Ficus Shaping ideas

[Mat_bonsailover]

Hi all,
Rookie here and hence don't have much of an idea or the guts to cut as required. I have a ficus with long lanky branches and and was wondering how to make cuts to make it more compact and tree like? Please could you help with some advice on how can this be made into a decent
bonsai? I am also noticing that most of the new leaves are becoming very yellow and blotched and falling off. Not sure if its over watering but I have been watering almost once a week going into start of summer or when the soil is dry at the top.

Thans in advance for your help

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[KIRKY]

Not sure but it looks like it’s still in a black plastic grow pot so watering every few days would be fine at the moment.
However as it warms up you will need to increase that. We haven’t had much in the way of rain lately plus a couple of warm days are enough to dry out trees especially if they are pot bound. At this time of year you can cut you fig right back liquid feed and it should shoot back quickly. It’s hard to say with regards to you photos just how much to cut back in regards to branch removal etc.. but all the growth could use a cut back. To get better advise we need photos of the whole tree. Also noticed your with BSV they have their work shop on Saturday if you can make it you will get heaps of advice on how to care, trim, cut, repot you fig. It looks pretty health the new leaves look fine. The yellow ones you have removed are just old leaves nothing to be concerned about. More water and feed your tree.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

Looks like this tree has way too many branches. As they thicken and ramify there won't be room for them all so I'd start by taking out entire branches.
Figs normally just keep growing branches longer and longer. We need to trim to make them ramify into better looking branches The branches you retain need to be chopped hard to make them produce new side shoots much closer to the trunk. Good news is that ficus are great at doing that and this is a good time of year to do it.
I agree that Saturday workshop at BSV would bet you plenty of good advice and practical help. Much better to see a tree in 3D close up than trying to evaluate from photos on a screen.

Watering depends on many factors - location, time of year, soil mix, pot size, tree size, etc - but I'm currently watering 3 times every 2 days and will soon need to go to twice a day. Another great thing about ficus is that most are very drought hardy so under watering doesn't kill them as quick as some other species.

I just re-read that NEW leaves are going yellow?? Old leaves turning yellow is not a problem but if new ones are changing that's definitely a problem.
Figs love fertiliser so if you are not feeding yet you should apply fertiliser every 2-3 weeks through growing season.
The other thing that can cause leaf problems is location. Where are you keeping the tree? Trees need sun but a shift from shaded conditions (at the nursery it came from) to full sun can lead to sunburn.

[BonsaiBobbie]

Rely on the advice of Kirby and Shibui over mine. ie go to your club and ask them.

But ficus are definitely a hardy tree. I learnt that from experience in my first year. I just stuck some cuttings in the ground and they took. No research. Nothing.

From what I can see you have good bones to start with.

Good luck.

[tgooboon]

The leaves look like old leaves, which are being shed either due to cold of lack of water (or both) – the number of dark spots on the remaining leaves seem to indicate some type of fungal thing lack of sun or again could be lack or water or cold.

Regarding styling, it appears to have a single thick trunk with lots of branching coming off that – that is more of a pine growing style (in my opinion), and there is nothing wrong with that if you like that look. Ficus (in my opinion) tend start with a multi branching trunk from very low down – a lot of people call this “banyan” style.

So the first decision is what are you aiming for? At the end of the day, either will look fine as a bonsai, just depends what you want from the tree.

Next decision, how larger tree at you looking for. It is not clear the scale of the trunk height from the photos. If you leave a 300mm high trunk and looking at a banyan style, you are going to end up with a very large tree.

My preference is the natural style of ficus or “banyan” style usually multi trunk/multibranching and has a low ratio of trunk to foliage. This sounds drastic, but I would be considering cutting back to the lowest 2 branches or even 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. So you have to figure out what you like and what your aiming to grow the trees into.

if you decide to keep the branches, I would reduce branching so there is only 2 at each level (trunck+1branch or 2 branches); then I would be cutting branches back to 50-75mm range, then let those grow out, then cut back again letting then divide into 2, each time reducing the length of the branch incrementally down to less than 25mm over a number of ramifications.

Send some photos of what you end up doing.

[Mat_bonsailover]

Thanks all a lot for the suggestions. Really appreciate it.
I will definitely try to make it tomorrow to the BSV meeting. Was hesitant since the tree is too heavy with the training pot to carry but looks like a good idea to take it there.
The tree is approximately 600mm tall without the grow pot and 50mm wide. The issue is there are only leaves at the end of the long branches and was worried if I shorten the branches, whether they would die back completely. Also, there would not be any leaves left since all the branches are at least 30mm long with a bunch of leaves at the end. Received it from the nursery this way. Not much ramification at all
Can I cut the branches anywhere for a ficus without it getting killed?

