Upright or cascade?

Redwood Ryan

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Hey everyone,


I made a "rock pot" from two pieces of leftover coral my brother used at one point. I am trying to figure out which ficus would fit best in it. I thought about Burt-Davyi, microcarpa, and benjamina (benjamina being the least likely). I've also thought about whether I want the tree to cascade in the pot, or if I want an upright. The reason I used coral was because it contains nutrients the tree should be able to draw from the rock. So, thoughts? Should I even consider using this?

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what if you turned it upside down, and planted a ficus and let the bayan roots cascade over???
 

Colorado Slim

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good grief Ryan I run into you everywhere...

Stacy, he posted your pic on another site as a suggestion, I didn't expect to bump into the original but I have to ask what program you used to create the image?
 
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colorado slim, the program I use is photoshop.... I have been using it for years... I just took the image and painted over the top of it, took about a minute or two. You can do some very amazing stuff if you spend a little more time... but as a demonstration, I think it helps get the point across.
 

Redwood Ryan

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good grief Ryan I run into you everywhere...



I get around the forums :rolleyes:


What is everyones opinions on using a Buttonwood for a project like this? Could they form a dense canopy?

Or even a Scheff.?
 
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Colorado Slim

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colorado slim, the program I use is photoshop.... I have been using it for years... I just took the image and painted over the top of it, took about a minute or two. You can do some very amazing stuff if you spend a little more time... but as a demonstration, I think it helps get the point across.

thanks, that's what I figured, unfortunately I didn't pay the money to have it preloaded when I got a new comp a few years ago and I certainly don't want to fork out the 300 or 400 bucks or whatever it is to get now... but perhaps when I upgrade the comp... for the time being I'll keep making my stick figures with MS Paint LOLOL
 

Redwood Ryan

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I like this view a lot:

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P.S. Slim (or should I say Glen?) I agree with you about MS Pain ;)
 
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perhaps use your small ficus, you were wondering what to do with, and do something like the second pic ???
Also, I like the new angle you have chosen for the rock...
 

Mike423

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Just looking at this thread and the last picture inspired me to look at some of my own save images and thought I'd share some with you. These are all rock planted Ficus Virens from I think Taiwan if I rember right. The last ones my favorite :p
 

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Redwood Ryan

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perhaps use your small ficus, you were wondering what to do with, and do something like the second pic ???
Also, I like the new angle you have chosen for the rock...

Thanks Stacy. I would use that Ficus, but it holds a sentimental value to me, and seeing how the coral could hurt the tree, I would rather try it with another plant, like a Scheff.

Just looking at this thread and the last picture inspired me to look at some of my own save images and thought I'd share some with you. These are all rock planted Ficus Virens from I think Taiwan if I rember right. The last ones my favorite :p

Wow, great pictures, thanks for sharing! The last one is nice!


Now, I need to start thinking about whether I want just one plant on top, or multiple. And whether I want the trunks to have movement, or be kinda straight. Thoughts?


Then again, I do loooooove the bark on Ficus microcarpa :D
 
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Redwood Ryan

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not at all sure how coral would affect your ficus ??? but ok

A friend of mine on another forum told me this:

"My main concern with using coral skeleton/limestone is that it will have a tendency to keep soil pH highly alkaline. The Calcium carbonate species in coral skeleton is aragonite and will dissolve at a pH of 7.8, thus "buffering" water or soil to 7.8, potentially. Worse, though, as it dissolves (slowly, over time), it will release calcium into the soil."

So, that could be the problem.
 
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Still not sure where the problem lies??? Ficus like to grow in soils with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5, so they like more acidic soil than you are saying you would get with your coral dissolving over time... seems to me adding more acid to the soil is not as much a prob. as trying to take the acid out. Could this not be achieved durring fertilizing. Interestingly enough, the soil where these grow in the wild, consist almost entirely of limestone and shell, which is composed of calcium. The photo I posted on this thread with the ficus rock planting, is a limestone rock???
 

Redwood Ryan

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Still not sure where the problem lies??? Ficus like to grow in soils with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5, so they like more acidic soil than you are saying you would get with your coral dissolving over time... seems to me adding more acid to the soil is not as much a prob. as trying to take the acid out. Could this not be achieved durring fertilizing. Interestingly enough, the soil where these grow in the wild, consist almost entirely of limestone and shell, which is composed of calcium. The photo I posted on this thread with the ficus rock planting, is a limestone rock???


Oh very interesting Stacy, thank you! Guess I never really thought about how the soil is where they normally grow. I would much prefer a Ficus m. since I really like the bark on them. So, if I can find one with a rather thick trunk and a nice canopy I'll be all over it. Finding one like that could be tricky though.
 

rockm

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"I made a "rock pot" from two pieces of leftover coral my brother used at one point."

How was the rock "used?" If it was used in a saltwater aquarium and it hasn't been rinsed out over time (like submering it in freshwater for a week, changing the water every day), it still probably has considerable salt build up in it. That's very bad news for your ficus...
 

Mike423

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Personally, I would not want to use a rock for any type of planting that will slowly break down (even if it takes forever to happen). But to each his own.

Ficus Virens is native to India and Malaysia, Its most know for growing profuse amounts of aerial roots hence its nickname of being the 'curtain fig'. I have a bunch of seeds I want to try out but haven't gotten to it yet. Trying to grow ficus in my location would be worse than watching paint dry.
 
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Colorado Slim

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I like this view a lot:

P.S. Slim (or should I say Glen?) I agree with you about MS Pain ;)

name's Miles actually... Slim Genre (which has been my nickname for a while thanks to a bored and clever accountant at my firm) was an anagram of my real name... actually Slime would be better, but I decided to drop the extra "e" Everyone at work has been calling me Slim for about 7 years now.

lol
 
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