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| I was given a nice 6-foot Ficus, in a pot. I am looking at shortening the branches ans air-layering the top part of the tree for the purpose of: 1. turning the top of the tree into a bonsai, 2. attempting to jumpstart the trunk to end up with more bonsai.
When and how hard should I reduce the length of the branches and what is the likelyhood of rescuing the trunk to propagate additional trees from it. Should I wait until the "head" reduction begins to show new growth before I start the air-layering or do them both at the same time? The tree can be seen in my Webshote album at: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2905564840012575884iOJiWq Thanks, forbey |
Here is a link that might be useful: Office Ficus
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| Hi, you can cut it down any time because it's an indoor tree, not as subject to seasonal changes. You can chop it fairly hard (short) and should get buds back on the trunk if it's otherwise happy and healthy, though I would first let it get acclimated to its new home for a month or so as it's likely to lose leaves in that time unless lighting is at least as good, if not a lot better than its present place. However - I would do the layers first, then wait a few weeks at least after taking them off (spring would be ideal) to do the trunk as that is not guaranteed - some trees just won't bud back below lowest branches, but I don't know if you can predict that with yours. Better to save what you can of the tops first. Also, it's a Benjamina, not as reliable as microcarpas (and also not as good for bonsai), but that's relative. Make sure you have lots of light at home and lots of humidity. |
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| It's been sitting in a corner of the office for almost a year. It sits by a window and the office is lit fairly well 12 to 15 hours per day. As indicated, I want to try and get 2 to 4 trees out of it, with the understanding that I could end up killing all of it. However, I really have no room for a large tree like this and I have had pretty good luck with various species of Ficus (to include F. benjamina). Most of my Ficus start out as office plants and end up looking like banyans. Thanks for the advice. forbey |
Here is a link that might be useful: Preparing a Ficus b.
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