Shohin Willow Leaf Ficus

Hi everyone,



I received this Willow Leaf from Schley's bonsai the other day, and thought I would get everyone's opinion on it. It's a great little tree, I love it. I feel the pot is a bit shallow, however. Anyone have any thoughts or comments? Feel free!

Nice!

The pot is indeed shallow (looks very good though) and the tree will eventually push itself up to let you know it want/need a bigger pot...but you know that already.

Probably look for a pot that is twice as deep (inside dimension) and a bit wider?

Poink88 wrote:Nice!

The pot is indeed shallow (looks very good though) and the tree will eventually push itself up to let you know it want/need a bigger pot...but you know that already.  

Probably look for a pot that is twice as deep (inside dimension) and a bit wider?

Thanks Dario, that's what I was thinking as well. I was debating putting it into a training pot to work on branches a bit more, but will probably just end up going with a bigger bonsai pot, probably a cheap Chinese one.

awesome trunk!

If you want to show off roots and base, shallow pot it is. Maybe a bit wider but then you need a wider canopy. Nice tree and I feel it needs to be wider by 25-30% in relation to the trunk and pot size at the moment. The pot I'll use for display purposes then but grow it on in a slightly wider and deeper pot.

I think a deeper pot would add to the strength/stability of the trunk, not that it needs that but rather it would simply add to that. My eye is drawn to the pot because of how wide it is in relation to the plant. Rules are guidelines to me- that said, the guideline of a pot's width being 2/3 the height of the tree makes sense to me here. If the pot were not so wide it would not attract so much attention and focus would go more to the trunk. All that said, I admire this work. The nebari are very mature. What will you do with the large cut in the front- a hollow, or let it heal over?

Nice tree Ryan! Finally one that you don't need to chop and build from scratch. I think the lot is fine, they do well in shallow pots. You would probably have to repot more frequently though.

Precarious wrote:I think a deeper pot would add to the strength/stability of the trunk, not that it needs that but rather it would simply add to that.  My eye is drawn to the pot because of how wide it is in relation to the plant.  Rules are guidelines to me- that said, the guideline of a pot's width being 2/3 the height of the tree makes sense to me here.  If the pot were not so wide it would not attract so much attention and focus would go more to the trunk.  All that said, I admire this work.  The nebari are very mature.  What will you do with the large cut in the front- a hollow, or let it heal over?

From my understanding, when a tree base's width is close to or the same as the height, this 2/3 rule or guideline goes out the window. If Ryan were to use a pot with a width that is 2/3 the height of the tree it wouldn't even fit the nebari!

Like others have said, the tree will do fine in this pot but will just need more frequent repotting. It looks fine as is, I honestly didn't even notice the pot at first because it's so small and the tree is so powerful. This can be a good thing, but a deeper pot could also add to the notion of stability in the tree that the wide-spreading nebari already conjures.

Here's a quick virt done using paint with a random pot off the internet. This is my first virt so please excuse the messiness, just thought I'd try to give you a better idea of what it might look like in a deeper pot. I personally like how it looks and wouldn't use a pot much wider than the one you are now, I also like how it accents the breadth of the base.



Garrett

Thanks Garrett, I like that! I'll be on the lookout for something a little deeper.

I'd like to put it in a deeper pot to give it more room to grow as well. Right now there are two hollows. One rather small one on the front that's covered by growth, and another rather large one on the right side of the tree. Ideally I'd like them both to be closed up, as I don't trust hollows on Ficus. It's just a matter of how I'm going to get that to happen.

Ryan, the cuts and hollows on mine are closing rapidly (see my recent Ficus post). If you keep it out in full sun, feed heavily, and defoliate a couple times a summer (if possible up there) it should speed up.

At any rate, I've never seen any sign of pithy, rotted wood on mine.

JimLewis wrote:Ryan, the cuts and hollows on mine are closing rapidly (see my recent Ficus post).  If you keep it out in full sun, feed heavily, and defoliate a couple times a summer (if possible up there) it should speed up.

