Root over rock/Clinging to rock- watering and inspection of planting made easy.

The tree has grown very well this season and here is a pic December 2012:



I actually forgot that I used a cable tie to pull the three trunks together for the planting and it has cut into the trunk:



I removed the cable tie a few days ago. The wound will heal and I got some new roots going just above the cable tie wound. There are a lot of roots showing at the base.

Will wait till late spring before opening it.

Lennard

It almost looks like the cable-tie is completely covered by bark. WOuld leaving it in place not be better? The bark will eventually grow overit, won;t it?

leatherback wrote:It almost looks like the cable-tie is completely covered by bark. WOuld leaving it in place not be better? The bark will eventually grow overit, won;t it?

I was thinking of leaving it but at the end decided to remove it. The operation to remove it was not so difficult. Hurting the cambium when removing it will probably give me more roots, so no damage done.

Thanks for the reply.

Lennard

Very very interesting Lennard!

The leaves of your ficus are an exceptionally green in colour....why?

Does it live in the shade?

Is that the chicken manure and Horse bedding?

Did I miss it?
Forgive me for asking?
But what kind of ficus did you say this was?...
It sure looks like Pyracantha coccinea to me!
But I've been wrong before...



just asking?

Its Ficus Nataleinsis..... I'm pretty sure.

Isn't it , Lennard?

......natalensis.........I better make sure about my spelling these days, I put my head on a block! hhihihihihihiih

Andre Beaurain wrote:Very very interesting Lennard!

The leaves of your ficus are an exceptionally green in colour....why?

Does it live in the shade?

Is that the chicken manure and Horse bedding?

The cuttings I used was given to me by Charles Ceronio and it is a variety of Ficus natalensis having red twigs when young and this darker leaves. The tree is also growing very fast - I keep the tree in full sun in a warm spot the whole day and I believe the "hothouse" around the roots and feeding it with Nitrosol adds to the lush growth.

Sadly there is no room for the chicken and horse bedding mulch.

Lennard

I have opened the planting today and I am very happy with the outcome:

http://lennardsbonsaibeginnings.blogspot.com/2012/10/experimental-root-over-rock-technique.html

 

Any advice or comments welcome.

Lennard

I have gradually removed the covering to harden of the roots:



The three cuttings has fused completely and some air roots are forming.



The tree will be left to grow freely like this until late spring.

Lennard

Lennard, am I seeing it well or not? It looks to me the roots are not stuck to the stone...or it is an illusion.
As far as I know the roots are supposed to lie flat against the stone but I can be wrong???  

Patience Neli!

When I remove the rest of the container some roots will have to be rearranged, some will have to be forced to the rock by using Styrofoam and cable ties again and some will have to be forced into crevices.

Some of the thicker straight roots will also be removed - the winding ones is what I need.

The work on the roots will only be done next summer and the tree will be chopped back in January 2015.

Lennard

He he he! I thought they are supposed to be glued in the first attempt...and that is what I tried to achive and I think I managed...a bit. Not sure if I remove the ties it will not lift like yours  

I have not worked on the tree for over a year now.

Lots of development in the roots but not much to the top. The cuttings have all fused now into one trunk. The variety I am using is quite amazing when it comes to fusing and root over rock.

I was planted in a home made Rockset pot but the pot could not handle the weight of the rock and the roots of the Ficus - so it is back into a plastic basin again.

I need to do some branch selection and rerouting some roots soon.




Any comments and advice welcome.