AusBonsai

Hey all,



Bought this big old guy from a nursery down south of me. It stands 2 feet tall with a 3 inch base. I plan on slip potting it into a bigger pot tomorrow, then I'll cut it back once it starts pushing new growth so that you all can see the structure of the branches. Any comments are welcome.

After realizing the majority of this ones leaves were infected with a fungal disease, I defoliated the tree and stuck it under lights:

Hey Ryan that's an awesome looking trunk - how much did it cost you ? And where did it come from - was it a bonsai nursery ? That's the only place you would find a willow leaf fig here in OZ. Could you use the upright branch in the middle as a new leader to get better taper ? It appears to me that the trunk is fairly straight going with your suggested line

Bougy Fan wrote:Hey Ryan that's an awesome looking trunk - how much did it cost you ? And where did it come from - was it a bonsai nursery ? That's the only place you would find a willow leaf fig here in OZ. Could you use the upright branch in the middle as a new leader to get better taper ? It appears to me that the trunk is fairly straight going with your suggested line

Thanks Tony! It came from a bonsai nursery down in Florida and cost me $50 (without shipping, shipping was pretty bad). Not sure what branch you're referring to though, but if I were to follow the trunk line I've shown, the tree has a nice lean to the left, so it wouldn't have much taper, but it would at least have some movement.

WOW $50 is a great price - can't get anything like that for that sort of price I meant the second branch on the right. Yes it has movement but I think taper is more important - that what I was referring to by trunk being "straight"

I cut this tree back today:

It's budded back very nicely. Crazy fast growth:

I love how fast Willow leaf ficus grow. The tree is looking amazing. The only thing I've noticed with my Willow Leaf figs is they really hate being moved. I remember I moved mine into a place which gave slightly different sunlight and it dropped all of its leaves.

But that's okay because Willow Leaf have beautiful ramifications when defoliated.

Can't wait to see where you go with this

By the way, a friend made this virt up for me, and this is the look I hope to achieve with this tree: