We have no idea of depth or trunk movement to the rear or front from just one angle.
I have to assume you have given us the best looking view of the tree overall so just going with what I can see:
Good aspects: good root base, older looking trunk, some taper from base to apex, some movement in the RHS trunk,
Problem aspects: middle trunk is very straight with little taper above the first small branch about halfway up. 2 main trunks appear to have little complimentary flow, thickest branches at the apex, esp middle trunk, few low branches to work with

It may be possible to keep both larger trunks but, unless there is a better viewing angle with complimentary flow, keeping both will just make a mediocre bonsai It may be possible to rectify this- totally remove one of the trunks. RHS seems to be far better so I would consider taking out the middle one. If you want to keep the middle trunk it might be possible to shorten back to the small branch at the front and re grow the middle trunk to be more complimentary with the RHS. Looks like that middle trunk is toward the rear in this view so any new trunk apex will probably look better growing toward the rear a bit too. I don't see any problem with the larger, taller trunk being to one side.
Agree that the large root on RHS should be removed at this stage.
Don't be frightened to cut all branches hard because figs grow back from anything that is left. Repot and severe root prune is probably a good idea now to get roots sorted and into good potting mix. Plenty of feed and water over summer and you should see masses of new buds and strong growth to work with.

[dansai]

What he said.

I like the idea of taking the middle trunk down to first branch. From there it is pretty boring. I think there is nice movement and flow to the trunk that Shibui has called RHS but I assume he means what I would call the left trunk as it appears to the viewer from the picture you have put up. I would also remove some of the trunk/knobs on the smaller trunk as in the below virt. I also showed where I'ld cut the middle trunk and the root protruding from the trunk. The green line is where I would cut straight across and pot it in to a good open mix.

Roots like the one protruding from the trunk on the left hand side tend to create taper issues on figs as the tree uses the resources from the root rather that the trunk. Aerial roots on figs can work really well if they grow along the trunk and into the soil, or are out on a branch and are used to create a 'Banyan' style fig. Be aware though that they can create other issues and look messy if not managed.

[joelham]

Thanks so much guys for your input! Really helped me out!
I did some work on it this evening following a lot of shibu's advice. Chopped down the middle trunk, just below first branch with the aims of making more cohesive lines with the RHS trunk. Also reduce the RHS trunk a little and removed thick branches at the top. Removed that funky root. Took dansai's advice on the smaller trunk. Repot in a shallow large pot with fresh mix. I'll give it some love this season and hopefully get some growth in favourable spots. Ill post some pics tomorrow?
Thanks everyone
Legends!

[dansai]

I forgot to attach the virt. Sounds like you understood anyways.

ficus.jpg