Ficus Trunk Chop - How low can one go!

[Homer911]

I have a couple of Ficus that I planted in the ground in November 2020 (about 80 trees) and I am looking at trunk chopping them to develop a nice taper in the future.

There were about 300mm tall when I planted them and they are about 2 meters now. I placed a tile or a CD under them when they were planted so hopefully the roots will not be a ball of spaghetti. Some have done better than others. Some are about 80mm wide on the trunk whilst others are still fairly small at 25mm.

I have a mixture of Ficus rubiginosa, Virin, microcarpa, Oblique and a couple of Banksia thrown in.

So the question is, can I go as low as I want, or do I have to stop at a node?

Obviously, I will have to wait a couple of months for it to warm up a little before I start the long process....

[TimIAm]

Ficus typically take a lot of punishment if you are in a mild climate. You can chop below the last green, but I wouldn't risk it because Ficus typically back bud quite well. So, I always leave the lowest green and cut above that, then wait for more back budding if needed. Because typically with Ficus you can grow and cut back several times in the same season, I haven't seen the need to cut back to the base and hope it grows back; I'd rather just cut above the last green and be a little bit patient.

I just checked the 7 day forecast for Tweed Coast and it looks like you are getting temps which are warmer than Sydney. So, you should already be seeing some Spring budding because all of my Ficus are already throwing out new growth and back budding. Playing the waiting game is a matter of weighing up options with a Ficus, you can decide if you want to sacrifice new growth (in the pipeline) / ramification for the chance to jump in early to build new direction and branches.

My opinion and experience, you decide based on your circumstance / don't blame me if your trees die:

If you chop now you will lose some of the stored energy in the new growth which could build more ramification, but you can start early on building new branching. If you have healthy Ficus they are not going to sulk if you don't wait for existing buds to push out growth and harden off before you chop. Some species will not be happy if you hard chop when they are beginning to push out new growth. They make an investment in new growth and if they don't get a return on investment they take a hit. Ficus can take the hit because they have stores in roots, so you can afford to chop as new growth is pushed out, and I might even suggest now is a good time to do it because a) they can take the hit b) you are going to get Spring growth.

Happy for anyone to challenge this.

[Rintar]

Hay mate if you look at my post JP's twisted PJ I cut it at ground level. But it was a young sapling about a metre tall and was November ish. Worked for me but.... Your call you have a bunch why not cut 5 at 5 different heights and see if it was a Benji I would be worried but the figs your talking about I would not be to worried. The banksia I got no idea

[shibui]

Not all ficus are equal.
PJ are among the best at shooting from older wood.
Fruiting figs are hard to kill. They even come back after a good strong dose of glyphosate.
Weeping fig is nowhere near as hardy and shoots from bare wood after hard chop can be hit and miss.

I don't have experience of the other species mentioned.

[TimIAm]

All ficus are fruiting, it's just that we trim them back so they don't flower / fruit + they typically need to be pollinated by a particular wasp.

I'd argue figs are pretty much created equal, just like any species there are some variations. With Benjamina, the Weeping Fig, because it grows more tall and thin or people even get them as ex-house plants they don't appear to back bud as readily as a PJ or MBF. But I'd say that's more to do with growth habit, combined with how they've been grown prior to being used as bonsai stock rather than it coping worse than its relatives. Tall + lanky = more distance to cover when waiting for back-budding vs. very common Ginseng style F. Microcarpa which are typically grown banyan style, gives Benjamina a difficult reputation. https://adamaskwhy.com/2014/07/16/how-a ... benjamina/

There are a few really good examples of this forum of people who chopped Benjamina down and they came back looking stunning viewtopic.php?f=133&t=23217

In the past 2 weeks I cut two very large Benjamina down to nothing and they have both already started pushing out new growth.

[shibui]

All ficus are fruiting, it's just that we trim them back so they don't flower / fruit + they typically need to be pollinated by a particular wasp.

Apologies for not being specific. By fruiting fig I meant Ficus carica - the Mediterranean species we usually grow for fruit. I get lots of seedlings growing in the garden beds, in cracks in the bonsai benches, etc. Have not yet found a way to kill those ones yet. Chopping at ground level doesn't work, Glyphosate doesn't work..

BTW, I know they need a fig wasp to pollinate the flowers which are inside the fruit but both Ficus carica and Ficus obliqua(?) produce viable seed down here, the latter inside my poly house. Not sure where the 'particular' wasp for that species comes from down here.

[tgooboon]

I have tried hard cutbacks on Ficus rubiginosa, & microcarpa up to 60mm diameter trunks, right down low below any shoots with no issues. I can't see why obliqua would be any different.
My understanding is their strength comes from their thick bark on the outside of the sap later / cambium. If they are growing in the ground and very healthy you can probably cut back in now or any time up until march. If they are in bonsai pots you would want to wait for November to February when growing in their peak.

Cutback height depends on what height tree you are going for. Given banyan style usually has a low ratio of trunk to foliage. I would be cutting as low as possible, like in the 50-100mm range to end up with a tree in the 450-600mm height range. But that is just what I like.

So you have to figure out what you like and what your aiming to grow the trees into.

If you have that many, I would be trying to create a range of sizes.

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[Homer911]

Thanks for all the comments guys, appreciate it. apologies for the late response.

I chopped them all down low and most of them have started to back bud. Fingers crossed they all do the same.










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[Rintar]

Hope you tried to strike some cuttings from the rest there.

[Homer911]

Hope you tried to strike some cuttings from the rest there.

I think I have enough Rintar


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[melbrackstone]

This is an experiment Jerry Meislik did to see if he could stimulate fruit on his tree. Dry layer, it's called, and as you can see it's stimulated buds all the way down the trunk, but not killed the top.

Totally off topic, but thought it might be of interest.

jerry.jpg

[Rintar]

Never enough plus you give them a year or 2 and when people come over and admire your bonsai you have Christmas gifts to give them. Cheap and easy and find more people to share the hobby with.