Thick Trunk of a Ficus - How?
Martin Me
I would like to ask how everybody gets the thick trunks with Ficus trees. I have had several trees (Ficus Retusa, Wiandi, Benjamina)for 3-4 years (purchased) but there is virtually no apparent thickening. Is there a chance to grow something fatter from cuttings or purchased trees? If yes, would anybody please let me know how? I grow my trees indoors, I come from Prague (Czech Republic), i.e. Central European climate.
Thanks to all.
Martin Eyberger, Prague
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Marcel Lucas
Easy answer: Let them grow on in big pots without cutting back.
I'm doing that with a retusa, that i started as a cutting 3 years ago. I grow it indoors in winter and outdoors in summer. It is now about 1metre high and wide with a double trunk 2cm/1cm respectively. I think I'll let it grow till about 2meters before cutting back. Water well, and fertilize well.
I think retusa is the strongest and fastest grower of the types you mention.... I tried quite a few benjamina's but they didn't do well at all for me.... They don't like wiring, they don't like pruning, they don't like transplanting....
martin
Mary Miller, a well known member of this list, says that the best way to
obtain a thick trunk on a ficus is to buy one. It will take years to grow
one from a a slender young tree. I was lucky enough to be given one by a
friend whose house grew too small for her ficus. I reduced this 8 foot
monster to 12" two summers ago, and it now has a full head of foliage
running about 18" at the apex.
Marcel Lucas
Wouldn't this be good advice for any tree?:)
IMHO, what you do if you buy the big trunk, basically, is pay some else to invest
time growing it up for you:)
Personally, I do a bit of both: grow some up myself, and buy some bigger ones. This
way, I can have trees in all stages of development. Have all the fun:))
Not that any have reached that "final" bonsai stage yet...
Do you find retusa especially slow in thickening?
cheers,
Marcel Lucas
The Netherlands - zone 8
Phil Koloi
> .... I tried quite a few benjamina's but they didn't do well at all for me.... They don't like wiring, they don't like pruning, they don't like transplanting....
Why do you say that Marcel?
Is it that they scar too much/ too fast from wiring?
They grow too quickly/ in too many places from pruning?
Is it that they are weed like after transplanting?
If you keep up the moisture all year, keep them well fed and bathed in light, I have found benjamina, as almost all other ficus species I have cultured are just about unstoppable!
I know my climate suits them better than most, but was just wondering if you or someone else could explain your poor experiences with benjamina.
By the way to get great trunk thickness within a year, put them in the ground.... I know tropical bragging! Best results with Ficus natal!
Cheers
Phil Koloi
TOWNSVILLE AUST
USDA 11+ equiv.
Martin Me
me.... They don't like wiring, they don't like pruning, they don't like
transplanting....
>..Why do you say that Marcel?Is it that they scar too much/ too fast from
wiring?
They grow too quickly/ in too many places from pruning?
Is it that they are weed like after transplanting?
>...If you keep up the moisture all year, keep them well fed and bathed in
light, I have found benjamina, as almost all other ficus species I have
cultured are just about unstoppable!
I happen to have Ficus Wiandi - this particular species is extremely
fragile (older branches snap as soon as you only think of wiring them). In
addition, older buds seem to be reluctant to grow. It grows very qucikly at
the end of a branch but if you attempt to cut the end in hopes it will
branch (ie older buds will develop into branches), you will often end up
with a branch with no growth at all. The branches need to be cut while
their still green.
Martin Eyberger
Marcel Lucas
Maybe it's a climate thing. I always had the impression that benjamina's were fast growers. I put them outdoor during summer and indoors in winter....
If I cut back to more than 3/4 millimetres of branch, no buds appear, but the branch or trunk will just develop a big callous at the tip and that's it. It won't die back, but it won't
bud(ge) either!
When I wired them, twig production stopped all together... it never produced dense foliage, or twigs...
Actually, I can't recall any wire scarring. They just never grew fast enough for that:)
I also tried 'natasja' which looks like a miniature benjamina. On this species, in my experience. young twigs will grow and die... whole sections of branches will just die back for no
apparent reason. Anything I wire downward or horizontal, will just stop growing.. It's even more sensitive than benjamina...
Right now, I have a retusa and a 'panda' left... these I'm growing on without any wiring... The retusa is a powerful, fastgrowing tree! So, considering the unfavorable environment
I seem to be offering ficus, this is the toughest of the ones I've tried. I'm concentrating on outdoor and/or native speciesi now.... They are easier :)
Remember, all these are my personal experiences....
cheers,
Marcel Lucas
The Netherlands - zone 8
Phil Koloi wrote:
Marcel Lucas
I forgot to say this: probably my ficuses didn't get enough light while growing indoors. I have an aquarium in the same room, so the air should be humid enough....
As a houseplant, benjamina is/was extremely popular in the Netherlands, but wherever you see them, they look limp and insipid...
cheers!
Marcel Lucas
the Netherlands - zone 8
Phil Koloi wrote:
Pedersen, Per Arne
I don't know what you are doing wrong Marcel... So there will not be much
help in these words - more some sorts of comments.
I have a Ficus nitida (actually a Ficus benjamina - weeping fig. (Found
out when looking this up in different books)). I have done everything a man
to can do to a tree - and it's still vigorous and alive... I have once a
year defoliated the tree. I have hollowed some of the stem, due to rotten
wood and artificial effect. I have left it in the same pot and soil
(Akadame) for more then two years. I'm wiring the tree and pruning it
regularly - and it groves like it was in a tropic area.
The trunk of the tree is as aspected for a tree at this size - no probs.
- And this is the only tree which I can leave without water for some
days...
Me and a friend is joking about this tree ; "the only way to kill it is to
use an axe".
