AusBonsai

Hey all!

Some would have seen a recent thread on, Fat figs for sale on Ebay. I took a punt even though the shot was not good of them and it payed off, for $50 it was definatley worth it.

Not sure of this chaps history, but he was a wonderful fellow whom made my year!
Not only was he more than polite, by the end of my visit he hand given me two plants destined for the shredder and one he said he couldn't take care of but couldn't bare to shred.
I insisted that I pay him for all of them, he insisted I didn't. He was older and I respect that, only after several attempts at offering to sell them for him online I relented and accepted. He refused all attempts and insisted I create something from them.
He gave me a casuarina 50cm high and 8cm trunk base (great taper / moment hey?! I remarked at the odd smooth bark, as he grabbed it by the trunk and ripped it out of the pot, spinning the trunk in his hand..... arrrrhhh... 20 years of handling does that. Grown from a seed by himself), a olive 30cm high x 11cm trunk base and a (i'm guessing here, he didn't say) trident maple 40cm high x 4cm trunk base.


Here are some shots of them all, including the free ones, so you can see there are some remarkable people out there still. I think he was just happy to see someone excited about his plants! I told him the casuarina was awesome and I would sell it for him, but once again he refused all offers.

I have numbered the figs, for ease of reference in case anyone wanted to ask questions about a specific one.

Cheers guys, any thoughts on possibilities in the future? For now they need a drastic repot. Yes they are the roots on the outside of the container too, they have punched holes in the foam and are starting to engulf the whole box!!

Interestingly these are 4 year old cuttings, not air-layers, there was originally 20, 10 died, these ten were left. 4-5 inch cuttings
Number 3 and 4 are one cutting split down the middle.


What do you think? Not to mention the freebies, $5 a pop, bargain I reckon.

Mitchell what a score.. i really like 7 and 8 .They look like they are fused together.. Good score on the other trees aswell. Cant wait to get mine now.. Your picks really show what good stock you have picked up.

Some people have all the luck!

Give them a good home, Mitchell, or the fig fairy will wreck havoc on your life!

Seriously, that is an amazing score.

Glenda

Gday Mitchell

Nice score mate it is a bounes to get something extra for nothing I will be interested to see what you do with the fat cuttings as i have an opportunity to get some myself but i am not shore what to do with the flat top of the cutting as they will be quit large.

Keep us posted as to there progression.

Andrew

Thanks girls and guys! Can't wait to crack that foam away on a set to see how the cuttings were taken and where roots have formed. If roots have formed in appropriate areas, then perhaps it will make the difference between chunks of wood with some potential and stock that could produce something in the near future.

What I think will be a real challenge will be trying to convert the "branch like" trunks into old looking trunks. Hopefully, there is a bit of taper at the roots. If they were planted deep (can't tell root bound to the soil) perhaps the trunk under the soil will be deformed / aged slightly... We will see. I am tempted to open a box now, but don't have enough mix to repot them. I guess being root bound there's not much mix left in the boxs anyway.... It's like christmas.... Just don't know what i'm going to get.

Anyone wish to chose the first one? not sure which one to open.

Temptations hey You got a bargain there, some great projects. Particularly like 7 & 8

Have fun poking around in those boxes, reckon there'll be some fun to be had there

Anja wrote:Temptations hey You got a bargain there, some great projects. Particularly like 7 & 8

Have fun poking around in those boxes, reckon there'll be some fun to be had there

Notice the twisted aerial on 8? Number 6 I believe has a normal set, has he cut and twisted the aerial??

Mitchell wrote:

Anja wrote:Temptations hey You got a bargain there, some great projects. Particularly like 7 & 8

Have fun poking around in those boxes, reckon there'll be some fun to be had there

Notice the twisted aerial on 8? Number 6 I believe has a normal set, has he cut and twisted the aerial??

Didn't even spot that on 6.. very nice Make some great progression pics 8 is fantastic!

Nice work Mitchell
By the way when you got to #7&8, had you consumed too many tooheys that made you lose count?

I always thought the seven went the other way

Ken

kcpoole wrote:Nice work Mitchell
By the way when you got to #7&8, had you consumed too many tooheys that made you lose count?

I always thought the seven went the other way

Ken

That was my upside down writing effort. I'm no Mr Squiggle, that's for sure!!

Hi Mitchell, It seems to me you have a lot of growing to do with your new figs, to soften the transition from the thick bases to the eventual trunk line. The casuarina looks really good, but also needs a good hard prune on top
Nice find.
Craig

craigw60 wrote:Hi Mitchell, It seems to me you have a lot of growing to do with your new figs, to soften the transition from the thick bases to the eventual trunk line. The casuarina looks really good, but also needs a good hard prune on top
Nice find.
Craig

Hey craig, not sure if a smooth transition would ever be possible except with an extreme amount of carving. Perhaps they are better suited at sumo styles.
Not sure how much I would take off the cas right now. I will wire it first then remove excess.

Got some baskets and medium today, so i'll post pics in a few hours of what they look like under the soil.... Can't wait!!

I would imagine the previous owner was knowledgable enough to have hard planted the cuttings against the bottom, thus acting similar to the tile method. This is the result of 9 and 10, this is 10. I hope the rest have been planted the same. I don't think I could have asked for a better result. With some re-arranging and pruning, I believe this could be the start of beautiful nebari.

I am very pleased atm to say the least!

I am not sure though about the flow from the bark, to the roots. There is an unfortunate absence of root continuation from the bark. The roots appear to be coming from underneath the cutting, not many / any have formed on the bark.

I was hoping that he might have thought this could occur, removed a 1cm strip of the bottom bark and applied hormone there to assist in roots on the side of the cutting. Can't ask for everything though.

Perhaps I should do that before replanting.

I would love to hear from our experts on their opinions and suggestions, particulary if you would have some suggestion to fix the roots.

Mitchell wrote:

kcpoole wrote:Nice work Mitchell
By the way when you got to #7&8, had you consumed too many tooheys that made you lose count?

I always thought the seven went the other way

Ken

That was my upside down writing effort. I'm no Mr Squiggle, that's for sure!!

Try teaching maths - you need to be able to write all numbers upside down.

Glenda

Mitchell wrote:
I would love to hear from our experts on their opinions and suggestions, particulary if you would have some suggestion to fix the roots.

It is normal for thicker Ficus cuttings to grow roots out the callus formed by wounding the tree instead of the side of the trunk- I believe its "easier" for the tree to do so. (But scientifically it has something to do with auxins.)

No expert here but there is no reason for growing new roots higher up on the trunk. For the thickness of the trunks you have you will also want to end up with a few thick roots to make up the nebari. If I were you I would select seven to nine strong roots and cut of the rest (the area between the chosen roots can also be cut into an upside down V) to help build those seven to nine roots. This will have to be done a few times because the cut roots will grow again.

The other way you could go is to let the current roots grow a little stronger and then bundle them into seven to nine groups to let them fuse over time.

This kind of cuttings give you nice fat trunks but working them into believable bonsai is going to take a lot of creativity and time.

Here is one "exactly" the same that Im working on:
Lennard