Ficus 'Green Island'

Hi All,
I purchased this tree about 10 months ago from very nice nursery, when i did my first steps in bonsai.



After some bad attempts to give it any styling, I think I'v got something now......



so... what do ya think guys....am i on the right way? any comments suggestions ?  it will be welcomed

Greeting
Efi

I think I like the second picture of the last two as your front. It hides that rather unattractive root.

Hi Efi

I would remove the long strange root right away.

kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne and Rya,
Thank you for your comments  

I thought that "strange root" is maybe interesting, for me it is.
Now I'm considering to remove it .....  

Any one else....   ?


Kind regards

Efi

efishn wrote:Yvonne  and Rya,
Thank you for your comments  

I thought that "strange root" is maybe interesting, for me it is.
Now I'm considering to remove it .....  

Any one else....     ?


Kind regards

Efi

If you like it keep it. It could fuse with the trunk and make something very interesting in the future. It's always easier to remove it later than grow it back. Otherwise I like what you are doing with the tree. Now sit back and wait. It will grow on you!

The tree is developing very nice, good styling.

One long strange root; looks out of place.
More long roots; a feature.

In time they will fuse with the trunk and increase the taper. Right now it looks kind of misplaced because the trunk is very smooth, without blemish. Well my two cents worth.

I also like the root... I see and hear Yvonne,   And in time it will disappear anyway, and just add to the character of the trunk.  Me thinks,  

But I have been know to be wrong.... hihihihihii  Rarely of course..  

Love and light

Because of the sice will this root just look strange for a very long time...as the root are out of scale for the tree, and will always be so.
Unless you grow the tree very big, then it will maybe no longer be very visible, witch would be the goal in this case..
It is better to take it out, and later when the tree is older let new thinner arealroots grow out, they will be in scale with the tree. Just my IMHO

Kind regards Yvonne

A little scarification on the inside of that root and on the trunk of the tree underneath it, and a bit of tape may help it begin to merge into the trunk.

Thank you all. your comments are interesting.
I'm just wondering now if this change -removing the lower branch - making any difference for u ?



Kind Regards,

Efi

Hi Efi

Take out the ugly roots comming from the trunk asap, and leave the rest of the tree as it is for now.

Kind regards Yvonne

Hi Efi,

You have a lovely GI Fig there and it has the foundation for a really good looking tree, hey it already looks good but that will only get better with time.

I would leave the lower branch and large ariel root for the time being, while if both were to be removed now it would look okay, I have a gut feeling that if you were to retain them for now, it will reward and repay you far moreso with extra design options in a few years time. As it was mentioned before, its far easier to remove later if it doesn't fit the composition than remove it now and then regret it down the track that you did.

Before commenting on a preferred front, is there a chance you could take a photo from a side view of the tree, just to get an idea on the overall movement of the tree as its a little hard to work that out from just two photos, both of which you're suggesting as possible fronts.  The side view will give us an idea on which way the tree moves.

Cheers

David

I don't feel those roots are ugly at all. One of my favorite characteristics of ficus are their ability to grow roots which can fuse with and thicken the trunk. That's one of the advantages of growing tropicals like ficus, characteristics which look interesting and can improve a design relatively quickly. I'll mention that the root may cause the top branch on the left photo to thicken pretty quickly. The suggestion to remove some bark to encourage fusing would help avoid this.

nickalpin wrote:The suggestion to remove some bark to encourage fusing would help avoid this.

Thank u nickalpin. I'm considering to do that, perhaps right away in the beginning of the spring. ~ 2-3 months from now.

Kind regards

Efi

Efi,

how about this, see if the tree is leaf dense or branch dense or do you make more use of the surface and aerial roots as a decorative feature.
Let it grow, thicken the trunk, and give your branches more personality. I liked your shots in the bonsai pot.

I get the idea that you just need to get to know your tree more.
Thanks for showing.
Khaimraj

These plants really have some terrible roots but the good thing in it they are still alive and growing it's all the nature we can't do anything with it.

Where do you want to go with it?

The branch position aside, you're going to have two main "way towards a bonsai" here:
Way 1. Remove that big "ugly" root and get a better trunk right away.
Way 2. Use that big "beautiful" root to promote some aerial roots, maybe even aerial roots fused to the trunk, to give some added value to the trunk in the future.

Which ever way you want to pursue:

The left one, this will not be the front.
Way 1 = big scar that would not be "showable" for some time.
Way 2 = Same logic, the roots are not harmonious enough to be made into the front.

The right one, this stays the best front option from the two pictures you provided which ever way you choose [ there may be more front options if you rotate a lil bit but that's up to you to find ]

The aerials roots fused to the trunk is for me the "typical" achievement/goal/direction the plant would go to in my climate. So I'm kind of biased toward that option, its in my genetic code

Here's what I see on the street for this type of ficus:







There's no "good" way or "bad" way.
It all depends on what you "see" for the future of this tree.
The way 1, "remove ugly root", would be a "quick" way in my eyes, where you would get a smooth trunk and could concentrate on branches. Aside from needed to hide the scars that would result from removing the roots, you could have something "showable" relatively quickly.

The way 2, "keep beautiful root, and make aerial roots", might be a longer way, stress on "might", the speed will depend on the tree's environment.
You can still work on the branches and general appearence of the tree, but you'll also have to encourage the growth of the aerial roots and possibly encourage the fusing with the trunk.
Usually this is done by providing a moist environment to the plant, like sphagnum moss, perlite or cocopeat wrapped around the trunk or a specific trunk areas.
In those two cases, the tree might not be that readily "showable" for obvious visual aesthetic.


So it all comes up to whether you want to have something that you can "show" in a few years, or do you want to go the extra-mile, take a few more years and give the tree's trunk added value.
Once more, there is no "good" way or "bad" way, it all depends on what you "see" for the future of this tree and your confidence in your skills. The skills can be learned, the vision you have of the tree is up to you.

Hi Xavier de Lapeyre,
thank you for this detailed analysis, I enjoyed reading it.
these days, I'm running a small test, how to fused ficus trunks in my place, I'm sure its gonna be just fine, meanwhile I'm waiting to see the results. after that I'll probably decide what to do.

thx again  

Kind Regards,
Efi

Here are a couple of topics that mention fusing trunks on ficus:
https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t6867-my-fused-ficus
https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t7296-ficus-fusion-1-year-progression

These plants and trees really have the huge and terrible roots, we can't understand all this because it's all the matter of nature in it, these kind of things happened in our natural atmosphere we can't interfere with it.

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