But I'm sorry to hear about your story Marcel. I don't know what's wrong
with your (or mine) tree.
Sincerely,
Per Arne Pedersen
Zone 7 (This year zone 3-4...)
Bergen - Norway
mailto:per-arne...@cgey.com
-------------------------------------------- snip
--------------------------
Phil,
I forgot to say this: probably my ficuses didn't get enough light while
growing indoors. I have an aquarium in the same room, so the air should be
humid enough....
As a houseplant, benjamina is/was extremely popular in the Netherlands, but
wherever you see them, they look limp and insipid...
cheers!
Marcel Lucas
the Netherlands - zone 8
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Marcel Lucas
If in the Netherlands we don't have sufficient light for ficus, then what about Scandinavia!:))
I didn't kill all that many ficuses (fici?) , the point is that they just don't grow any! I also did things like hollowing out trunks and stuff, and sure enough, it didn't kill the tree... but it doesn't grow well, either!
I take all the blame on myself and admit that I probably didn't give benjamina's (benjaminae?) good growing conditions. In the end I decided that I would stop growing benjamina's... and concentrate on species that DO grow vigorously whereI live. So, only outdoor bonsai for me!
Thanks!
Marcel Lucas
The Netherlands - zone 8 (says who?)
Iris Cohen
wherever you see them, they look limp and insipid... >>
They will do fine if they get enough light. They are very popular here in
shopping malls, where they get plenty of sun from the skylights & glass roofs.
They also have nice big pots or indoor beds, and are cared for by
professionals.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"It is forbidden to live in a town which has no greenery." Jerusalem Talmud,
Kiddushin 4:12.
Alan Walker
moisture all year, keep them well fed and bathed in light, I have found benjamina, as almost all other ficus species I have cultured, are just about unstoppable!" Indoors you will not
likely be able to provide this ideal climate, only a series of compromises.
Alan Walker, Lake Charles, LA, USA
> Phil, I forgot to say this: probably my ficuses didn't get enough light while growing indoors. I have an aquarium in the same room, so the air should be humid enough....
> As a houseplant, benjamina is/was extremely popular in the Netherlands, but wherever you see them, they look limp and insipid... cheers!
> Marcel Lucas the Netherlands - zone 8
>
Marcel Lucas
and because I can't provide the right environment, I don't grow 'em anymore...
I'll leave them to you people in more benign climes:)
groeten,
Marcel Lucas
The Netherlands, where the clouded sky touches the earth...
Nina Shishkoff
>growing indoors. I have an aquarium in the same room, so the air should be
>humid enough....
Mary said she had, on rare occasions, seen really good indoor figs,
including those of Jack Wickel (sp.?) in Michigan. I saw Jack's set-up, in
his basement, and it was impressive. She also mentioned that those
expensive [halogen?] lamps work well, if you are SERIOUS about indoor
plants. And someone in this group (Carl?) has an unbelievably good indoor
set-up (Carl or whoever, why not post that jpg to the IBC gallery?). All
that being said, however, most figs don't get enough light indoors
And as Marty mentioned, Mary says if you want a thick trunk, you should buy
a fig with a thick trunk and not kill yourself. She was speaking of figs
in FLORIDA, so that goes double in Northern regions.
><< As a houseplant, benjamina is/was extremely popular in the Netherlands, but
>wherever you see them, they look limp and insipid... >>
>
Mary said that there are now such improved cultivars of F. benjamina that
it isn't even worth trying the shopping mall variety.
owner of sad, sad pathetic figs,
Nina Shishkoff
ns...@Cornell.edu
Riverhead, NY
Dale Cochoy
> And as Marty mentioned, Mary says if you want a thick trunk, you should
buy
> a fig with a thick trunk and not kill yourself. She was speaking of figs
> in FLORIDA, so that goes double in Northern regions.
> owner of sad, sad pathetic figs,
>
> Nina Shishkoff
> ns...@Cornell.edu
> Riverhead, NY
Nina,
You can "cure" that problem by visiting the vendor area next July 4th in
Orlando for the BCI convention ( in conjunction with BSF) at Peabody
Hotel. GREAT STOCK!!!!!!!
Dale
Billy M. Rhodes
<< And as Marty mentioned, Mary says if you want a thick trunk, you should buy
a fig with a thick trunk and not kill yourself. >>
Now if you want Ficus to die for visit Jim Moody in Jupiter, he has some
that would be show quality the day they went into a bonsai container, they
are at present in plastic trays.
Billy
Bob Polk
> Mary said she had, on rare occasions, seen really good indoor figs,
> including those of Jack Wickel (sp.?) in Michigan.
I wonder if the Figs from Brussels might be a good answer. Are they far
enough South to get that good growing season?
Old Bob in Oregon
Carl L Rosner
continuing and answering Nina's suggestion:
Please check out:
http://www.internetbonsaiclub.org/UltraBoard/Public/HTML/B1/5480-1.topic.shtml
Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
http://www.jamesbaird.com/cgi-bin/JamesBairdArt?optype=artist_page&artistid=0000006848
http://www.artprintoncanvas.com/Templates/frmTemplateD.asp?SubFolderID=384&SearchYN=N
Nina Shishkoff wrote:
> Mary said she had, on rare occasions, seen really good indoor figs,
> including those of Jack Wickel (sp.?) in Michigan. I saw Jack's set-up, in
> his basement, and it was impressive. She also mentioned that those
> expensive [halogen?] lamps work well, if you are SERIOUS about indoor
> plants. And someone in this group (Carl?) has an unbelievably good indoor
> set-up (Carl or whoever, why not post that jpg to the IBC gallery?). All
> that being said, however, most figs don't get enough light indoors
>
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