Ficus

[Jabobo]

Hey thanks Ash,

Luckily I had a friend come over unexpectedly otherwise I would have started the air layer before seeing your post. I'll have to go an find some info on grafting. It would be a shame if the bottom half didn't recover and I could have done something to prevent it.

Cheers

Jacob

[Jabobo]

So thanks for the help guys, I ended up deciding against the thread graft... I guess I was too impatient to grow the grafting material in the first place.. probably not the best trait to have lol But from what others have said it isn't always necessary... so fingers crossed the trunk survives.

I set up the air layer as suggested, I also just cut off the first branch, dipped it in rooting gel and left it be.







So this was all done on the 17th of Feb, and these were taken today (just under 3 weeks), I am quite surprised how many roots have grown in the air layer.



So I guess my question is did I not pack enough moss for the airlayer in the beginning?

Should I carefully unwrap the airlayer and add more moss and leave it for a few more weeks? Or will it be fine as is for a few more weeks? How do I tell that it is ready to be separated?

As for the branch I cut off, it lost most of the original leaves but I can see roots growing, and new shoots are starting to appear.





Cheers

Jacob

[lackhand]

Very nice roots on that air layer. With that many, I wouldn't worry about how much moss you used, just call it a success and be happy! I hope my air layers look that good, I'll be checking tomorrow.

Your branch looks good too, usually new growth means new roots. Even if the base doesn't survive, you ended up with two trees from one, so not bad. I bet the base will survive though.

[Jabobo]

Thanks Lackhand,

Good luck with your airlayer tomorrow

[Bougy Fan]

With that many roots it's ready to be cut off. Don't try and untangle the roots out of the moss - just gently remove any loose moss and pot into a very free draining mix. Then after winter I would repot and comb out most of the moss once you have stronger roots. I use a mix of diatomite and scoria with some chopped spag moss in a split pot now days when I do air layers at home. That way you don't end up with moss entwined roots that take years to get all of the moss out. I also feel that the figs struggle a little when they have roots with all that spag moss entwined in them

[Jabobo]

Thanks Bougyfan, your advice have been great.

So I made the chop, I didn't do the second airlayer the first time around so, I basically went from this



To this


Plus this


And now this is the new base


Soon I'll start to take more cuttings so I can see the structure of the main trunks to decide where to make the top chop. As long as I don't take too much this should be fine before winter right?

Or should I leave as is to give the plant as much energy generating potential possible to help strengthen the roots? I am just worried that now the plant sits very low in the pot and won't receive enough light so all new growth would be at the top where is will all be cut off.

Sorry but like I said, I don't know didley about plants, but looking at things simply and logically this is where I get stuck, both options seem to have some merit.

Any help from those more knowledgeable would be appreciated,

Cheers

Jacob

[Jabobo]

Just a quick question,

Is it normal after cutting off an airlayer that the roots decide they would rather grow upwards rather than down?


Sorry about the bad pic

Cheers

Jacob

[k2bonsai]

Just leave it to establish the roots for a bit, then when you are ready for the next root work, simply cut off the unwanted roots etc just as you would branch selection. By that stage you will find a lot of new finer roots growing below rather than the large single roots from the air layer.

[Isitangus]

Or slip pot it deeper.

[Jabobo]

Thanks guys,

I'll just leave it as is for the time being, maybe top up the soil a bit. Since I only just potted this from the airlayer 5 days ago I guess it is best not to disturb any new roots before they have a chance to toughen up a bit. Maybe just fill up the pot a little more.

Cheers

Jacob

[Jabobo]

Hey everyone,

Just thought i would update on what I have done recently and as always get others input.

When I first cut off the airlayer I couldn't really see what was going on beneath all of the foliage, so I started to trim it back a bit so i could see see the structure.

From a design point of view is the left branch being thicker than the centre branch a problem? Does it need to go? Here is a closer look. Or does the cenre brance need removing as the left branch follows the trunk line better


There is also a second branch which I am uncertain belongs there... the branch on the far right.. it just seems to me like it is coming out at an odd angle and then in bent up.


The plant has come back with a new set of growth, and it has started to back bud a bit. I plan on wiring up some of the smaller branches because of the way it was trimmed before a lot are crossing from one side, through the centre, so wire them up and out and guide its growth. I also plan on keeping the lowest branch as a sacrifice to help thickening the base.

I also re potted the cutting into a bigger pot, I had hoped to cut the bottle and transplant to the larger pot largely undisturbed... it didn't really work out as planned but hopefully it wasn't too stressful for it.


Anyway, cheers and thanks for listening...

Jacob

[Jabobo]

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while and I thought I would post an update on the figs progress.

Over the last few months, I have been giving the plant liquid fertiliser every 2 weeks and then in the alternating weeks, seasol. It never really stopped growing over winter and I have been pruning back the new growth to promote back budding and develop some sort of branch structure.

Here is a pic of the ficus as of this afternoon, after a quick trim of the new growth (about 15-20cm)


And then after a more rigorous trim and defoliation


Here is a pic of the three cuttings that I took after the air layer, they have been receiving the same treatment as the main plant (minus the trim). I may do something with them one day lol.


The last piece of the tree was the base that I was hoping would recover after the air layer. It started to get one tiny little bud up near the top but like an idiot, when I re-potted I broke it off trying to pull the plant out. Luckily there has been quite a lot of growth at the base, so I have been letting it grow out, and I will try to use these as the new branches, by fusing them to the main trunk. When repotting I cut of about half of the roots and then just put it into some better draining soil.




I figure that by fusing the outer branches I might be able to make it look as though there is more taper to the main trunk, also I can decide where they will branch off for branch placement.

Anyway, thanks for listening. Any comments are of course welcome and appreciated.

Cheers

Jabobo

[Jabobo]

So, I wanted to start the fusing process of the original base. Here it is as of now,



But first I would like to ask for some help. Even though ficus seem not to be developed into formal uprights, I was wondering because of the straight trunk if it was achievable. The other option I was thinking about was to chop the trunk just below the large aerial root (second from the top) and use all the the suckers that came up to form a broom

What would you guys do?

Thanks,

Jacob

[The Ficus Guy]

Are you sure the upper section of the trunk is still alive? I'm surprised that after all this time it still hasn't pushed any sort of buds...

[DustyRusty]

Are you sure the upper section of the trunk is still alive? I'm surprised that after all this time it still hasn't pushed any sort of buds...

Point.