Little banyan Fig.

This is a small Port Jackson Fig tree that was originally about 5 or 6 strapped together to fuse over time. They have only ever been continually cut back when they got out of hand.
The tree is about 20cm (8" tall). The pot is over sized for now but i do have a beautiful little pot for it to go into later on, maybe in a year or two when it has developed more.

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Very nice! How did you make the "air roots" ?

I am always afraid of "fused" trees. If I remove too much foliage from one section will I kill that trunk?

manosvince wrote:Very nice! How did you make the "air roots" ?

It's all about the humidity. When you live in a wet, humid, rainy area the question becomes "How do you stop making air roots?". If you live in an arid climate just sit the pot in a shallow tray of water. A layer of damp shpagnum over the soil surface helps too.

Really nice looking tree, btw.

R

manosvince wrote:Very nice! How did you make the "air roots" ?

make small cut wounds under the branch and cover it with sphagnum moss and plastic wrap.
nice tree.
My only concern would be- is that the tree is too small, If kept within this size and this design all of the primary branches will fused in the future and it will result in a reverse/inverse taper. my suggestion- make it bigger if you want to keep up with this design.
The Air roots must be controlled too, other wise the branch on the right will grow out of proportion with the other branches which are all in the same "broom style" level/ elevation.

regards,
jun

Russell Coker wrote:

manosvince wrote:Very nice! How did you make the "air roots" ?

It's all about the humidity. When you live in a wet, humid, rainy area the question becomes "How do you stop making air roots?". If you live in an arid climate just sit the pot in a shallow tray of water. A layer of damp shpagnum over the soil surface helps too.

Really nice looking tree, btw.

R

Hahaha that's the irony for different places of the world.

Nice trunk on that tree! Did you do the fusing yourself, or did you acquire it after that process was started? I'm wondering how long it takes for the individual trunks to merge into a single, smooth trunk.

Chris

Billy M. Rhodes wrote:I am always afraid of "fused" trees. If I remove too much foliage from one section will I kill that trunk?

I've been wondering that myself Billy. Is there a point where the independant systems of each tree become one system? On the surface, thread grafting is one of those things that also confuses me a little for similar reasons, although it works! I just completed a fusing of three s-shaped F. microcarpa and would ideally like to chop back one of the trunks quite severely at some point.

Thanks for your comments.
Russell is spot on with regards to the aerial roots. In my climate it is more an issue of how do you stop them!

Jun, i have another one of these that has been grown over the last 30 years and always in a small pot. I think that is the trick to keeping them at or around this size, small pot and continual pruning. I am going to work on the other one this weekend (hopefully) so i will share it here also.

Figs fuse quickly here, within a few years they are hardly recognizable as fused. Great for ficus etc but not to good for the cooler climate trees...........

From when you've started training it? I have a ficus nitida and I was planning to continue in a similar form.

Peter,
Great work as usual.
Jerry

That's very nice to hear Peter.

I got small ones (microcarpa) being developed too, and they easily outgrows my design and I must continue to readjust. climate and growth difference I guess.

regards,
jun

manosvince wrote:From when you've started training it? I have a ficus nitida and I was planning to continue in a similar form.

This is the first styling. I am not familiar with the Ficus nitida, they have very large leaves...is that correct?

Peter Woosley wrote:

manosvince wrote:From when you've started training it? I have a ficus nitida and I was planning to continue in a similar form.

This is the first styling. I am not familiar with the Ficus nitida, they have very large leaves...is that correct?

Yes , if you leave them to free growing ( without leaf and root pruning)

This is the second tree i mentioned above. It has been allowed to grow freely the last 12 months to get some vigor back. That worked and now it has been cut back and wired. This one is a Port Jackson fig and really puts out aerial roots profusely. I have taken them off for now but will selectively grow some from now on.









The game plan now is to cut it back further (to new shoots) in December/January, wire the new branchlets and build on ramification.

Your work has created some really fat trunks in a relatively short time. Keep it up - they look good.

Better picture of this one....didnt realize but i forgot to crop it and brighten it up a bit.

This ones bigger again. Re-potted today, after a Bill Valavanis workshop yesterday. This one is about 55cm tall and 75cm wide, it's a Queensland small leaf fig.

Damienindesert wrote:Is there a point where the independent systems of each tree become one system? On the surface, thread grafting is one of those things that also confuses me a little for similar reasons, although it works!

I am not familiar with fused trunks, but I can tell you about thread grafts. When making a thread graft, you try to get the cambium layer of the branch in contact with the cambium layer of the trunk. If not, they will fuse eventually, but it takes longer. Once the cambium layers connect, the grafted branch starts taking nourishment directly from that spot on the trunk. You can tell this is happening because the branch starts to thicken. When the part of the branch emerging from the trunk is thicker than the branch going in, you know it is well fused and you can cut off the donor part.
Iris

Peter, those are 2 very handsome ficus. Please keep us posted.

bonsaisr wrote:I am not familiar with fused trunks, but I can tell you about thread grafts. When making a thread graft, you try to get the cambium layer of the branch in contact with the cambium layer of the trunk. If not, they will fuse eventually, but it takes longer. Once the cambium layers connect, the grafted branch starts taking nourishment directly from that spot on the trunk. You can tell this is happening because the branch starts to thicken. When the part of the branch emerging from the trunk is thicker than the branch going in, you know it is well fused and you can cut off the donor part.
Iris

Thanks Iris. I wonder if anyone else has info regarding fused trunks. In theory, cambium layers should be compressed into one another, but I can't seem to find any literature to confirm or refute this. As I've never done thread grafting, here's a (probably stupid sounding) further question: If the donor portion is left in place in the long term without any foliage, will it continue to develop (independantly of the little shoot now being fed by the cambium of the host plant)? If it does, I reckon it could be safe to assume that the independant systems of fused plants could at some point integrate into a single system.

Regards

Damien

Oh, and Peter, I rudely never commented on your outstanding little Ficus trees. They are really bold and stately. Lovely stuff man.

Damienindesert wrote:If the donor portion is left in place in the long term without any foliage, will it continue to develop?
Damien

The donor branch is never left without foliage. It is left with some leaves on, because it is feeding the graft, but it is kept somewhat restrained, to encourage the branch tip to grow. If it were left on after the graft is ready to be cut off, it would continue to grow, but it would get in the way.
Iris

bonsaisr wrote:The donor branch is never left without foliage. It is left with some leaves on, because it is feeding the graft, but it is kept somewhat restrained, to encourage the branch tip to grow. If it were left on after the graft is ready to be cut off, it would continue to grow, but it would get in the way.
Iris

Thanks again Iris.

It's a fair comparitive process to fusing, which is why I mentioned it. Not to keep both sides of the graft, but perhaps not to use the side most people would.

Regards

Damien

This last tree was originally 5 small plants put together some 30 years ago by the lady i purchased the tree from. So what you see here is the effect of aprox 30 years growing together.