Back Budding a Fig (Ficus)

[legoman_iac]

Hey All,

Looking for some advise on whether I should try back budding my fig.

Short story long, I first meet this little one in 2014 at work, then found it was forgotten about for two weeks over the new year break and was locked up inside with no direct sun or any water for two weeks and lost all its leaves to dehydration.

I took it home, nursed it and it made a great recovery, only to suffer a similar fate last year when its leaves started falling off again!

Think my winter watering schedule, or lack there of, is to blame. Anyhow, I re-potted it in September and applied some fertiliser over the new year break. It has started recovering but wonder if it is strong enough now to back bud, or should I leave it alone for a while? If so, how long? What should I be looking for to see it is strong enough to back bud? And what should I be doing? Twisting leaves, cutting the end of the branches off, etc? Finding some conflicting info online and would appreciate a little guidance and suggestions.

Pictorial history below, with dates ...

October 2014


January 2015


December 2015


May 2016


September 2016 (re-potted after this pic)


October 2016


January 2017


Thanks,
Daniel

[Rory]

Looking at the timeline photos just prior to the recent pic, ....your fig is not in great health.

They want full sun, only watered when the soil is almost dry, and plenty of room for the roots to grow.

For my advice I would slip pot it into a bigger pot with a very course medium that drains very well, and not do anything else. At this stage of summer it should be pushing out oodles of growth, which yours is not.

[Jag001]

I agree with Rory,

best thing you could do for this little guy is slip him into a bigger pot or even plant out in the garden in a nice sunny spot and let him re-gain some health. Worry about back budding later when he recovers.

Cheers,

Jeff

[alpineart]

Hi Legoman_iac , mate if pic 1 is anything to go off I would say its a Moreton Bay fig , the 2 large leaves have a W or M configuration at the base of the leaf Port Jacksons don't . In my experience they don't like being wet , the mix while it looks like it has some course material it also looks like the base is very wet and holding water Pic2 . It looks like it has plenty of fiberous roots however I would say it has root rot under the base .

I would remove it and bare root the base especially underneath , wash the mix out if necessary , then plant it into a larger container as suggested . I would use course river sand only and bury it slightly lower than the existing radial roots as per pic , sand cant really be over watered and has very little water holding power so regular watering is required .

I have one old trunk here along with dozens of younger ones . The older trunk suffered the same fate and being a Moreton Bay I have to treat it a little different to my Port Jackson Figs . If it has root rot or the base has rot , score around the base above the old radial roots with a fork or similar then bury a little deeper and be mindful that rotted roots don't have the capacity to uptake moisture so full sun will be detrimental to its recovery . Undercover of a tree with less water would be a better option .

Cheers .Alpineart

[Rory]

Hi Legoman_iac , mate if pic 1 is anything to go off I would say its a Moreton Bay fig , the 2 large leaves have a W or M configuration at the base of the leaf Port Jacksons don't . In my experience they don't like being wet , the mix while it looks like it has some course material it also looks like the base is very wet and holding water Pic2 . It looks like it has plenty of fiberous roots however I would say it has root rot under the base .

I would remove it and bare root the base especially underneath , wash the mix out if necessary , then plant it into a larger container as suggested . I would use course river sand only and bury it slightly lower than the existing radial roots as per pic , sand cant really be over watered and has very little water holding power so regular watering is required .

I have one old trunk here along with dozens of younger ones . The older trunk suffered the same fate and being a Moreton Bay I have to treat it a little different to my Port Jackson Figs . If it has root rot or the base has rot , score around the base above the old radial roots with a fork or similar then bury a little deeper and be mindful that rotted roots don't have the capacity to uptake moisture so full sun will be detrimental to its recovery . Undercover of a tree with less water would be a better option .

Cheers .Alpineart

Hi alpine. Yeah, I presumed he had removed all the rotting roots, as per previous advice on this tree:
You can see from the dug up roots they were clearly over watered with bad drainage.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19250&p=230009#p230009

[legoman_iac]

Oh nooooo, how embarrassing!

Totally forgot about the other thread and my promise to rinse roots and repot in December. Thanks for the replies and extra info.

Ok, so concensus to "back budding" is wait until it is healthier, shooting up lots of new growth. Will come back to this thread next year hopefully for advice once it's stronger.

Will get back on the other thread now for slip pot/rinse repot discussion.

Thanks again all,
Daniel

[legoman_iac]

Exciting news!!! Just noticed it is self-back budding ... not a massive amount, but three new areas of growth, as pictured below:



- Daniel S

[legoman_iac]

Quick update: was caught up with other bonsai over the weekend, so will try and slip pot tomorrow. Leaves grown slightly since the other day (and sorry, pic below taken from the other side):



- Daniel