Ficus - new aquisition

I just received this ficus the other day, does anybody know what type it is? Also, what should be my plan of attack in the spring? This winter, it will be in a window with a southern exposure in a warm room upstairs.

Some info on this strange Ficus here:

http://lennardsbonsaibeginnings.blogspot.com/2013/02/ginseng-pot-belly-ficus.html

It seems that your Ficus is not grafted.

Lennard

Thanks for the info Lennard. So a Ginseng Ficus? OK, so "it seems that your Ficus is not grafted", good, bad, indifferent, and why? And why is it a "strange" Ficus? It looks a lot like the ones in your pictures. (Just trying to get all the info I can......)
Thanks again!

tbarkley wrote:
...... Ficus is not grafted", good, bad, indifferent, and why?

And why is it a "strange" Ficus? It looks a lot like the ones in your pictures.

Sometimes the grafts do not take well and a knob/bulge usually forms where the growth is grafted.
The grafted growth has a nicer round leave and the nodes of the grafted is much shorter than the original. The leaves also reduce well.

The original growth is much more vigorous, but with that you also get bigger leaves and longer nodes. I have not worked on the original growth to see how they react to bonsai techniques.

I have rooted some cuttings and I also let some new roots sprout from the tubers - they are in general thicker than a "normal" species's roots, but they do not get as fat as the ones the Chinese produce.  I do believe the thicker roots are produced using secret culture practices or they use chemical to get them so fat?

The Ginseng Ficus is "strange" when you compare them to real natural trees - trees in nature do not have those fat exposed roots - even with Ficus in nature the exposed roots on real trees are not so fat.

Grow the tree for what it is, over time the roots will fuse and they will look like a trunk - or do some drastic work on it to make it look more like a real tree/bonsai.

Lennard

What you have is a Chinese banyan, Ficus microcarpa, with exaggerated tuberous storage roots. All the tropical figs make storage roots to some extent. When they are moderate, they are considered attractive, but what you have is not appropriate for a bonsai. When you repot, remove some of them. You can gradually train your tree to have better roots. Sometimes you can get these storage roots to sprout. They are not tubers, so they don't sprout as easily as potatoes.
Concentrate on growing the top bigger and healthier. You can style it later on.
Iris

Thanks for the help Lennard & Iris!