smoke um if you got um i guess haha. i like these bush to bonsai projects. even if they smelled like cigs. good time to teach your self branch grafting on the bare tall trunks. thank for sharing mike!
I was tempted to do another one yesterday. I saw a big one on marketplace for $50. I think my GF will freak out if I bring any more ficus home though, lol.
Lookin good, Toy I like the idea of fusing branches onto the tall trunks lower down and letting them grow up. Snaking them up along the valleys between the big fellas. I vouch for your plumbers tape. Works great!!
If you are looking for this tape. It is called Teflon Tape. If you ask for Plumber Tape you will get metal strap with holes in it for hanging and securing pipes 😅
Growing nicely. I've picked up almost the same plant from the garbage and I'm in the middle of doing the same process with mine hahaha. Some of the thickest trunks had no leaves down below, so I chopped them, sealed them, and new buds popped in nice spots. Still thinking about grafting it with the small leaf benjamina variety in a couple of years or so, since I want it to be a really small tree with a chunky trunk.
I've actually been thinking about fusing some different varieties together like that! In particular, I want to try fusing tiger bark onto one of those Costco ginseng's.
Thanks! And yeah that's my guess. Although I've never tried to fuse at the top while letting them fan out at the bottom so I'm not quite sure how that's going to go.
Have tried Rafa? It’s like long pieces of straw that you wet and tie around the trunks. I have seen it used before. Could you graft a branch into the larger trunks? Just a thought. Thanks
Hey sir! I have a ficus benjamina tree that I bought recently and she is dying to get a repot. I would also like to turn the tree into a bonsai, so my question for you is. I'm safe to repot and give a major cutback on the roots and how much should I trim from the top? The tree is about 2m tall and I'm also affraid of diebacks.
Hard for me to say without seeing it. Depends on other factors too like how often you water, how much light it gets, etc. But try to think of it like this, if it's currently healthy then it has balance between leaves and roots. So maybe try to maintain that balance as you go. Don't over do it on one end or the other. It's a bit of a guessing game sometime. Also, after care is extremely important. Keep it in a shady spot for about a week or two afterwards, and slowly bring it back out to full sun.
smoke um if you got um i guess haha. i like these bush to bonsai projects. even if they smelled like cigs. good time to teach your self branch grafting on the bare tall trunks. thank for sharing mike!
I was tempted to do another one yesterday. I saw a big one on marketplace for $50. I think my GF will freak out if I bring any more ficus home though, lol.
Lookin good, Toy
I like the idea of fusing branches onto the tall trunks lower down and letting them grow up. Snaking them up along the valleys between the big fellas.
I vouch for your plumbers tape. Works great!!
Thanks! This is one of the better finds I've seen on marketplace. Still in raw shape, but a whole bunch of potential!
If you are looking for this tape. It is called Teflon Tape. If you ask for Plumber Tape you will get metal strap with holes in it for hanging and securing pipes 😅
@@jamesglenn520 haha!!
Good call!
And I think that would leave marks in the trunk.
Teflon tape, in-deed!
Growing nicely. I've picked up almost the same plant from the garbage and I'm in the middle of doing the same process with mine hahaha. Some of the thickest trunks had no leaves down below, so I chopped them, sealed them, and new buds popped in nice spots. Still thinking about grafting it with the small leaf benjamina variety in a couple of years or so, since I want it to be a really small tree with a chunky trunk.
I've actually been thinking about fusing some different varieties together like that! In particular, I want to try fusing tiger bark onto one of those Costco ginseng's.
@@BonsaiBoise In theory it should work, most ficus species graft/fuse well with eachother
I have no personal experience but some kind of grafting is probably the way to counter "no backbudding" feature of Benjamina. Good luck!
Thanks! And yeah it's starting to look that way. It just refuses to cooperate
Hope you get that back budding!!!
Thanks Dave! I might try what Nigel did awhile back and just fuse/graft a chunk in there. But we'll give it a little more time first.
One way I saw herons bonsai do was scoring the bark where you want buds. I’ve never tried but I heard it works for ficus
Also heard defoliating can help, but leaving the growing tips. I know they are sensitive to it but a partial defoliation
I do something like this. I just cut the leaves in half and it seems to do the trick sometimes.
I'll have to look for this one and see how he scores the bark. Interesting idea!
How about trying to graft using some is the lower long branches you have. Drill graft may work
Yeah, I'm kicking that idea around. I'm going to try a natural graft/fusion buy wrapping a few small branches around some of the big ones.
I like the direction you're going with this tree. How long do you think it'll be before that fusion takes hold, maybe 2 or 3 years?
Thanks! And yeah that's my guess. Although I've never tried to fuse at the top while letting them fan out at the bottom so I'm not quite sure how that's going to go.
Have tried Rafa? It’s like long pieces of straw that you wet and tie around the trunks. I have seen it used before. Could you graft a branch into the larger trunks? Just a thought. Thanks
Hey sir! I have a ficus benjamina tree that I bought recently and she is dying to get a repot. I would also like to turn the tree into a bonsai, so my question for you is. I'm safe to repot and give a major cutback on the roots and how much should I trim from the top? The tree is about 2m tall and I'm also affraid of diebacks.
Hard for me to say without seeing it. Depends on other factors too like how often you water, how much light it gets, etc. But try to think of it like this, if it's currently healthy then it has balance between leaves and roots. So maybe try to maintain that balance as you go. Don't over do it on one end or the other. It's a bit of a guessing game sometime. Also, after care is extremely important. Keep it in a shady spot for about a week or two afterwards, and slowly bring it back out to full sun.
How long does it usually take for the trunks to fuse?
I've seen various results but you typically see results after a year, and mostly fused after 2 or 3 if done right, (which mine rarely are lol)
@@BonsaiBoise Thanks.