AusBonsai

I made a ficus fusion experiment almost four months ago with three leftover cuttings from a Ficus "Ginseng". They were wrapped in gift string - here's the lesson part: make it even and neat - not like I did... Although I'd read that you should leave fusions for "a growing season" and the likes, I was starting to fear the health of the "tree" so I removed it today. Here's the wonky result: The poor bastard bled some when I removed the gift string...
I have really no future plan for these three/one(?). They'll stay as a potted plant in my office for now and I'll see how the fusion develops.

Good experiment, I think you have three cuttings on the bottom you can take and I would air layer just below where the bulge is at the top of where the gift string was. Seems like it’s a very strong/hardy ficus to have pushed so much growth.
I don’t think you will get anything usable from the trunk that was wrapped tight by the string.
Still all good experience.

Cheers
Kirky

Bulges are one of the problems I have also experienced. Even with flat, wide wrap like grafting tape there is a tendency for the trunk to bulge out at top and bottom.
Ficus fuse very easily so definitely a case of know your species instead of relying totally on advice that may be based on other species. Growth rates also directly affect how quickly fusion occurs.
It is tempting to leave the wrap on just a bit longer to make sure but the bulges negate any positives of leaving wrap. I now remove wrap at the first sign of any bulge and rewrap if the fusion is not complete.
Some marks and small bulges will often grow out as the trunk thickens. How much and how quick depends on the species. Ficus are one of the most forgiving.

There is definitely some scope to layer off better parts of this trunk.

Cheers guys, it was something to learn from.

shibui wrote: ↑October 27th, 2021, 12:25 pm ..I now remove wrap at the first sign of any bulge and rewrap if the fusion is not complete.

Makes a lot of sense, I'll try this in the future!

If you can get more cuttings, I'd just be adding more and more to the trunk. Over time, you can thicken up trunk and branches with fused cuttings. The bumps and lumps will slowly be swallowed up by added pieces.

This is a fusion experiment from the ficus study group on farcebook. This is a much more advanced version

https://www.facebook.com/groups/369975123052549

Five+ months later (winter months here) it has healed over nicely I think. More than anything all the trunks have become much harder. I'll keep it as a house plant for now

This one has gotten a re-up-pot and has become quite big - I would say the fusion saved years in thickening up. (The darker part around the lower trunk is from when I used Vaseline to try and hold Trips off... It seems fine now