AusBonsai

I had a go at grafting a F. microcarpa. It was a twin thick rooted tree, and I cut it at the top of the roots thinking they'd shoot. After two years of nothing happening I grafted two small branch tips on one of them, and it has taken!

Figs are pretty forgiving in many many ways.

yes thinking of grafting more of my main Natal ficus back on to itself either from some of my cuttings that have been taking or even grafting living branches i also have a Microcarpa that was one of those ginsing monstrosities and grafting many other types of ficus to it as a crazy fun experiment

Mel, must be only certain Ficus that sprout from root cuttings. I read a blog and the guy always says he throws the root cuttings into separate pots with figs. But I've had the same experience as you, nothing sprouts.

I tried grafting onto a MBF root cutting, but my cuts were too sloppy. Going to give it another try next time I have some spare branch cuttings.

TimIAm wrote: ↑October 15th, 2022, 8:28 am Mel, must be only certain Ficus that sprout from root cuttings. I read a blog and the guy always says he throws the root cuttings into separate pots with figs. But I've had the same experience as you, nothing sprouts.

I tried grafting onto a MBF root cutting, but my cuts were too sloppy. Going to give it another try next time I have some spare branch cuttings.

I've found only Willow leaf fig grows from root cuttings. (in the ficus family.)

This week I have just noticed my Natal Fig root cutting has a shoot, after about 3 months. My Chinese and Corky Bark Elms are quite well developed after the same time period however. My willow leaf has not done much however.

Stevie_B wrote: ↑October 15th, 2022, 11:20 am This week I have just noticed my Natal Fig root cutting has a shoot, after about 3 months. My Chinese and Corky Bark Elms are quite well developed after the same time period however. My willow leaf has not done much however.

Good to know Stevie. I don't see Natal figs here, or if I have, they haven't been obvious.

There's a thread on the various plants that will grow from root cuttings here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6055

Today I took 3 of my Bunnings starter PJs and cut back hard there only 1 year old but after reading here thought I'd give root cuttings a crack one I cut in 3 small lengths from the root with the upper roots attached to the small trunk replanted that then cut the bottom of the roots in 2 sections so there are mid and low roots have planted are will report back in a few weeks on that

This is what I thought was a Natal Fig Mel. I could well be wrong however

Stevie_B wrote: ↑October 16th, 2022, 11:12 am This is what I thought was a Natal Fig Mel. I could well be wrong however

To be honest I am not up on id of various figs, most experts need to see leaves, undersides of leaves, syconia, bark and heaven knows what else. There's a Ficus study group of fb where people are always asking for ID, and they usually ask for those pics. However, someone there might know.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/369975123052549

Def looks like what I’ve been calling a Natal Fig

This is the sort of result I got when searching Natal Fig

If you go here, scroll to the bottom of the page and look at pictures of the leaves, you can see the irregular shaped leaves that F. Natalensis has.

https://identify.plantnet.org/the-plant ... chst./data

Which looks just like what Stevie B has. Rintar also has one, so sure he can confirm.

Well it's good to know that the natal fig will grow from root cuttings. I'll keep a look out for one.

Bark and leaves look right to me Steve there is always some variance from seed grown varieties even from the multiple cutting I have taken from the one tree there has been some variance in bark and leaves as they have grown.