Trunk chop for recently inherited ficus

[jk4122]

Hi all, I recently inherited a Fig that I think would make a good Bonsai due to the well developed trunk and was after some advice.

It is just over 1 meter in height not including the pot (photo 1). I'm told it is around 15-20 years old but hasn't really been well cared for and there is an old branch/trunk that died and has broken off (photo 2).

My initial plan is to repot and fertilise with some minor work on the roots and also possibly try to trim back the wound and seal it. I am hoping this will maximise the health of the plant for the next step.

Once it gets warmer I was then contemplating chopping the trunk just below the level of the current wound so I can significantly reduce the height. There are tiny nodes on the trunk below this level (photo 3) that I am hoping will bud. A cut at this level will have a large diameter so alternatively I might carve the wound back so it tapers and keep the lowest branch.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, particularly the chances of it budding and if I should keep the lowest branch even temporarily as insurance. Happy to take alternative suggestions.

I am located in Brisbane.

Cheers
JK

[dansai]

Hi jk and welcome to Ausbonsai. A lot of advice for timing of things in Bonsai depends on where you live. It is worth putting a location in your profile as you may well be asked a number of times. A general area is fine. Figs usually respond to work better when weather is warmer, so if you live in Tassie, Far North QLD, South Africa or the Arctic Circle will change the advice you are given, and the usefulness of it.

Assuming you are somewhere in Australia, it is Winter, and may well be chilly where you are, I would advise to wait until October before doing any root work or cut back on your fig. I generally do a major cut and hard root work at the same time on my figs at this time and they respond with an explosion of growth with buds all over the trunk. However, you have yourself a Ficus benjamina and unfortunately they are not as predictable as the other figs we usually see as bonsai. I have had some never bud after a big cut, some that have only budded on one branch and some that bud well, but only at the end closest to the cut.

So my advise would be in warm weather, October in most of Australia, do either the cut back or the root work and later in the season once you have seen a response, do the other work. Maybe around January/Febuary when it is still warm and there is plenty of growing season left. Fertilise well from now so that the tree has the most vigour and health possible. As to where to cut, if it were mine, I would do it a little above the first branch, cutting the branch off too. And then cross fingers for buds in useful places. You will probably get bunches in a few places. Take these back to one shoot from each spot.

Good Luck

[tgooboon]

I agree about fertilising to get it growing strong and wait until it warms up before doing any significant work.

You can defiantly heal the current scar over a couple of years once you get it growling strongly.

A few questions for you:
- What sort of height do you want the final bonsai?
- do you have a style in mind? i.e. Banyan Style? single trunk?
- how far below the soil level does the trunk extend before the roots start to flare out?

[shibui]

Agree that benjamina is less predictable so best not to go full chop with this.
My guess is the little nodes down low are more likely to be root nodes than buds for shoots so I'd also go for chop above the lower branch and cross fingers that some lower buds will grow.
Definitely wait for warm weather before doing either roots or chop.
Also take it more gently with roots on F. benjamina.

[melbrackstone]

Has anyone ever tried to graft new branches onto a benji? I've had some success with a F. microcarpa green island where I chopped the trunk very low, and the trunk stayed alive for a couple of years, but never produced any leaves. I grafted a couple of buds and they took quite quickly.

Just wondering if it would be worthwhile grafting a couple of buds low down now, then you might at least give the trunks a chance if you're going to cut below the existing green.

[jk4122]

Thanks for all the responses and the id on the type of ficus, although I would be lying if I wasn't a bit disappointed that it is a benjamina. I have read they are a bit more difficult than others.

I am in Brisbane and have updated my profile.

To answer some of tgooboon's questions:
- I don't have a clear vision of the final product. I guess I was hoping to get it under 60cm but conscious that I need branches much lower down.
- My strong preference would be for a Banyan style as I am a big fan of the natural shape of figs, particularly Moreton Bay figs with their wide canopy and aerial roots. I was hoping to get a number of branches to grow off in different directions after the trunk chop but was waiting to see how it responded. Following mel's advice I might even go as far as grafting some cuttings to get something lower down on the trunk.
- The roots flare out immediately below the soil level. I have excavated a little and taken another photo. I am intrigued as to the reason for the question. I am going to lower the soil level when I repot to show these off a bit more.

I will get fertilising and continue reading given I have time before spring.

Cheers

Fig 4.jpg

[melbrackstone]

Here in SE Qld you'll find that figs can be quite forgiving, even benjis. There are some pretty nice banyan style benjis around the various clubs, and they do lend themselves to that treatment quite well. You do have to be patient though, because getting from a chopped trunk to a nice canopy can take 4 or more years, and that's if you're right on top of it with an open mix, lots of fertiliser and regular pruning. Get your framework first, then start working on ramification. If you're comfortable with grafting, I'd definitely pop a few new buds in where you'd like some branches before you trunk chop.

Check out the Ficus study group if you're on farcebook, and you'll likely see some good quality trees occasionally. Also other bonsai groups, particularly those from Asia, tend to supply lots of ficus pics.

[tgooboon]

Those roots look great, the extra flare just below the soil is nice, definitely off to a great start for this future bonsai; you might be able to keep them exposed as it is quite common for ficus to have exposed semi-buttress roots above the ground. I'm on the fence with the grafting lower branches, I would be surprised if it didn't send up lower branches if you trunk chopped but grafting before hand does seem like a safe approach.

If you are going for a natural shape of fig which which spread out into a wide canopy, then the proportion of trunk to canopy is worth considering; i.e. how much trunk are you going to cut back to. It would be very tempting to leave a taller trunk to make the most of what you have; however you really only get one chance, as once you start growing branching you will probably never trunk chop again.

My observations is that figs branch out into a multi-trunk from very low down, which keeps splitting into sub trunks as it grows. They don't have a single large trunk which extends up into the canopy with branches radiating from a central trunk like a pine does (but if that is the look you like there is no problem growing a tree like that). From my observations, to get a really mature ficus look like a large park tree, you would be looking at a scale of 1m of trunk to minimum 8.5m of canopy and 17m width of canopy.

So what does this mean about how far to cut back? For instance if you cut back to 100mm of trunk in a few years time it is conceivable to have a to 300mm of canopy height and 600mm wide; a few years later 100mm of trunk to 500mm of canopy height and 1m wide. At this point it fits the size you are thinking about, but compared to an old fig in a park it would be looking like a young tree.

So you can do the math's on it you leave a 200mm trunk height, to get the scale right, you are going to end up with a massive tree.

There is no right or wrong size, style, height. Just up to how long you want to grow it, how realistic you want it to look, how much of a sacrifice you are willing to do now, how long you are willing to wait to heal over massive scars.

Keen to see the updated pics after you do some work on it and how it progresses

[tgooboon]

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