As tgooboon have mentioned it looks more like a pine tree and I would like to reduce the length to 400-450mm over all and 300mm wide as I personally like Banyan or broom style the most as well.
Will start fertilising and also watering more as summer picks up but the black spots are a worry too. They seem to be increasing and hence wondering should I be looking at some fungicide?

[tgooboon]

About cut back and back budding; best to check in with some people local to your area as different growing conditions to me.

In North Queensland I would not hesitate cutting the branches anywhere along the branch. And I would expect if you cut back to 50-75mm branch, you to get 3-5 buds along this distance, and some on the trunk too.

[KIRKY]

At this time of year here in Melbourne to can cut back to where ever you would like for the style you have in mind.
I have never had a fig die back. So just cut and liquid fertiliser for a quick start for the new growth. Didn’t realise from your pictures was anywhere near the size. You should try and just pull it from its pot to see how root bound it is.
If it’s as heavy as you say it may need repotting and the roots cutting back. Better photos will help.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

Still no mention of whether it is kept inside or outside, full sun, part sun or shade. Sitting in a tray of water or on an open bench, etc. Some photos of surrounding area will tell us a lot about conditions and may give ideas for reasons for any yellow leaves and possible remedy.

Also please clarify whether the yellow leaves are new leaves as mentioned in first post or older leaves.

Definitely no problem chopping ficus rubiginosa - anywhere. They will not die from pruning, just grow lots more buds from whatever is left.
Here's the one I cut a few months ago. It is around 35 years old.

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Even though I left a few leaves on it does not need to have any. We frequently cut off all leaves or chop a tall trunk leaving no branches or leaves. They will still grow new shoots.
The one shown above is now covered in new buds along the branches and also on the trunk.

[Mat_bonsailover]

Thanks Kirky, Shibui. Will take along to BSV tomorrow and post pics after it gets a haircut and root check

It's the new baby leaves that are getting blotched yellow and falling off and by this, I mean the newest tiniest shoots. The matured leaves look ok except many have black spots all over. I keep removing such leaves when I see them. The plant is getting almost 6 hours of direct evening sunlight atm in a deep training pot of 300mm but think it was in shade in the nursery. I water every week after checking with a moisture meter if its dry or the top soil layer is dry more than an inch. When I got it from the nursery it was heavily infected by what they told me was slider bugs so many leaves were shrinked, damaged and yellow with perforations. I did a neem oil spray and seems to have partially helped.

[Stevie_B]

Thanks Kirky, Shibui. Will take along to BSV tomorrow and post pics after it gets a haircut and root check

It's the new baby leaves that are getting blotched yellow and falling off and by this, I mean the newest tiniest shoots. The matured leaves look ok except many have black spots all over. I keep removing such leaves when I see them. The plant is getting almost 6 hours of direct evening sunlight atm in a deep training pot of 300mm but think it was in shade in the nursery. I water every week after checking with a moisture meter if its dry or the top soil layer is dry more than an inch. When I got it from the nursery it was heavily infected by what they told me was slider bugs so many leaves were shrinked, damaged and yellow with perforations. I did a neem oil spray and seems to have partially helped.

Please keep us up to date with how it went at the club meeting.

I've never heard of slider bugs, so would be interested in what you found out. Maybe to much neem oil could also affect the leaves as well, possibly suffocating the new shoots?
To me it looks like you have an abundance of foliage and maybe don't have enough soil nutrient to support it, and the tree is coping by dropping leaves. Could be root bound.

I know looking at it from a beginner's point of view that all you might see is long branches with leaves at the tip, however I think this plant could have a great journey into bonsai. I look forward to seeing it grow.

[Mat_bonsailover]

Thanks Stevie. Went to the club meeting and got some expert help on the tree.

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There isnt much of the original tree remaining now after all the cuts and repotting and looks like its going to be a 3-5 year project for recovery

Now the gruelling wait starts

[KIRKY]

You can start liquid feeding and you will start seeing leaves in about three to four weeks. Keep it in the sun unlike other trees ficus love sun water food, even after a root trim and haircut.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

Much as beginners would like bonsai to be instant, bonsai is really a marathon. Especially in the development phase there's a lot of grow and cut back to not very much in the interests of better future bonsai.

I think you've made a good start on the future of this fig as bonsai.

[Mat_bonsailover]

Thanks Kirky, Was under the impression that I cant fertilize for 6 weeks after repotting. So good to know that its actually ok with ficus; I will start liquid fertilizer from now.

Thanks Shibui, Yep, I have painfully realized that its indeed a marathon. I need to find a few trees to work on while waiting on this one