KateM's Ficus Benjaminas.

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- Got it in September 2023 as a small cutting. Rooted in water. Potted up in a small pot.
- First pic ufter uppot in a large pot to grow out. Next to its variegated brethren. Before coming inside for winter. No special set up - on an etagere in front of the East facing window. No supplemental light.

- Air roots starting to grow. 07/13/24.
Air root encouragement. First surrounded with coco coir and wrapped with an "onion" net.
7/17/24 - air roots growing though the netting.
- Change of plans. 7/23/24.
Took the netting off and installed a cut plastic pot filled with coco coir arund the developing air roots.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.

- Last pic before coing in for winter. 10/12/24.
The ceramic pot is there just because I just bought it 50% off at the nursery going out of business. No plans to really use it for this ficus.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- Winter set up. 11/17/24.
- West facing window with 12 hrs of supplemental light. Humidifier at night and a diverter over the heat went. Airlayer on the three-pronged top was started on 10/21/24.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- Airlayer separated. 11/20/24.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- The top part cleanup. 11/23/24.
Carved and sealed the top part to ensure smooth healing/transition. Wired some...

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- Coming outside. 05/15/25.
It grew well over winter. Some cleanup of old leaves.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
- Repot, air root uncovering and grafting. 06/07/25.
Took the pot covering air roots off - looking good. Repotted in the oval mica pot. Roots looked nice. Only one downward root needed to be cut off.
Grafted three of its own cuttings through the branches to imitate more air roots banyan style.
Mix is perlite, coco coir and some safe-t-sorb. Covered air roots ans some graft roots that were too high with sphagnum, and the rest of the surface to keep perlit from washing off as the soil level is mounded a bit. foil is to keep moisture level up around the roots.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina Variegated.
- Two small cutting from September 2022, same time as the green one. Rooted in water. Potted in a small pot.
First pic ufter uppot in a large pot to grow out. Next to the green one. Before coming inside for winter. 10/14/23. No special set up - on an etagere in front of the East facing window. No supplemental light.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina Variegated.
- These ones are weaker as variegated things tend to be. 07/14/24.
It was cutback a lot in the summer of 24 and grew a lot, too.
Again it was overwintered at the East facing window with no suplemental light.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina Variegated.
- In for winter. 11/17/24.
Same East facing window with 12 hrs of supplemental light. Overnight humidifier and a heat vent diverter.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina Variegated.
- Repot. 06/15/25. Same port, some roots cut back Mix is perlite/coco coir/safe-t-sorb.

Volunteer Mexican petunia was evicted to the outside planter.

And I saved a forked cutting...

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
Grafts update.
Two out of three started to grow at the tips. Cuf off small side shoots I left just in case to stimulate growth at the tips.
The 3rd one lost all of its buds and the tip broke off when I was pushing it through the grafting hole. The side shoot left intact. I can try to approach graft it if the top dries out.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
Doing well after repot.
Pulled branches down, wired some, inspected fake arial roots grafts.

Interestingly, the graft that I broke off the tip and all buds above the branch is doing the best. Looks like it's fully fused and, ironically, made its own air root.

The other two are doing well, too. Just not that well.

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina variegated.
Doing well after repot, too.
Variegated one seems to be not as robust as the green variety.
Need to lower it in the boot tray they sit in. Right now it stays a bit above water level...

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Ficus benjamina green.
Doing well after repot.
Pulled branches down, wired some, inspected fake arial roots grafts.
View attachment 608332
Interestingly, the graft that I broke off the tip and all buds above the branch is doing the best. Looks like it's fully fused and, ironically, made its own air root.
View attachment 608333View attachment 608334View attachment 608335View attachment 608336
The other two are doing well, too. Just not that well.

Nice job getting the grafts to take. Looking good.

 

[MHBonsai]

Awesome work. You can really shape these into anything when you figure them out. Nice!

 

[KateM]

Ficus benjamina green.
Made an air root encouragement chamer for it.
I want more air roots!

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Ficus benjamina green.
Made an air root encouragement chamer for it.
I want more air roots!
View attachment 608628View attachment 608629

Looks good. Can you elaborate on what you did to create the chamber? Looks like you have them double wrapped.

 

[KateM]

Well, this is just a theory I am testing.
I noticed air roots just love to grow along the aluminum foil - that's why I put an aluminum foil wall around the perimeter of the air root grafts.
Two of them started their own air roots.
Also, it's the easiest way to do it.
To keep the humidity high inside, I used coco coir. It is very loose and not packed. I am thinking it'll keep some extra moisture inside.
I will report if it works.
I bought a coco coir hanging basket liner and am picking it apart.
I like to use it as mulch on my tropicals to keep perlite from washing out. It's very permeable when you water, but keeps perlite down.
It also has a bit of something sticky on it. I guess to hold it's shape, so, it stays together well.
The first ever block of coco coir I bought had a lot of hair in it. I would be left with a handful after rubbing it though a hardware cloth screen to break it down. As I hate throwing crap out, I tried to use it as mulch in the pots and liked it.
The consecutive blocks never had quite the same amount...

 

[KateM]

Oh, I see, there was another foil wrap around the tree's own air roots that I did not take off.
I see the double wrapping now. I just did not think to take it off...