Getting fig trunks right

DustyRusty · Post by **DustyRusty** » February 16th, 2013, 7:14 pm

Went down to Balmoral Beach here in Sydney today. So many beautiful PJ figs. I noticed that even the young ones never have round trunks. All of them look like they are multiple trunks fused together. How to capture this in a bonsai...

Tell me I'm an idiot, but do you think growing several cuttings then approach grafting them into the trunk would work with a few years of growth? It's risky - might look crap, but has anyone done this before I go ahead?

bamboos · Post by **bamboos** » February 16th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Hi dusty rusty
It's no problem fusing figs together takes a few years to get a decent trunk.Just wrap em up with grafting tape (something similar) and plant in a grow box or large pot feed them up with dl sit back and wait
Steve

lackhand · Post by **lackhand** » February 16th, 2013, 11:02 pm

bamboos wrote:Hi dusty rusty
It's no problem fusing figs together takes a few years to get a decent trunk.Just wrap em up with grafting tape (something similar) and plant in a grow box or large pot feed them up with dl sit back and wait
Steve

Indeed, ficus will typically self-graft just fine if the trunks are held close together. In my part of the world this characteristic has been used to create some of the ugliest trees known to man by braiding the trunks together. They are even sold as bonsai.

Yes, bonsai in America has a long ways to go.

Hackimoto · Post by **Hackimoto** » February 17th, 2013, 7:37 am

See this article, third page should throw some light on what you asked about buttressing trunks.

viewtopic.php?f=133&t=11827&p=124628&hi ... an#p124628

Gareth · Post by **Gareth** » February 17th, 2013, 8:09 am

I have 2 figs now that I have fused, I found that if you also wrap sphagnum moss around them, then cling wrap or grafting tape ( I fold the cling wrap over and over until its about 4cms wide and then use this to wrap), wrap them up tight then wrap around with a couple
Of turns of wire, it works well.

The sphagnum seems to induce some swelling, and some aerial roots, which always help.

Apart from that, LOTS of water, and let the tree grow tall, let the shoot elongate dramatically. And this will cause the trunk to thicken, with very little chance to go outwards because it is wrapped tight, some of the growth will be forced inwards, and therefore fuse the trunks/branches, whatever it is you are fusing.

DustyRusty · Post by **DustyRusty** » February 17th, 2013, 12:25 pm

Thanks everyone! Great info. Hackinoto that is an invaluable thread! Some good info on strangler style bonsai too. Time to start a cuttting farm. For so long I haven't bothered taking fig cuttings because I've got too many but now I can do these things I don't have anywhere near enough.

Thanks again.

DustyRusty · Post by **DustyRusty** » February 17th, 2013, 12:53 pm

Sorry. Hackimoto I just realised you wrote the info in that thread so I should attribute its quality to you not the thread. Thank you!

DustyRusty · Post by **DustyRusty** » February 17th, 2013, 12:55 pm

Figs are amazing

Hackimoto · Post by **Hackimoto** » February 17th, 2013, 1:31 pm

You are very welcome Dusty Rusty, I am pleased that you got something out of it.

AusBonsai