[Tutorial] How to Develop Dynamic Figs Quickly

[The Ficus Guy]

I'm curious, how long do you leave the flaps under the soil? When can you begin to expose them?

[Pup]

The longer you leave them under ground the thicker they become, once exposed to light they stop thickening as quickly as below the surface.

I have noticed some great results and unfortunately some failures. Reading I would say WET soil is more likely the problem. Moist is the key.

The Guy that originally started this, is a man called Ben Jackson, a member of the Bonsai workshop INC. He did this originally with Ficus natalensis. Which by the way he considers the superior Ficus, he went form pencil thick cuttings, to a 750ml beer bottle thick trunk in 5 years.

Members of the club have been using this method for a number of years, Ben has since moved on which is a pity.

He did how ever leave us this tutorial.

Which I am pleased to have passed on to Steven to post here.
Cheers Pup

[The Ficus Guy]

Shoot. I already uncovered mine. I assume if I re-buried them again they'd thicken up, correct? My only fear with doing that is that the flaps would rot, but I guess it's like you said, keep the soil moist and they shouldn't.

[Hornet]

Unfortunately it seems all of mine rotted up to where the split started, maybe messy cuts? Any all is not lost, they have some awesome root spread on them . I have a few natalensis here, might try it with them

[my nellie]

I am a beginner and new to Ausbonsai. Thank you all for this interesting article.

Dumb question probably, but are you keeping all roots that sprout? Or do you only want to keep the roots that sprout on the flared pieces? For example, in my picture the red lines represent roots that sprout from directly under the tree, and the black roots represent the roots that sprout on the flared pieces.

I am not sure if a response to the above quote is existing somewhere and I have not find it....
I am interested too in having an aswer to the above question.
Thank you again!

[Craig]

You'll be wanting to remove all the red roots that grow straight down. Any roots that grow outwards are retained to build nebari.

[my nellie]

Quite clear. Thank you!

[The Ficus Guy]

So if I re-bury the base, if it will start to push roots through the quartered sections again??

[Andrew F]

Unfortunately it seems all of mine rotted up to where the split started, maybe messy cuts? Any all is not lost, they have some awesome root spread on them . I have a few natalensis here, might try it with them

Same here John. Iv only had one survive from it, not something ill try again.

[rdc]

steven
This is such a helpfull thread even given the time you first posted it. I have a number of small leaf figs grown from seed & now 2 years old & will use this to fast track them.
Thanks Rod

[Beaumatsu2]

Thank you so much we are so luck to have such an amazing forum in Australia, I haven't been on A.B for a while but has there been a native tutorial? With pictures?

[The Ficus Guy]

Probably a dumb question, but is it the flared base or the roots that come from the flared base that makes that 'dynamic' look we are trying to get by using this technique? I'm about to try it on a natalensis as I heard they have vigorous root systems. Thanks!

[The Ficus Guy]

Here are the natalensis cuttings I did this technique to:

[Dario]

Hope the latest batch of cuttings goes well for you FG!
Let us know the results
Cheers, Dario.

Probably a dumb question, but is it the flared base or the roots that come from the flared base that makes that 'dynamic' look we are trying to get by using this technique? I'm about to try it on a natalensis as I heard they have vigorous root systems. Thanks!

I assume that it is a combination of the two as they combine together and harden off. Especially since you slowly expose the roots by scraping the soil of them bit by bit over time...if that makes sense?

[The Ficus Guy]

Hope the latest batch of cuttings goes well for you FG!
Let us know the results
Cheers, Dario.

Probably a dumb question, but is it the flared base or the roots that come from the flared base that makes that 'dynamic' look we are trying to get by using this technique? I'm about to try it on a natalensis as I heard they have vigorous root systems. Thanks!

I assume that it is a combination of the two as they combine together and harden off. Especially since you slowly expose the roots by scraping the soil of them bit by bit over time...if that makes sense?

Thanks Dario, that makes sense.

I think I messed up when I first tried this a while back. I didn't know that you were supposed to keep even the roots that grow in between the wedges; I just thought you kept the roots that grew from the wedges themselves (if that makes sense).

I wonder why the flaps stop thickening when exposed to light....