Ficus Burtt-davyi - transforming the ugly duckling.
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Ficus Burtt-davyi - transforming the ugly duckling.
Starting serious bonsai growing in 2009 I got this ugly Ficus from a young up-and-coming bonsai artist selling his father's stock without his permission!
At that stage I was hunting for the species and did not care if it had potential or not. The main reason I bought it was to obtain some cuttings from it. Soon afterward I got some better material from another guy and decided to give the tree a go.
The tree October 2009 after growing freely from the time I bought it:
This is the tree the same month after chopping the leader and cutting back a few twigs:
That sure looks ugly!
The trunk had a nice line and taper - the biggest problem was the big ugly bulge that was left after the tree was chopped by the first owner. As soon as the tree recovered from the cut back I have cut away the ugly bulge leaving an even uglier wound. To help the wound grow over I only cut back twigs once a year. I also realized that I would have to hide the wound for a few years until it has grown over - deadwood is not an option when it comes to Ficus.... no hollow trunk for this ugly duckling! The tree was also planted into a shallow but wider pot and I feed it on a regular basis with organics.
The tree recovered well and in 2012 it has changed into something!
An ugly duckling changing into a swan:
The wound is growing over nicely - another two years and the chop mark will be gone. From 2012 I cut back growth regularly to get some twiggy growth going. In January 2014
I repotted the tree into a bonsai pot:
I had to cut two long coiling roots - to help the tree recover I also cut back the twigs. The tree will be left in a shaded area to recover. The tree is about 10cm high.
Any comments or advice will be welcomed.
(Some info on the species here: http://lennardsbonsaibeginnings.blogspot.com/2009_10_22_archive.html . What most people do not know that this species is a rambler growing on rocky cliffs.)
Lennard
At that stage I was hunting for the species and did not care if it had potential or not. The main reason I bought it was to obtain some cuttings from it. Soon afterward I got some better material from another guy and decided to give the tree a go.
The tree October 2009 after growing freely from the time I bought it:
This is the tree the same month after chopping the leader and cutting back a few twigs:
That sure looks ugly!
The trunk had a nice line and taper - the biggest problem was the big ugly bulge that was left after the tree was chopped by the first owner. As soon as the tree recovered from the cut back I have cut away the ugly bulge leaving an even uglier wound. To help the wound grow over I only cut back twigs once a year. I also realized that I would have to hide the wound for a few years until it has grown over - deadwood is not an option when it comes to Ficus.... no hollow trunk for this ugly duckling! The tree was also planted into a shallow but wider pot and I feed it on a regular basis with organics.
The tree recovered well and in 2012 it has changed into something!
An ugly duckling changing into a swan:
The wound is growing over nicely - another two years and the chop mark will be gone. From 2012 I cut back growth regularly to get some twiggy growth going. In January 2014
I repotted the tree into a bonsai pot:
I had to cut two long coiling roots - to help the tree recover I also cut back the twigs. The tree will be left in a shaded area to recover. The tree is about 10cm high.
Any comments or advice will be welcomed.
(Some info on the species here: http://lennardsbonsaibeginnings.blogspot.com/2009_10_22_archive.html . What most people do not know that this species is a rambler growing on rocky cliffs.)
Lennard
lennard- Member
Re: Ficus Burtt-davyi - transforming the ugly duckling.
Lennard,
Great transformation.
Jerry
Great transformation.
Jerry
Jerry Meislik- Member
Re: Ficus Burtt-davyi - transforming the ugly duckling.
Love the progression.This is my favorite ficus. I just have trouble finding any that are very thick. The ones I have right now are much skinnier than yours.
KennedyMarx- Member
Re: Ficus Burtt-davyi - transforming the ugly duckling.
Very nice. One small comment - when you remove large branches it is a good idea to leave a stub which eventually will die back into the trunk. After the die back has occurred the stub can be removed. After hollowing out the dead portion in the trunk a callus over the wound will form without an unsightly bulge. Hank
Hank Miller- Member
Thicker material.
KennedyMarx wrote:Love the progression.This is my favorite ficus. I just have trouble finding any that are very thick. The ones I have right now are much skinnier than yours.
Thanks for the positive reply.
To get the trunks to become thick one must make use of this species being a rambler. Leaving one growth to grow freely the trunks below that growth do get thick very quickly.
Lennard
lennard- Member
Wounds.
Hank Miller wrote:Very nice. One small comment - when you remove large branches it is a good idea to leave a stub which eventually will die back into the trunk. After the die back has occurred the stub can be removed. After hollowing out the dead portion in the trunk a callus over the wound will form without an unsightly bulge. Hank
Thanks Hank.
Never thought of doing chops this way - very logical! The stub will die back leaving a minimum amount of scarring.
Thanks for the tip - will definitely use it!
A pic to show the height better:
Lennard
lennard- Member
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