Another Naked Ficus

I defoliated and repotted this Indian Laurel Fig (Ficus microcarpa) over the last few days. Didn't count the leaves this time.
This was grown from a cutting about 22 years ago. I've had it about 13 years. I call it the "Flying Buttress Ficus."
It is about 40 inches (101 cm) across. I can't recall but I believe it is a 20 to 30 year old Japanese pot.

A few progression shots.
Before defoliating - lots of large and winter damaged leaves on the tree. The red and green lines on the lower left are drinking straws that have been slit and are used to precisely direct the aerial roots to mimic the taper of the trunk - almost all the straight aerial roots have been initially trained this way. The configuration of the roots is how this tree get its its name.


Partially through defoliating. You can see the smaller leaves on the top that were beneath the larger leaves. For the past several seasons, I have been letting my ficus trees grow unmolested through the winter. In March I defoliate and find that I get smaller leaves for most of the year with only minor trimming until early winter. Then the big leaves return and I let the cold do what it wants and in March repeat the cycle.


Leaves all removed but before trunk cleaning and repotting.


It had been about 7 years at least since I repotted this tree and I was expecting to see a massive root mass under the soil, but I was very pleased to see a very evenly distributed parcel of fine roots with only a few thicker roots needing to be removed, but no massive tubers. I can probably let it go and other 8 years before repotting. I put a layer of chopped sphagnum moss over the soil and then a thin layer of bonsai soil over the moss. This is to keep the roots tips moist until more green moss can form.


A view from above showing the branch ramification and radial placement.


An interesting camera effect. While I had the camera pointed down with a long shutter exposure the telephoto slid down on its own creating this interesting camera effect.

Wow, love it

Did you just use a toothbrush to clean the trunk? Anything else?

Nice old ficus Rob.

are you planning to thin some branches/twigs out?

regards,
jun

Hello Rob, can you tell me please, what are your daytime and night time temperatures there at the moment? I haven't had any experience with this type of fig but don't normally start doing any defoliation work on figs until mid spring or thereabouts. (In Qld Australia) Nice fig by the way!

Peter Woosley wrote:Hello Rob, can you tell me please, what are your daytime and night time temperatures there at the moment? I haven't had any experience with this type of fig but don't normally start doing any defoliation work on figs until mid spring or thereabouts. (In Qld Australia) Nice fig by the way!

In this part of Florida spring is almost over. We are experiencing around 81 F/ 27 C in the daytime and 60 F/ 15.5 C during the night. But it will be steadily warming up over the next month. We'll be at 94 F/34 C in the day and 75 F/ 24 C at night in a month or so.

jun wrote:Nice old ficus Rob.

are you planning to thin some branches/twigs out?

regards,
jun

Not a whole lot. I trimmed it and will post another shot (see below). I look for nodes that have more than 2 branches and remove one of them (with a few exceptions) and any shoot that is more than two or 3 inches without a another node I will reduce to add ramification to the straight part. Doing this same process over a course of many years has led to a full canopy with dense branches and lots of subtle movement in the twigs. I like the dense ramification that really looks good when you see in it person and can move your point of view to see the detail. And with the small leaves there is room for the birds to fly through. The dense canopy also shades the roots and encourages aerial roots - a key part of this design. When this tree was first styled I wired all the branches, now I use almost exclusively clip and grow and manual bending with an occasional wire on a branch I really want to move, otherwise I rely on the growth habit of the tree.

Hot dang, Rob. That is a killer tree. Great job and thanks for posting pictures and part of your secrets. Keep 'em coming. The pictures and the secrets!!!

Have a great week!!!
Sam

Ryan wrote:Wow, love it

Did you just use a toothbrush to clean the trunk? Anything else?

Yes Ryan, an old toothbrush and a thorough squirt of 409 All Purpose cleaner. I cover the soil but then really drench the tree with water afterwards to rinse out the cleaner that might have penetrated the root ball. Repotting is after cleaning.

Nice tree, good ramifications.
Thanks for sharing

Xuan

Rob, very, very nice tree. Great job.
Jerry

Rob Kempinski wrote:In this part of Florida spring is almost over. We are experiencing around 81 F/ 27 C in the daytime and 60 F/ 15.5 C during the night. But it will be steadily warming up over the next month. We'll be at 94 F/34 C in the day and 75 F/ 24 C at night in a month or so.

That is pretty much spot on the temps when i start my figs here! Thanks Rob.

That is a fantastic ficus. Thank you for posting.