AusBonsai

Got this fig a few months ago from Taffyman at one of the shows (cant remember the exact one) on the way home we stopped at underwater world for a few hours, 2 or 3 figs, including this one got full sun through the glass and lost some foliage, this was the worst, all foliage was lost so cut most of the branches back and let it be. With all this recent rain its been powering along and needs some branches removed. Not too sure where to leave branches though, i know the first one approx 1/3 the way up the trunk but the rest i'm unsure of how to position them around the trunk without making it look squarish or have the branches spiral up the trunk. And tips or maybe a basic virt? Also as you can see it didnt bad back on one side so will need to graft a few branches onto that side. Any help would be much appreciated.

john

an easy air layer halfway up?

I'm with guy, set an air layer.

Although i'd do mine less then halfway, once its rooted, chop it off throw both halves into the ground or a DL box. Then after a year or so, layer the top again so you have three stocky little trunks not two lanky ones. So layer it into three trees .

What variety of ficus is it???










Underwater world is AWESOME!!! Love the lungfish tank

cheers guys, was thinking of setting an air layer but my mind wasnt made up, will get onto that one tomorrow

what about 4 even?

Oh and not too sure on variety, at first i thought it was a benji variety but after looking at it today i'm leaning towards a microcarpa variety

Hornet wrote:cheers guys, was thinking of setting an air layer but my mind wasnt made up, will get onto that one tomorrow

Or if your game hard wood cuttings, lopped, manicure the cut by taking some bark off, maybe split it up the guts in a cross hair fashion to fatten the base, into root hormone powder or honey, then into a seedling tray of washed river sand and potting mix. Maybe a make shift green house for a while.

i was originally going to just chop in half and turn the top into a cutting but if i'm chopping it into 4 tree's i might try a cutting with 1 but due to my shotty results as of late i'll do the others via air layer, thinking of turning one of my spare tanks inside into a temporary fig hut untill the missus gets more lizards to put in it lol

Hornet, it si deffeniately a Benji, and go for the 4 cutting it will make for some nice little figs.

chris

Brisbane at this time of year with this humidity you would most likely be able to do them all as cuttings. Cut them all back and put them in a good open sandy mix or even diatomite and they should all grow.

Of course the air layers should be more of a guarantee but will take a bit longer. Technically you should be able to do all the layers at once also as there are branches between every point and so they will all have a sap supply. I have heard of limited results with this though.

Have fun whatever you choose

Tony

Thanks guys, my plan is to start from the top and work my way down, i'll try the top as a cutting and set the 1st layer, when that takes i'll set the other layer