How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

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Dasein
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How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by Dasein »

I have recently been reunited with this PJ fig, which was gifted to my family in my childhood and has remained in the same pot for over 30 years.
It has undergone little maintenance, but remains healthy despite the lack of care.

I have little experience with large bonsai and would like some advice about how you might proceed with this tree?
I have included photos from 4 side angles and several shots of the trunk.

I have just moved it from Port Macquarie to Sydney.
I was thinking to repot it in Spring.

The pot is deep and there appears to be some interesting roots just beneath the surface. I reckon there may be an interesting twisted trunk waiting just beneath the surface. It looks as though it could be separated into two trees, if the current structure doesn't look appealing.

Would it be best to decide the tree's shape when I repot, after I have seen the root system?
Should I do hard pruning when I repot, or should I give the tree time to recover first before making decisions on style?


How would you go about repotting and styling this tree?

I would love to hear any advice you have!

Dasein
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by KIRKY »

If it was mine, in your climate I would do it all now. Repot and major cut back. Once bare I would look at roots to decide one or two trees. Cut back roots and pot. Then water, liquid feed every week and it should start shooting in a few weeks. In your climate you still have a good growing period of 4-5 months at this time of year. :imo:
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by Keep Calm and Ramify »

Agree with Kirky, I would work on it now.

Don’t worry about style just yet, as you are limited for options. This tree needs to be re-built. If you cut back hard it should pop new shoots everywhere which you can then decide on keeping to help form a new structure, whist removing others completely. Not sure if I would bother trying to separate the two.

Figs love LOTS & LOTS of fertiliser – I use a pelletised organic fertiliser such as dynamic lifter, charlie carp or whatever you can find easily available / affordable.

It looks like a ficus Benjamina? (rather than a Port Jackson) but others may be able to comment.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by shibui »

I agree with KCaR. looks like F. benjamina. If so they are noted for being more temperamental than Port Jackson. I have been told that benji does not always bud well and does not always recover from extreme root pruning.
That said I do agree that now is an ideal time for fig work. Our club holds an annual Fig workshop day this month.

The top does need a real reduction to get new shoots lower on all trunks and branches. Tip pruning will never stimulate new buds where they are required. You will need to make big reductions at some stage.
As it has not been repotted for so long it is likely the roots will need similar treatment.

If this was a PJ fig I would say chop the top hard and root prune fight back near the trunk because PJ will take all that in their stride but as I have not worked with benji I am a little hesitant to recommend how to proceed.
Hopefully someone with experience of this species will make recommendations but without that there are 2 possible actions:
1. Radical chop and root trim now :fc: The tree will probably respond but there is some chance it could just give up.

2. Repot with medium root prune (about half the roots?) into fresh mix now then feed and provide good care for a year for the tree to regain strength. Follow up with the branch/trunk chop next October/November if the tree is growing really well. This should reduce chances of the tree giving up but is still no guarantee with the species.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by KIRKY »

I hacked (literally) a Benji right back here in Melbourne. Not sure if I even bothered with the right time of year. Took it a few seasons to fill in but it did grow back well. So if it can be done here I would think Sydney should be no problem.
Just keep up the fertiliser and water.

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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by Keep Calm and Ramify »

KIRKY wrote: January 17th, 2021, 2:05 pm I hacked (literally) a Benji right back here in Melbourne. Not sure if I even bothered with the right time of year. Took it a few seasons to fill in but it did grow back well. So if it can be done here I would think Sydney should be no problem.
Just keep up the fertiliser and water.

Cheers
Kirky
Yep!
About 3yrs re-growth from almost dead trunks only. This clump of Benji trunks was found discarded on the side of road with hardly any branches and in no pot. Out of pity I took it home and reduced the root ball drastically with an axe, also cutting back hard into any living wood and reducing trunks - all at once.
It was re-potted & at that point I wasn’t real fussed on doing much more, so it’s just been sitting around the side of the house knowing that I saved it’s life.
You can see the amount of foliage possible to help rebuild top structure by hard trimming. With little sentiment or value I initially treated this the worst, but by doing so it has responded really well.
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Last edited by Keep Calm and Ramify on January 17th, 2021, 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by shibui »

With little sentiment or value I initially treated this the worst, but by doing so it has responded really well.
I've found this is the way to really learn about how plants respond. Disposable and unimportant ones that can be sacrificed to experimental trials can teach us so much. The results often fly in the face of accepted wisdom.

That's 2 stories of success with hard root and top cutback for F. benjamina and no contrary anecdotes yet so that should give Dasein something to think about.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by TimS »

I’ll throw in my contradictory f.Benjamina anecdote.

30 year old twin trunk, 6ft tall, tried to split it into two separate trees; keep one as a normal tree and bonsai the other. Split the trunk, Cut it down to 2ft (no foliage at all) and potted it up. Never re-shot a single shoot. Can’t remember exactly what time of year it was but I’d hazard a guess it was Spring sometime.

The single trunk 6ft is still going fine no issues at all.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by NAHamilton »

I’ve got a couple of older Benji pot plants. I’ve cut the roots back to pretty much nothing with no problems. They’ll throw shoots from cut sites if it’s at a branch junction but reluctant to bud out of the trunk or older branches. If they do it’s a lot of shoots from one spot.
That’s my 2 cents.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by DangerousDave »

Thanks to dasein for the original post. Interesting to see different peoples benji experiences. Quite a lot of posts already.

I’ll jump in.. because I was going to ask a similar question in November.. I picked up an old benji with a great base a little while back, but it was about a metre high and straight up. Apart from the base, it did nothing for me.. so, because of that, in the end I just got it in good health over about 6-12 months and then cut it back to a stump. I thought I had some photos from straight after the cutback but apparently not. That was early November..

2 months later I have this..


Image

Image

Lots of shoots. As suggested by others.. most come from just a few places.. and most of those places were less than desirable. Also swelled a lot at those locations. Have reduced the number shoots down substantially since these photos and am still hopeful they can be managed to give some decent primary structure.

Taking it back to the original question.. I don’t have much experience or advice.. but we had quite a lot of rain after that cut back.. so I would suggest keeping the water (and where possible humidity) right up. Noting of course it won’t use much/any water until it does have some shoots.

I’d also like to say that it’s ok to do nothing for a while.. or forever.. (apart from a re-pot). If the tree has sentimental value and you don’t want to take any risks then it can still be a cool tree in a cool pot without being a bonsai. Good luck whatever you choose.
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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by tgooboon »

Great opt ion Davgerous Dave. It has come up great

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Re: How to repot & style this large 30yo PJ Fig?

Post by sander043 »

I rescued a similar Benjy from a demo site 5 years ago, 20 bucks. Sat and wondered for a bit until Ash and Dave at Bonsai world suggested I go hard. But this was in August not January. I was amazed at how much it threw in the next couple of months. I've whacked PJ's in January with no problems, don't know about Benjy's ! It's been 30 yrs in the pot, 6 months more wouldn't hurt unless someone else has had success whacking in summer.

This is the result of my one.The base roots were pretty ugly for mine so I've been gradually carving them, work in progress.
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