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Fused Ficus natalensis

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Tom Simonyi
-Daniel-
Jerry Meislik
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Hank Miller
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Post  Hank Miller Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:35 pm

About 5 years ago I decided to make a fused trunk Ficus natalensis which would remind me of the trees of Southern Africa. I did not want a massive trunk with a large canopy. but rather a smaller trunked tree with an interesting crown. Although I am unable to find the images of the tree initially about a year ago the tree looked like this

Fused Ficus natalensis Nf113010

I found that the tree did not do especially well in the shallow container I had selected. Earlier this summer I re-potted the tree in a slightly deeper container and I let the foliage mass increase
a bit. In spite of tjhe fact that the tree will have to be raised a bit when I next re-pot I am very pleased with the results.

Fused Ficus natalensis Fn282310

It would seem that finally the tree and I have reached some sort of agreement about its final shape. Enjoy.

Best wishes for the holidays to everyone.
Hank
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Post  Cockroach Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:43 am

Very nice. I really like it. Do you have close-up pictures of where they fused?
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Post  Jerry Meislik Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:01 am

Hank,
Really good-looking tree.
Jerry
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Post  -Daniel- Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:32 am

Hello, very nice 's tree, very elegant ..... Maybe the pot is too large. Congratulations and merry Christmas santa Very Happy
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Post  Tom Simonyi Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:54 pm

Lovely tree indeed, Hank. Thanks so much for sharing.

Best wishes for a peaceful and joyful Holiday Season.

Tom
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Post  JimLewis Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:08 pm

Nice tree. Sometimes you need a larger pot for the health of the tree.

Maybe, in time, it can be moved back into a slightly smaller pot.
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Post  -Daniel- Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:21 pm

JimLewis wrote:Nice tree. Sometimes you need a larger pot for the health of the tree.

Maybe, in time, it can be moved back into a slightly smaller pot.


Exact, you are very accurate , good . regards , santa
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Post  Hank Miller Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:34 pm

Thanks for the comments. Below is a close-up image of the trunk. The fusion is very good but you can still see where the original cuttings were. The vertical striations are all that remain.


Fused Ficus natalensis Fn285310
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Post  coh Fri Dec 21, 2012 9:06 pm

Nicely shaped, natural looking tree. Do you remember how many cuttings you used? Does each major root represent a separate cutting? How long has the process taken?
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Post  Hank Miller Sun Dec 23, 2012 2:35 pm

I think I used somewhere between 20 and 50 cuttings. Unfortunately I don't always keep good records. Each root is one of the original cuttings. It takes about 6-12 months before I begin to work on a fused trunk tree. Initiially I did some drastic pruning to get rid of what I do not think I will need and I wired the major lower branches Over the next year or two the tree was cut back and allowed to grow out and much of the styling was done. For the last few years I worked on the refinement.
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Post  coh Sun Dec 23, 2012 10:15 pm

Thanks Hank. One more question - when you put the cuttings together initially, how do you bind them together? Do you wrap with something like raffia with wire over that, or some other method?
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Post  Hank Miller Tue Dec 25, 2012 1:50 pm

I usually use Chinese string ( it is cheaper than raffia) to bind the cuttings together initially. Once bound they can easily be bent with wire.

Fused Ficus natalensis Fn257710
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Post  efishn Tue Dec 25, 2012 3:31 pm

Hi Hank,

Thank you for sharing this. I have this ficus, how long in your opinion its gonna take to fuse it ?

Fused Ficus natalensis Dscn6110

Greetings

Efi
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Post  Hank Miller Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:23 am

I am not sure what you would like to fuse. Are you interested in improving the taper by adding additional material to the lower trunk? This is certainly possible if you have enough rooted cuttings in addition to any aerial roots present. I have found that strangler figs like F natalensis fuse the quickest. Usually it takes 6-12 months. Other figs, for example F burtt-davyii, take at least twice as long.
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Post  Todd Ellis Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 pm

Nice work! I wouldn't have known it was fused unless you told us. I am trying to listen to my trees now, and try to pot accordingly, versus trying to force them to grow to my whims.
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Post  efishn Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:57 pm

Hank Miller wrote:I am not sure what you would like to fuse. Are you interested in improving the taper by adding additional material to the lower trunk? This is certainly possible if you have enough rooted cuttings in addition to any aerial roots present. I have found that strangler figs like F natalensis fuse the quickest. Usually it takes 6-12 months. Other figs, for example F burtt-davyii, take at least twice as long.

Hi Hank - ok, I got the idea, thanks.

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Post  Hank Miller Sat Dec 29, 2012 5:14 pm

Thanks for the comments. Below is another of my fused trees which hopefully has not lost its natural look.




Fused Ficus natalensis Fn292210
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