名媛直播

Hey everyone,

This will be my introduction thread as well as to help me with some styling decisions later on down the road. I've been breeding neo tropical amphibians in naturalistic vivaria for about 12 years now which has given me a deep appreciation for plants. Some species require epiphytic bromeliads, aroids, or submersed plants for reproduction. This transitioned into keeping house plants, mostly succulents like Crassula ovata, Portulacaria afra, Lithops, Pachypodium sp. etc.

My first bonsai was a Portulacaria afra about 4 years ago from an ex girlfriend. It did well, but was more of a house plant because it was 10 years old, styled poorly, and I was nervous to hack it down. About 2 years ago, a squirrel stripped most of the bark from it on our balcony and a few months later, it was gone.

The bonsai bug resurfaced a few months ago so I dove into researching as much as possible. With my background, I'm drawn towards tropicals more than evergreens, so I had my mind set on a Ficus sp. I joined the Nebraska 名媛直播 Society to meet people, have access to resources, and learn from experienced members. Last month there was a silent auction for 4 trees at our meeting, one of them being a rather large Ficus microcarpa 'tiger bark' that had scale parasites. Since I don't have a collection of trees for the scale to spread to, I figured I would be the perfect project.

I've used neem oil with some dish soap and water in a spray bottle to coat every surface of the tree in 2 week increments and haven't seen any scale over the last week. The tree has new growth and seems to be bouncing back. I've got it in a south facing window and water before the soil dries. I've been misting the foliage to help maintain humidity.

The health of the tree is most important to me, so all styling will be done down the road after the tree is 100% and the seasons change. Currently, it has a rather odd configuration of trunk, aerial roots, previously wired branches, an array of foliage sizes, and some very old looking soil. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking, and maybe you'll have some ideas for some styling later this spring or summer for me.

After I read the title, I was worried that you had purchased an IKEAsai, but what you have is some fairly good starter material.
It's good to hear that you've joined a club; you should be able to rely on them for styling advice and specific care in your State, but we are obviously willing to offer our opinions.

Welcome to the Empire,
Ed

Nice tree!

I think I would consider removing the two large areal roots, unless you are going towards a large large LARGE ficus. Order the branches, do not thin too much. I think you could wait till summer, then defoliate and wire the whole tree. Good base!

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Leatherback, I really like the aerial roots, but are you saying the proportions of the tree would be off unless I went for a mammoth ficus? I can see that reasoning.

It is more that I think they are off shapewise. I could imagine a big tree with areal roots slanting away from the trunk. But towards the trunk feels wrong. In the end, it is your vision and your tree. You have to like it..

That's an excellent point, and now everytime I look at the tree, the roots look off. I have been reading about digging up aerial roots and relocating their root base, possibly using wire to change their shape.
I was able to get in contact with the previous owner and he said it was repotted 3 years ago. Looks like I will get to repot it this spring, maybe I'll start shopping for a new pot. I really love the banyan, overgrown, aerial root riddled look.

Dendrobates wrote: . I really love the banyan, overgrown, aerial root riddled look.

So, repot. See whether they can be moved (I doubt it). Then enjoy it as is, wire the rest of the tree, and give it a haircut when needed. Keep it in a humid environment, and nice and warm, hope for more aerial roots, which in itself should also help the image. And if it does not pop more roots, of if you in a year or two think you do not like the look, you can still remove them. Regrowing is a lot harder.

After a month of visits to the shower for neem oil/dish soap sprays, my Ficus really seems to be taking off. I've not seen a scale in quite a while, no more leaves dropping off, and it's got quite a bit of new growth.

The next step will be shopping for a pot and repotting this spring. I'd like to start developing the structure and pruning once it's been repotted and continues to thrive.

Good to hear. It's a nice tree.

For the people looking for the difference:
This is a ficus bonsai - so it's not a ficus mallsai or ficus ginseng.

Would be cool too see pictures of the whole tree.

Auk, thanks for clarification.