ficus heavy root pruning and chop

[matty-j]

hey guys i have a ficus that needs to be chopped!!
ill be chopping just above the lowest shoot and wiring it up as the new leader
but this tree is heavily root bound and i plan on trying to untangle the roots
as best as i can over a few afternoons
can i leave the tree submerged underwater for a few days

last time i pulled it out of its pot to have a look there was hardly any soil
left in the pot just a giant matted pot shaped root mass
so i want to test my patience and try and untangle the mess of root
and was thinking if i could keep it long enough use for a ROR
this was thrown in a bin at work and i don't think it has ever been repotted
so there will be some large thick roots in there i hope i can use to my advantage

can i do root work and chop hard at the same time?

cheers
matt

[MattA]

Hey Matt,
Now is the perfect time to chop & rootprune a fig, instead of trying to untangle the roots I would get rid of the lot with a flat cut just below your chosen soil level. It will be pushing new roots in no time at all...
Matt

[k2bonsai]

Hey Matt,
Now is the perfect time to chop & rootprune a fig, instead of trying to untangle the roots I would get rid of the lot with a flat cut just below your chosen soil level. It will be pushing new roots in no time at all...
Matt

I agree totally. I rescued a topiary that looked on its death bed for council cleanup but the roots were a huge twisted knot so i just flat chopped, potted into a good agg mix and it is going great guns. If you find a small higher root or two, chop below this and try to keep this small root as itwill speed up recovery.

[matty-j]

thats for the reply's and thoughts much appreciated

so this afternoon i got stuck into chopping and potting this one up
after i chopped it and took it out of its pot i got the hose out
and washed all the old soil away

to find this

i had all intentions of doin just like matta and k2 said and just flat cut the bottom
but i wasn't expecting the roots to be so thick i couldn't help my self
so tried to make something a little different
i dont know if ill be able to make this look good but ill give it my best

any thoughts ideas negative or positive all more than welcome

cheers
matt

IMG_1432.jpg

IMG_1433.jpg

IMG_1434.jpg

IMG_1436.jpg

IMG_1438.JPG

IMG_1439.JPG

IMG_1440.jpg

IMG_1441.JPG

[Qitianlong]

Gnarly! Love it! Keep us updated with how it ages!

[Boics]

What the!!!

[kcpoole]

Holy Crap the look like a pretzel!
Let the recover now and next year, Reevaluate what the rooting and Nebari are like

Ken

[mal]

P1010074.JPG

Hi matty, thanks for breaking the ice on this subject for me.
I also have a fig that needs some TLC, I rescued him from a dark corner of a nursery near maitland
about four years ago, cut him in half and repotted him into a foam box. The only work I have done sinse is water, seasol and defoliate him a few times a year.
I have been wanting to pull him out for some time now. I have some pictures to show to get started but will add more as I go.

[matty-j]

hey everyone

just thought i would give an update on this ficus
it has grown a lot since i last posted ive had a thick layer of dynamic lifer on it and watered like crazy
today i removed any unwanted branching and wired some branches

i was thinking of covering the thick roots in spag and wrapping to encourage rooting all over
to make it look like its fallen over and clinging onto life well thats what i wanted it to look like

any thought ideas or advice this one would be fantastic and greatly appreciated

cheers
matt

1.JPG

2.jpg

3.jpg

[Isitangus]

Strange feeling when I look at this. I like the different root pattern, however the big arching root always catches my eye. I think you could incorporate some penjing elements into it (little gravel river trail or similar) under the arch otherwise that's the part that keeps drawing my eye.
I do like the tree over all though!
Probably a very noob comment from me!!!

[matty-j]

thanks for the reply angus

the arching root on top there draws my eye as well
i think it might go sooner or later, ill chop it off put some rooting hormone on and wrap it in spag
ill try and get the roots to grow down into the others

[matty-j]

Hey everyone!

its been over 12 months since I updated this tree, it has grown quite a lot since my last post, the branch that was wired as the new leader took off and is now bigger than thumb thickness, i've spent a long time looking at the tree and wondering what I would do next and today I finally got around to working on the tree, I washed all the old soil away and decided to remove the arching root and a large thick root that I thought were quite ugly, after the 2 were removed I saw what was left and decided not to go with my original plan and grow roots from the cut points down into the other roots. I decided to flip it up right again and turn it into a cascade, I did a ground layer and ring barked around the 2 large cuts to make a new set of roots to bind to the old set and try and attempt a large butressing base for the fig, Next year I will wash away the soil again and cling wrap and bind the roots against the old root system hopefully give a visually appealing effect and let them thicken up, the fig will be left to settle for the next month, in late january i will defoliate and wire all the primary branches and bring the tail of the cascade down into position.
Any ideas or feed back is more than welcome!!

IMG_3587.jpg

IMG_3588.jpg

IMG_3589.jpg

IMG_3590.JPG

IMG_3592.JPG

IMG_3593.JPG

Cheers
Matt

[Brian]

although the roots are knotted and unattractive, they will fuse together and form a nice buttress over time.

[kcpoole]

I am glad the loopy one has gone

Ken