total defoliation of ficus salicaria

guys, would it be advisable to totally defoliate a ficus salicaria/nerifolia right after repotting. no root pruning made just some roots broke or cut. any advice to bring back foliage faster.

thanks.

warren

You don't say why? Is the present foliage bad in some way? If some roots were "broke" or "cut" there was a bit of root pruning. How many is "some?"

How about a pic?

waway wrote:guys, would it be advisable to totally defoliate a ficus salicaria/nerifolia right after repotting. no root pruning made just some roots broke or cut. any advice to bring back foliage faster.

thanks.

warren

Where you live could make a big difference. When asking questions like this you should provide your location.
I live Florida and defoliate F. nerifolia pretty much anytime I want. It helps develop ramification.

JimLewis wrote:You don't say why? Is the present foliage bad in some way? If some roots were "broke" or "cut" there was a bit of root pruning. How many is "some?"

How about a pic?

majority of the leaves are on the tip of the branch and i want to have some foliage near the trunk. their were about 3-4 that broke/cut, these are those that stick to the side of the pot. i will post pic tonight when i get home from the office.

Where you live could make a big difference. When asking questions like this you should provide your location.
I live Florida and defoliate F. nerifolia pretty much anytime I want. It helps develop ramification.

i live in the philippines. btw, i really like your f. nerifolia and i want mine to be as dense as yours

i will post some pics later.

guys, here are the pics of my f. salicaria. any suggestions on how to increase foliage or anything to make this tree a beauty pls let me know. thank you.

salicaria #1


salicaria #2



and i would like to ask for your help with my other ficus, its a f. concina (red balete). its been like this for almost a month now and no new bud or any activity on the foliage.


thank you very much.

warren

Ah Philippines then you can be bold and will get vigorous growth.

Using your first tree as an example, I would cut where shown in red and wire as shown in yellow.
I am serious, your tree is not yet developed well enough to worry about "classic defoliation." You need to develop branch structure. So by cutting as shown in red and wiring as shown in yellow you will in essence have defoliated the tree as all the leaves and most of the branches will be gone. Remember the basic rules - thickest branch at the bottom, branches get thinner toward the top. Chopping the top branches will grow taper.

Also you soil looks very coarse, which won't hurt the tree but this is a fairly small tree so it needs finer soil. Coarse soil encourages coarse growth - not good for a small bonsai. Start working on the roots - try to get them to spread and get rid of that root that is coming straight up on the right.

It's amazing how much the first tree looks like the one I posted earlier.
https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/bonsai-questions-f7/narrow-leaf-ficus-t1167.htm



The second tree needs major root work to fix the ugly bulge.

Give the last tree lots of sun and do not over water and it should perk up and start to grow.

Rob, I'm really glad to hear that my f. salicaria has some resemblance with yours but mine is way far far far from having the beauty of yours. With your suggestion I can imagine the future of this tree thank you so much and I will do the necessary work right away.

I too have a Willow leaf Ficus with similar branch and leaf structure.
This thread has been helpful. One thing I'm also considering is either air layering or doing a trunk chop to try and develop it into a shohin. As I too am new to Bonsai, are there articles that can enlighten me regarding trunk chopping and developing shohin Willow leaf Ficus?

Many Thanks

Wm Tom Davis wrote:I too have a Willow leaf Ficus with similar branch and leaf structure.
This thread has been helpful. One thing I'm also considering is either air layering or doing a trunk chop to try and develop it into a shohin. As I too am new to Bonsai, are there articles that can enlighten me regarding trunk chopping and developing shohin Willow leaf Ficus?

Many Thanks

Why yes there is. Go to the
http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/#
And click on the article bar. You'll see an article by me about shohin Willow Leaf Ficus. Good luck.
Also if you look at some old postings on my blog - there are some Willow Leaf Ficus to view. I have many of them.

Rob,
I've read your article. Its very well done, and the pics are very helpful. Thanks for posting it!

Neil

NeilDellinger wrote:Rob,
I've read your article. Its very well done, and the pics are very helpful. Thanks for posting it!

Neil

You are welcome.

Many Thanks, Rob.

Thanks, Rob, for the totally fascinating article The timing was perfect, I just repotted one of my willow leafs yesterday using techniques suggested by Jose Rodriguez in another thread. I split tubular roots and trimmed roots with downward "claws". Luckily I had a bag of lava rock from Colorado which I used as the only soil medium.

It should be interesting to compare the growth of the two willow leafs. I used 1 part haydite/1 part pumice/1 part sifted orchid mix for the other tree. Repotting is not necessary every year because of the slower growth in Minnesota but when I do, I'll take off one of the very large roots from the first tree and try a root shohin.

Thanks again for the inspiration !

Norma