Ficus Base Question

Ryan wrote:

Just Mike wrote:

i would think it depends on how big and deep you make the wound...im not sure if just scraping the cambium is enough for the tree to want to form the kind of callous you need in order to induce rooting...the drilling allows you to basically pinpoint exactly where you want roots to grow...

are you afraid of the drill? be honest...lol...the drill actually would leave a smaller wound than scraping to expose cambium...

I'm not so much afraid of the drill as I am the results of it. I just fear that I wouldn't be able to keep the soil moist enough to encourage root production.

Just Mike wrote:

i posted and then saw this...so, even if the soil dryed out and no roots form, the scar is the same as if you would have romoved a branch of the same size as the hole...then you can just re-drill it...

to address the drying out problem...get some fir bark (orchid bark)...1/8" if you can find it...if not 1/4" will work...mix in some sphagnum moss if you want, but i doubt you need too...and put an inch or 2 layer on top, or better yet, cut the bottom off and split a nursery pot and put that around the tree and fill with bark...if it looks like the bark is drying out before the tree needs to be watered just use a spray bottle and spritz the bark to moisten it again.

Just Mike wrote:ficus grow roots like crazy, and can have petty drastic things done to their roots...with that said, you could drill little holes where you want new roots to grow, fill them with rooting hormone, then either pot the tree deeper so that the areas are covered and remain slightly moist, or cover the area with sphagnum moss...you should have new roots emerging from those areas in a few months depending on growing conditions and all that good stuff...

Just Mike wrote:not very big at all (like 1/8" give or take)...and not very deep either...deep enough to go through the cambium but you dont have to drill all the way through or anything...basically, what you are doing is the same thing that is done when airlayering or rooting a cutting...you are creating a wound that the tree will want to heal over...the rooting hormoe makes it so that the cells created in the healing process are root cells capable of sending out new roots...which reminds me, if you drill small holes, a ficus grows and heals so quickly that it will most likely just heal over the wound and not feel the need to send out new roots, so you need to place something in the hole to prevent it from completely healing over...like a toothpick, or part of a skewer or something...im not the one who thought of this method and im certainly not the first to have used it, so ill try to find an article or 2 on the technique so you have a reference...i will say this though, its pretty reliable on species that root easily, and its pretty handy given that you can choose where you would like new roots to grow...