Port Jackson Fig - First Attempt Advice Welcome

[Slothman]

So, last year I started gathering stock and tried to keep things alive. I failed miserably with my Azaleas (ironically enough the cuttings are going ballastic) and also a poor Juniper that died over winter after some over enthusiastic wiring experiments and learning at the end of summer last year. Not to mention a poor Melaluca that suffered from neglect but hope still resides for that one.

In the progress I have grabbed various Ficus including a few Port Jackson. I figured, if I kill them, I am in trouble. I would like to pot one of these into an actual bonsai pot (the pot will not be a good "fit" for the Bonsai, but will be great practice) and also take some cuttings for next year and try the "trunk splitting" method I printed from this site.

So, I need help, guidance and advice. In the absence of any Bonsai Club or group locally I was hoping to use this thread as a "progression" and thoughts thread.

My Goal - Get this little sucker into a pot and start its training. I understand I could probably get a superior bonsai by growing it out further, but I have to learn somehow and I have 3 other Port Jackson Figs and 1 Tiger Bark Ficus to do that with. Not to mention various successful cuttings. The main goal is to get some guidance on which branches to keep, choosing a front and possible wiring options and future directions.

So without further ado, the pics in no particular order and trying to highlight different trunk lines. Also the size is relatively small. From base of trunk to top of growth would be a little taller than an Ipad in portrait orientation.

Ficus1.jpg

Ficus2.jpg

Ficus3.jpg

Ficus4.jpg

Ficus5.jpg

If you require me to get rid of some of the branches to get a clearer view, more than happy, just point me in a direction.

Tomorrow night I will post what I "think" and what I would like to do for comments.

My first thoughts are I like the trunk line in the first picture. That picture also shows a previous cut that was made and is still healing. You can also see a cut scar I made yesterday as I started hacking off a few smaller lower branches, and then realised.....I don't know what the hell I am doing. So here is the post to give me some kind of idea

Fire away.

[alpineart]

Hi Slothman , mate those leaves a very fine for a P.J Fig . To me it looks more like a willow leaf ficus , even in poor conditions a P.J will have a broader leaf , the small leaf version of the P.J also has a shorter stouter leaf .

I have been known to be wrong on numerous occasions and its possible to be mistaken again .

Cheers . Alpineart

[Ray M]

Hi Slothman,
Is it a Little Ruby??

Regards Ray

[Isitangus]

Hi sloth man I like the looks of the trunk line in pic4.
It clearly looks like it would make a nice informal upright, choose which branches need to go, bar branches, branches too close to other branches and go from there.
The bits you cut off should strike as cutting fairly easily

[bamboos]

G'day
I agree with ray m it looks like a little ruby to me
Steve

[Slothman]

Thanks for the feedback.

As to the identity.

Yes, Little Ruby is what I was told they where. Port Jackson Fig - Little Ruby. When I did some research it appeared they where the same plant by a different name.

Some clarification here...is the Little Ruby another version of the PJ Fig or sperate?

So are they both cultivars of Ficus Rubiginosa or is the Little Ruby a version of the PJ which is a Ficus Rubiginosa?

Just curious, always willing to learn etc.

Istangus...interesting. Hadn't seen that, hence the post. Tonight I might do some ideas with that and another.

[bamboos]

G'day
As I understand it little ruby is a " sport" of the port Jackson fig and will grow happily from cuttings
You have probably noticed the branching is a lot more flexible
It's makes a great bonsai
The leaf size will reduce a bit more from what you have
Steve

[DavidWilloughby]

Hi Slothman,

Ray is correct, your tree is a definitely Ficus rubiginosa "Little Ruby".

The Little Ruby was first discovered by chance by Noel Summerell in around 85-86. From hundreds of Port Jackson Fig seedlings he had, 7-8 came up that were disticntly different from your typical Port Jackson Figs. I do believe one of the original trees is in the National Collection too.

Here is a photo of Noel and one of the original Little Ruby trees that came up way back.

NS1.jpg

The Little Ruby is notably slower with growth in comparison to Port Jackson Figs, but you do get the odd one that grows quick.

If it were mine, I would feed it up well for the next month or two and until it warms up, then I would be looking to bareroot it to see what the base is like, then repot it. Before you wire and style it, I would be defoliating it first.

Have fun and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Cheers

David

[Ray M]

Hi Slothman,
I agree with what David has recommended. The Little Ruby air layer very well. The first layer I put on a tree was a Little Ruby. They also grow very well from cuttings. The leave will come down to a very small size with defoliation. Check the photo of the tree that Noel is holding.

Regards Ray

[Slothman]

The Air Layering could be something I do on another of the Figs I have (all but 1 are the same variety as this, I just called the PJ).

I have no problems with the recommendation, but can I just get some clarification.

Should I wait a few months to do anything?

Or is the waiting in relation to just the bare rooting (of which I was going to do to check out what we have there) and the defoliation/styling/wiring could be done now?

I would have thought spreading out the processes would be ideal to not stress the tree? Or can these little buggers handle that sort of treatment?

[bamboos]

G'day ,
I gotta disagree with the others - I would select the front (by having a look at the nebari) and then prune off the unwanted branches. In my experience they don't have great roots at the stage you're at but it will get better! I wouldn't defoliate the tree but I find removing the growing tips back to a downward facing shoot works great and gives you ramification.They really hate wire on the small branches and on the larger branches it must be loose otherwise the branch will die.when the weather heats up you can repot.This is one tree you can grow by the clip and grow method
Good luck
Steve

[DavidWilloughby]

Hi Slothman,

I have to apologize, I was a little vague in what I said before and will expand on it. Also, what Steve (bamboos) has said is another way you can go with it that would provide good results as there are many different ways to tackle it.

It looks to be a good and healthy bit of material for starters, which is ideal. I do not know your climate in Albany, but the optimal time for working on figs in general is when the night temperatures are about 18 degrees plus (some say 15). If you feed it a couple of times from now, it should bring you up to around Mid to late October and by feeding it up, it will increase the vigor of the tree dramatically. I would then bareroot it 2 weeks after you have last fertilized, to allow a front to be chosen based on the nebari and repot it into a grow pot (it can be an oversized bonsai pot, but something that you wouldn't call, "Ideal", but to allow good growth to occur).

Once you see signs of growth on the tree after repotting, which is roughly about 4 to 6 weeks later, you can then defoliate, tip prune and wire the tree out to what you want. A good way to see if the tree is healthy enough to defoliate, apart from obvious signs of growth, is to remove a growing tip, if the white sap builds up quickly, then its a sign it is in good health. (At the optimal time of year, you can get away with a lot, such as repotting/barerooting/defolating/wiring all at the same time, I know myself I do this to my own trees, so you could say the way above, does err on the side of caution).

That is only a suggestion mate, perhaps someone who knows your climate better would be best suited to give advice as to when to work on it.

Cheers

David

[Slothman]

Thanks for the information everyone.

David, that is brilliant info.

I gave it a feed this weekend and have checked out the temperatues. Normally, I would say around mid October would be fine, the last year has been weird and things are starting to heat up pretty quickly and I have recently started turning the heater off. I reckon end of Sep and start of Oct the way its heading. Weird weather patterns. I have lived here around 20 years and never had a humid summer or dry winter like we have had. Weird.

What I will do is feed her up some more than repot later.

Once done I will revisit this thread with pics and ideas to see what others think about the styling and start asking more questions on "how".

Thanks everyone for their input.