Saturday, May 1, 2010

Repairing my neglected bonsai ficus

I received a Ficus bonsai a couple of years ago as a gift from my sister.  But I didn't know much about Bonsai and just let it do it's own thing.  The tree grew pretty well, but also went through some periods of dropping leaves.

bonsai_ficus_before_apr2010
My bonsai Ficus before the haircut
Recently I decided to put my recent Bonsai education to work and see what happens.  So I hacked my tall and lanky stems back, hoping to thicken my tree with 2 or 3 new shoots from each one of these cuts.  I probably should have cut it back even further, but I'm starting slow.  I didn't want to accidentally kill the tree!



bonsai_ficus_after_apr2010
My bonsai Ficus after the haircut
I'll try to remember to give an update in a couple of months, when the new growth is popping out.

4 comments:

  1. Amazing! Is that grey "lump" at the bottom the rootstock of the plant? What is the age of the plant now? Is there a "rule" for how large a pot a bonsai plant needs? Beautiful photo, Zach!

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  2. Oh, I remember this. In fact, if I remember the story behind the gift is that it was called a "money tree" which she thought was an appropriate gift for college graduation. :-)

    I'm anxious to see how it does now.

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  3. Hey, It’s a rare find for a nice web site like this. I enjoyed it. Kudos to you. Have a very nice day! :)

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  4. I was give a Bonsai Plant it is growing beautifully but it looks like something is cutting away at the branch. My plant looks like it is braided the leaves look like the ficus so I guess this is the kind it is but not sure. I am really concerned about the areas that appears to be eaten or scratched off. Do animals eat on this plants my deck is high off the ground and it has to be something doing this at night. What could be happening?

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