Sumo Shohin Willow Leaf Ficus

This guy is backbudding and pushing growth like crazy, which is great:

A few months later, here we are today:

I removed the wire from the tree as it was cutting in in some areas. I was suggested that by the beginning of summer or end of spring it would be fine to go ahead and cut back on that back section. I was thinking something along the lines of my quick virt:

Here's the picture before I blacked it out in case there were some different ideas on where to cut:

Here's the tree as of today:

Coming along well, Ryan. If I may, I'd like to share one of my nerifolia (salicaria) root-cuttings with you. This one is a root-cutting (A) of a root-cutting (B) of the mother tree (C).

Happy Holiday!

-Dorothy

A


B


C

Wow those are great Dorothy! Amazing what the roots can turn into. Thanks for sharing!!

Still trying to figure out why the bark on this tree is the color it is.....

Dorthy, if you don't mind me asking are you cutting the leaves as an aesthetic purpose to fit the silhouette or is this a leaf reduction technique? or neither

It is very easy to realize this is a tree stump with the transplant.
would be quite long to erase traces.
to create new designs need to remove whole leaves.

reg-i wrote:Dorthy, if you don't mind me asking are you cutting the leaves as an aesthetic purpose to fit the silhouette or is this a leaf reduction technique? or neither

Hey, Regie

At this time of the year the Ficus nerifolia/salicaria gets lots of foliage. Cutting the leaves makes sure the light penetrates inside the tree and reduces the dieback of branchlets due to the lack of sunlight. It also forces backbudding and -you are right- fits the silhouette as a side effect. I do the same with my Buttonwoods before the new growth sets in, by the way.

Best,
Dorothy

Ryan wrote:Wow those are great Dorothy! Amazing what the roots can turn into. Thanks for sharing!!

Still trying to figure out why the bark on this tree is the color it is.....

Thanks, Ryan. All three of those have that dark reddish bark and develop the "elephant" wrinkles.

Best,
Dorothy

dorothy7774 wrote:

Ryan wrote:Wow those are great Dorothy! Amazing what the roots can turn into. Thanks for sharing!!

Still trying to figure out why the bark on this tree is the color it is.....

Thanks, Ryan. All three of those have that dark reddish bark and develop the "elephant" wrinkles.

Best,
Dorothy

It seems like that appears to be the normal color bark, yet this one is just, different, I guess. I noticed there is a bud that has popped on the trunk, so any ideas about this being grafted should no longer be wondered.

This tree has actually grown quite a bit since last update:

you may want to cut the other offshoots so as to focus all growth in the main branch...my 2 cents

Rob Kempinski wrote:
Several years ago I did an article on shohin Willow Leaf ficus and for it
I made this drawing to explain the history of this tree. Hopefully it can shed
some light on your tree's progress. Good luck and have fun.

Rob,
Thanks for sharing this tutorial. I saved two 1" dia roots instead of throwing it during a repot on February. Took a while but the roots started showing tons of tiny shoots last month!

rexman wrote:you may want to cut the other offshoots so as to focus all growth in the main branch...my 2 cents

The ones in the back? That's what I was thinking.

Anyone else agree with removing the growth in the back to focus more energy into growing out the leader?

This guys currently under attack by aphids, so I need to deal with those. Not much growth, and the aphids may be the reason why...

Defoliated:

Ryan, why did you defoliate it at that stage? Do you have any updated pics?

KennedyMarx wrote:Ryan, why did you defoliate it at that stage? Do you have any updated pics?

Hmm not sure how I missed your post, oops

I forget exactly what my reasoning was behind me defoliating it at that point, but I do have an updated pic that I just took tonight after a repot. Be warned though, they're pretty ugly pictures. The tree isn't in the best of health. It's been a rough semester, so some of my trees haven't had the best of care, but here it is. In these pictures you'll notice that I slightly tilted it backward when repotting:

When would you all suggest be a good time to cut the slant at the back of the tree? Or could/should I remove that growth back there so that the energy is focused on thickening the leader?

Rob Kempinski wrote:
I just put them in soil. But remember I live in a subtropical climate where it's hot and humid for a good part of the year.
Here is another root cutting with more of the root exposed. I call it the "Keilbasa Ficus". Pot by Dale Cochoy.
It's my experience that the root cuttings have a much better scar covering capability than non-root Ficus nerifolia cuttings (F. salisifolia or F. Sallacaria)

Hi Rob, really like y'r trees, wishing I would have the same climate as you, since here in the Netherlands my Ficus trees can only be out for 3-5 months a year. Rest of the year its indoors so thats not enough to make a convincing bonsai. But it keeps me working, also in wintertime, keeping the trees alive. A willow leave ficus is hard to get here, really trying to find cuttings.....
For now I have to do with Ficus Benjamini.........not bad either

like the post, will follow it further,

with kind regards, Wessel

this is a f.benjamini cutting of this year, 12 cm high

Hi Ryan!

I would do exactly that what you're saying. I'd leave two lower shoots on both sides and remove all that butt on the back.



When to do this? When your tree recovers after defoliation, so when the new growth appears with at least few leafs on those branches to leave. At this stage I wouldn't cut anything.

gope wrote:Hi Ryan!

I would do exactly that what you're saying. I'd leave two lower shoots on both sides and remove all that butt on the back.



When to do this? When your tree recovers after defoliation, so when the new growth appears with at least few leafs on those branches to leave. At this stage I wouldn't cut anything.

Thanks!

I was thinking about keeping a branch or two. Definitely that one on the left, but I'm not sure if it's low enough to not create a bar branch with the one on the right. The tree is pushing out tons of growth now, but it'll still need a good amount of time before anything should be cut.

just wondering why your defoliating at this stage? If you would just let those lower branches grow out,they would increase the size of the callus. This would help with your taper plus you want to work on primary branches, defoliating now is just gonna cause more ramification and you don't really need that yet