AusBonsai

i was walking home today and found this little fella clinging upside down struggling to hold onto a rock retaining wall on the side of the foot path since my house was just around the corner i pulled it out and quickly got it home and potted it up. here are some pics any and all comments welcome, Thanks

Start wiring to give some movement to the trunk. At this stage it is a bit young so you have plenty of scope to start its basic training.

Suggest you do a quick repot and move it a bit more from the edge of the pot. Should be planted just to the right of centre, not at the edge. At this stage I would put it in a larger pot or the ground to give it a good grow on to develop more thickness and more character before putting it in a bonsai pot.

thanks mela it was only hanging by a single root about 10mm thick all the rest of the roots were dried so if i put it any further left i'll have to cut a decent amount of that root off would that be an issue at all?

Agreed MelaQuin. I always put figs I have collected into a big pot or grow box until the trunk is the desired diameter. If you wire at the same time the trunk and branches set much quicker due to the higher growth rate. Just have to watch out for the dreaded wire worm spiralling up the trunk

Tony

just thought i'd show you a couple others i got from the same spot a day later the other one's roots are thicker and also some more stringy041.JPG[/attachment]

since ive been doing updates heres one more

It looks healthy enough. Are you aware of the name of your fig ? If you had put this into a big pot you would most likely have a trunk twice the diameter. It needs some movement in the trunk - just watch as the wire can need removing within a couple of weeks over summer

Tony

thanks tony but im not really concerned with any of the typical bonsai type practise as such, as far as i'm concerend when i collected this fig (at the time of the first picture) i considered it "naturally bonsai'd" so i decided that i wanted to just use the clip and grow method to try and keep as "origional" as possible. the trunk has thickend considerably since i first collected and i have pinched it back about 3 times. as for wire there is none its all natural movement in the branches and for trunk movement im not worried about that because i like the nice slender soft curves. it may not be appealing to some but beauty is in the eye of the beholder so give it a few more years and i think you all will be plesantly surprised

in saying all this i still take on everyones advice and appreciate it