Cool idea for a pot. Nice Ficus. Cool root base. Nice work on the roots. The tree stump pot is a cool gift and makes a nice home for this tree with plenty of room for root development. Nice pruning on this fused trunk Ficus. Great little tutorial.
Got started with bonsai a few years ago when I was given a benjamina (from the grocery store) that was suffering from tiny pot and top of soil being covered with epoxied pebbles. Nursed it back to health and the owner didn't want it back, so I was stuck. Firsr time I pruned it (badly lol), just as an experiment I tried rooting - and every single tiny twig succeeded. Immediately started trying to fuse (original tree loked fused) and have settled on this technique: Take a small pot and invert on some green florist foam, press down - should cut right through it. Stand pot up and put soil in leaving space at top, place foam disc in, push cuttings through, straight down - use a thick one first and gently press each subsequent one up against base of it as you push. A thin layer of soil over the foam, mainly for a little weight to keep anything from moving, water. I weave/braid and bind with raffia (doesn't scar as badly as anything else I've tried) and continue doing so as it grows, removing low branches as it grows, until I've got some trunk height - by which time it is fused and ready to be root-pruned and put in a training pot. So easy that I have done some "experiments" such as putting cuttings through center drainage hole of an inverted hanging planter (with the foam in the bottom of course) then hanging, put in soil, got a kind of "universal cascade" effect, or weeping look. Currently have 4 going (and the original) in different styles (had another but it froze) and will have at least 2-3 more when I prune soon - because I have 5 to prune now so many cuttings to choose from!
Cool idea for a pot. Nice Ficus. Cool root base. Nice work on the roots. The tree stump pot is a cool gift and makes a nice home for this tree with plenty of room for root development. Nice pruning on this fused trunk Ficus. Great little tutorial.
Got started with bonsai a few years ago when I was given a benjamina (from the grocery store) that was suffering from tiny pot and top of soil being covered with epoxied pebbles. Nursed it back to health and the owner didn't want it back, so I was stuck.
Firsr time I pruned it (badly lol), just as an experiment I tried rooting - and every single tiny twig succeeded. Immediately started trying to fuse (original tree loked fused) and have settled on this technique:
Take a small pot and invert on some green florist foam, press down - should cut right through it.
Stand pot up and put soil in leaving space at top, place foam disc in, push cuttings through, straight down - use a thick one first and gently press each subsequent one up against base of it as you push.
A thin layer of soil over the foam, mainly for a little weight to keep anything from moving, water.
I weave/braid and bind with raffia (doesn't scar as badly as anything else I've tried) and continue doing so as it grows, removing low branches as it grows, until I've got some trunk height - by which time it is fused and ready to be root-pruned and put in a training pot.
So easy that I have done some "experiments" such as putting cuttings through center drainage hole of an inverted hanging planter (with the foam in the bottom of course) then hanging, put in soil, got a kind of "universal cascade" effect, or weeping look.
Currently have 4 going (and the original) in different styles (had another but it froze) and will have at least 2-3 more when I prune soon - because I have 5 to prune now so many cuttings to choose from!
A very dramatic change!
Where can I get one of those heavy duty root hooks?
They are free to make if you have a 3d printer.