ficus back from the dead -- pruning advice?

12 years ago

Hello All,

I've had what I believe to be a Chinese Ficus for about 8 months now and when I originally acquired it, its foliage was full and dark green. Then summer in Arizona hit (which can be in excess of 100 degrees F with very little moisture) and I brought it inside -- unfortunately, it completely escaped me that it was in the airflow stream of the air conditioner and it went into a state of shock and dropped all its leaves. Some of the branches died too, which I have since cut off (although I am leaving the top one as a jin). Since then, I have been nurturing it and I was very surprised to find that it started sprouting beautiful leaves out of one of its crooks -- these leaves are, however quite large and I have been reticent to prune the tree because I am afraid it will go back into shock again. I know that this size for leaves is rather undesirable for the ficus bonsai -- does anyone have any ideas on how I should proceed? Best, --D

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:15654}}

Comments (3)

mike423
12 years ago
I would recommend just allowing the tree to grow wild for at least a year to allow it to regain some vigor.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
12 years ago
It's not unusual for in situ trees to go into a situational dormancy and defoliate due to drought stress - sometimes several times per year; so while it's not a good thing in terms of development time, it's prolly not the end of the world, either.

I agree that you should let the tree grow wild to regain foliage mass and vitality. I'm guessing that where you live, and if you keep the tree outdoors when temperatures are above 55*, you'll be able to prune hard again in the spring, if the tree likes the cultural conditions you provide and is able to grow at even close to its genetically programmed level of vigor.

The large leaves and long internodes are due to both the reduced number of growing points on the tree and low light levels. I wouldn't worry about leaf size for now - until you have established the best viewing angle (front), selected (or grown) the branches you want to keep, and have the basic outline of your tree decided. You can work on leaf reduction and fine ramification after the basic structure of the tree is in place and you've corrected problem roots and branches.

Al
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monovuelo
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the sound advice, mike423 and tapla -- I will allow the tree to continue to gain mass and heal until next spring. I may post some follow-up pics a bit later in the year to see what you think about good features to highlight when pruning time comes around.