AusBonsai

I picked up a ficus to do some air layering and I came across a 3 trunk one with 2 of the trunks with variegated leaves....
Is this normal??

2 small trunks have variegated leaves.

Its a shame the roots are poor as the damaged trunk might have added character...
Still not sure how I'm going to work this one!!!
I'll give it sometime to recover while I think about it....

Possibly planted as 3 separate seedlings that have fused together as they've grown?

I may be wrong here but I believe variegated trees grow slower then their non-variegated counterparts, so they were probably all the same size as each other at one stage. Good luck with the layers!

Cheers,
Pearcy.

I'm thinking after I've finished air layering every trunk, you think I'll be able to mill/cut out those small trunks to use the gnarly looking one as bonsai??

It's got a interesting trunk with an unusual look to it with that damage/hollow....

What you have are Benjamina Ficus. They do come varigated. The is no reason why you could not mill/cut the trunks after you air layer. Like all Ficus work on them in the warmer months November-February. Lots of feed and water.
Cheers

That's really interesting Pearcy you mentioning the slower growth habit of the varigated benjamina... i have had one for a couple of years and was starting to wonder about how slow it is growing compared to my other Benjis!

The variegation reduces the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves and therefore the amount of energy the tree can make. Hence the slower growth.

Lots of variegated plants can return to normal foliage and I have seen many variegated Ficus benjimina with branches of normal foliage.