Broom style ficus benji question

[joelham]

Hi guys,
I picked up an old pot bound benji with some nice(ish) taper in the first 15cm. The tree is about 8cm in diameter.
I know benji's have a hard time budding back on old wood but I thought I'd give it a crack ( when it warms up and is growing)
Just wondering how V cuts go figs to hopefully form a broom. Curious about the wound and how it will heal (because it will be quite a wound)
Any input would be valued.
Thanks!!
Joel

[Bougy Fan]

I have had mixed results with carving benji's - some of them will act like nothing happened and some just keep rotting. I paint the whole wound now with an acrylic tree wound sealant to prevent rot. The tree will recover and will eventually roll over the wound - but trying to get it look OK and not bulging can be a challenge.

[shibui]

As you point out, figs is not all figs.
rubiginosa does very well with V cut but I have no experience with benjamina.
V cut does allow the wound to swell internally a bit better and limits the reverse taper effect of just cutting it off. I know 1 grower who advised drilling most of the wood out of the centre before making the V cut (still need to cut so that water drains out of the cut area) and even wrapping the area to allow for swelling to be inside rather than external.

[dansai]

I would be inclined to chop above where you want to get it to bud and cut down to buds with a v if you get them where you want them. I have found they generally die back from a cut but maybe sealing it will prevent that. I have cut back a few to stumps before I found out it wasn't a good idea. All have budded but usually eratically and not where I wanted them too.

[joelham]

Great advice guys!! So helpful.
Come spring ill cut about where I want it to bud. If lucky enough will v it and bind to prevent bulging.
Thank you!

[dark1]

Hi Joelham, I'me just up the road from you, in Brisbane! I have a large multi trunked benji that I dug out of the groung 2 years ago, cut back heavily on all trunks, potted into a polystyrene box and allowed to grow on. I have never sealed any of the cuts and all is going well .I often think that the individual tree needs to be looked at rather than the species, some trees just want to die back while others just power on. By all means seal the cuts especially if the water can't drain away. I have had some reasonable success with the cut paste that comes in a tube, commonly called elephant snot! Good luck, Michael.

[Neli]

So far my experience with Benji has been bad with trunk chopping. Some of them just die. Branches cut without foliage left at the end also die back. I would rather reduce a benji slowly to the lowest existing foliage, wait to back bud and reduce further. Let me know how yours will do with the trunk chop.