At any rate, I've never seen any sign of pithy, rotted wood on mine.

Thanks Jim, I did notice that post. It's great how quickly yours is closing up, hopefully mine does the same. Regardless, I'll repot it into a cheap Chinese pot to let it grow out a little bit more.

Ryan wrote:Thanks Garrett, I like that! I'll be on the lookout for something a little deeper.

I'd like to put it in a deeper pot to give it more room to grow as well. Right now there are two hollows. One rather small one on the front that's covered by growth, and another rather large one on the right side of the tree. Ideally I'd like them both to be closed up, as I don't trust hollows on Ficus. It's just a matter of how I'm going to get that to happen.

I'm glad you like it, me too!! Like I said it was my first virt and I was quite proud of it even though it's simple that aside, I really do think it looks better in the deeper pot. Accentuates the stability for some reason, I think it looks much stronger now. And like you mentioned, the extra space to grow and thus faster growth would promote the healing of those wounds. Hopefully yours behave as well as Jim's and don't give you any trouble.

Garrett

I haven't had trouble with the little dremeling that I've done on my ficus. I didn't use sealant but did end up cleaning the edge of the chop later and pasting the scraped parts. I don't think it's rolled over much yet.

Hmmm. I wonder if I should aim for a rectangular, unglazed, brown pot for this tree.

This may be close to what it would look like -- mine a few years ago:



I've since moved it into a larger pot.

Thanks Jim, I like that pot. I haven't found a good pot for this one yet. All the pots I like have an inner rim that I know will make repotting a pain.

There's a lot of work to do with branch development and refinement yet. This will happen faster in a larger pot. While you're developing branches and rational ramification the upper part of the trunk will thicken and be more in proportion with the base. Once this is complete, the tree might be a tad larger or not, that's up to you, but it will look entirely different.  Then is the time to think about the 'right' pot for the tree.

Colin Lewis wrote:There's a lot of work to do with branch development and refinement yet. This will happen faster in a larger pot. While you're developing branches and rational ramification the upper part of the trunk will thicken and be more in proportion with the base. Once this is complete, the tree might be a tad larger or not, that's up to you, but it will look entirely different.  Then is the time to think about the 'right' pot for the tree.

So then how much larger of a pot are you thinking?

Well, a lot depends on how much it's appearance is during development, but since you can hard prune the roots of these when the time comes, the larger the better, within reason. I would go for something twice the width and four time the depth. There's a segment on branch development in my video (see the Announcements" forum).

Colin Lewis wrote:Well, a lot depends on how much it's appearance is during development, but since you can hard prune the roots of these when the time comes, the larger the better, within reason. I would go for something twice the width and four time the depth. There's a segment on branch development in my video (see the Announcements" forum).

Are we talking bonsai pot or training pot/bulb pan?

It can be anything you like.

Colin Lewis wrote:It can be anything you like.

I personally am a fan of bulb pans, but feel that may not be necessary. Anyone have any thoughts on Colin's idea?

Ryan wrote:

Colin Lewis wrote:It can be anything you like.

I personally am a fan of bulb pans, but feel that may not be necessary. Anyone have any thoughts on Colin's idea?

i (being a novice) believe that the pot you have it in is very much a "finished" pot... but if you are looking to do any more development, then it should be in something that will support that development...

i tend to question everything, so i like things that are simple to understand and that make sense.... and colin's advice is both...

let the development continue until its ready for a "finish" pot... (and i aint talking about one from finland )

just my dos centavos

I'll probably just put this one into a small 6 inch bulb pan.

Regardless, it's lost about half of its foliage. Partly due to a new location, and part due to treatment for possible spider mites, I'm sure.

Ryan wrote:I'll probably just put this one into a small 6 inch bulb pan.

Regardless, it's lost about half of its foliage. Partly due to a new location, and part due to treatment for possible spider mites, I'm sure.

that, or you blinked in its general direction...

i took a picture of mine once and that even caused it to drop all of its leaves

did someone mention they are touchy ?