To buy?

Forum for discussion of Tropical bonsai – Ficus, Bougainvillea, Fukien Tea, Dwarf Umbrella etc.
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Nickbb
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To buy?

Post by Nickbb »

I'm considering picking this up tomorrow, it looks pretty bare. Would it survive heavy the chop?
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shibui
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Re: To buy?

Post by shibui »

It appears to be a fig of some kind.
Ficus benjamina can occasionally be shy to shoot after hard chop but most of the other figs shoot well, in fact it is hard to actually kill them.
It would certainly respond far better if it was stronger and healthy but you should have a good chance even with a weaker fig.
Your best option would probably be to take it as is then fertilise well until you get better growth then repot and chop.
I'll be interested to hear what the QLD growers think would work.
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Nickbb
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Re: To buy?

Post by Nickbb »

Definately a Ficus. I like the base, I had the same idea with fattening it up with ferts for a while, spring has finally poked its head out here after an unusually cold wet winter. Is it better to go chop the main trunk leaving the branches to keep her going or would that potentially focus all the life into the new leaders?
shibui
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Re: To buy?

Post by shibui »

It is sometimes a bit hard to define trunk and branches where all of them point up like this.
Response to chop is about hormone flow. The highest parts of any tree produce hormones that suppress growth further down. When we chop that removes all that hormone production so lower shoots are free to grow but if you leave some high tips they just take over providing the growth suppression so new shoots may not emerge as well.
I'd go the whole lot in one go unless you really want to keep 1 or 2 emergency fall back branches as insurance in case the main trunk doesn't shoot as expected.
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Nickbb
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Re: To buy?

Post by Nickbb »

Looks like it's going to need a haircut to get it in the car it's 2.5-3m high. Will just have to see what happens, cheap enough
Nickbb
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Re: To buy?

Post by Nickbb »

Apparently I have inspired them to keep it!
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