A New Tiger Bark Fig

[The Ficus Guy]

I presume Ken is talking about the branch on the right - I would tend to agree with him. I would take it back and possibly carve into the trunk to help with the taper. So you would just have the leader which you will grow on for a bit.

That's what I was thinking too. There is a small branch there, but when I was cutting the tree back it got cut up a little. So I was waiting to see if that branch survives before removing the bigger one. Hopefully it does.

[The Ficus Guy]

Consider that branch gone:

[kcpoole]

Now that looks Much better
The apex shoot there will create a nice trunk with lots o taper..


Ken

[The Ficus Guy]

Now that looks Much better
The apex shoot there will create a nice trunk with lots o taper..


Ken

Thanks Ken, I really like it too. It's not the best looking right now, but after some heavy growth, it'll get there

[The Ficus Guy]

Rot got to this one, R.I.P.

[DavidWilloughby]

Hi Ryan,

I don't get what you're saying as the tree is still alive, or are you talking about a specific bud ? Could you please explain mate.

Cheers

David

[The Ficus Guy]

Hi Ryan,

I don't get what you're saying as the tree is still alive, or are you talking about a specific bud ? Could you please explain mate.

Cheers

David

It is, but rot is slowly killing it. There's rot all around where each chop site is, as moisture got under the cut paste.

[DavidWilloughby]

Thanks Ryan,

I get you now, I have had this happen on a few of my figs but its not the end of the world. For me, the cut paste in the tub helps with the immediate callous from the cut, but I did experience rot in the centre of the deadwood, whereas the wound sealant in the tube, that prevented any moiture and rot, which allowed the callous to form over the whole cut.

I wouldn't give up on it just yet, if it is rotting a bit, rather than throw it away, use it to your advantage. Intead of being bummed out because of the rot, think of it as Mother Nature helping you with some carving.

Cheers

David

EDITED: Grammar

[The Ficus Guy]

Thanks Ryan,

I get you now, I have had this happen on a few of my figs but its not the end of the world. For me, the cut paste in the tub helps with the immediate callous from the cut, but I did experience rot in the centre of the deadwood, whereas the wound sealant in the tube, that prevented any moiture and rot, which allowed the callous to form over the whole cut.

I wouldn't give up on it just yet, if it is rotting a bit, rather than throw it away, use it to your advantage. Intead of being bummed out because of the rot, think of it as Mother Nature helping you with some carving.

Cheers

David

EDITED: Grammar

LOL thanks David. I'm not a big fan of deadwood on Figs, it always ends up rotting completely for me. With this one, just about all of the top is rotting though, so I don't know if any amount of carving could save it

[DustyRusty]

Ryan. This looks bad.

I'm one of those guys who don't use cut paste, especially on my figs. So I would naturally be inclined to suspect that the cut paste created a perfect environment for the rot by not allowing the wood to properly dry out. But I'm reopening the old 'to cut paste or not to cut paste' debate with this.

I've never had a rot issue personally, so I'm not sure the best course of action. If it were mine and I had to act I'd either: cut it back to where there is no rot and treat the wood. How much would be left if you cut it right down? A guess a stump is better than an empty pot... I hear scorching it with a blow torch is the single best way to avoid rot (also looks better than lime sulfur) if you did want to treat the wood once it's cut.

All the best with it. Hope it recovers.

[The Ficus Guy]

Ryan. This looks bad.

I'm one of those guys who don't use cut paste, especially on my figs. So I would naturally be inclined to suspect that the cut paste created a perfect environment for the rot by not allowing the wood to properly dry out. But I'm reopening the old 'to cut paste or not to cut paste' debate with this.

I've never had a rot issue personally, so I'm not sure the best course of action. If it were mine and I had to act I'd either: cut it back to where there is no rot and treat the wood. How much would be left if you cut it right down? A guess a stump is better than an empty pot... I hear scorching it with a blow torch is the single best way to avoid rot (also looks better than lime sulfur) if you did want to treat the wood once it's cut.

All the best with it. Hope it recovers.

I agree that it looks bad, which is why I'm just about ready to toss it. I might just go ahead and chop it way way back, there wouldn't be much left, but there'd still be a tree. I used cut paste because I was getting rot even when I didn't put cut paste on, it was just so humid.

Never heard about torching the wood, but it sounds interesting...

[DustyRusty]

I agree that it looks bad, which is why I'm just about ready to toss it. I might just go ahead and chop it way way back, there wouldn't be much left, but there'd still be a tree. I used cut paste because I was getting rot even when I didn't put cut paste on, it was just so humid.

Never heard about torching the wood, but it sounds interesting...

Wow. Virginia must be humid!! Sounds great for figs, but bad for rot....which is bad for figs. Understand why you tried the paste.

Yeah apparently blow torching wood is an old ship builders' technique for prevent further rot on a boat - or so I read on a forum about rot in figs somewhere on the interweb. But it's a bonsai technique that's been used for awhile by others looking for a more natural alternative to lime sulfur especially on the deadwood of deciduous trees.

[The Ficus Guy]

I agree that it looks bad, which is why I'm just about ready to toss it. I might just go ahead and chop it way way back, there wouldn't be much left, but there'd still be a tree. I used cut paste because I was getting rot even when I didn't put cut paste on, it was just so humid.

Never heard about torching the wood, but it sounds interesting...

Wow. Virginia must be humid!! Sounds great for figs, but bad for rot....which is bad for figs. Understand why you tried the paste.

Yeah apparently blow torching wood is an old ship builders' technique for prevent further rot on a boat - or so I read on a forum about rot in figs somewhere on the interweb. But it's a bonsai technique that's been used for awhile by others looking for a more natural alternative to lime sulfur especially on the deadwood of deciduous trees.

Yeah, it can get quite humid here. I used the same cut paste on other trees that are outdoors, but they didn't rot (or haven't yet ). I'll have to check on the web to see if anyone else has torched their trees wood, it sounds neat.

I did actually end up cutting this one back to beyond the rot. It's not pretty, but hey, at least it's better than the trash can.

[DustyRusty]

I did actually end up cutting this one back to beyond the rot. It's not pretty, but hey, at least it's better than the trash can.

Absolutely! Looks rot free too. I have a similar looking stump that's a Seiju Elm of mine that had developed reverse taper. I plan on making it a semi cascade, for it's a style that I think could be developed fairly easily from a stump.

PS If you do do some torching I think the trick is to make sure you don't torch the live bark

[The Ficus Guy]

I did actually end up cutting this one back to beyond the rot. It's not pretty, but hey, at least it's better than the trash can.

Absolutely! Looks rot free too. I have a similar looking stump that's a Seiju Elm of mine that had developed reverse taper. I plan on making it a semi cascade, for it's a style that I think could be developed fairly easily from a stump.

PS If you do do some torching I think the trick is to make sure you don't torch the live bark

Thanks! I'm not sure if I'm going to torch it though, can't find anything about it on the net. To get this one to backbud, it'd really help to get it into a humid environment. However, with this large wound, I'm scared to do that now because I just know it will start to rot.