HUGE Ficus microcarpa

Redwood Ryan · Oct 21, 2012

Oh joy, I've found spider mites on this tree and my other large Ficus. I've found sprays don't always work on these bigger trees due to their large size, so I'm really thinking about buying some predatory mites to give them a try:

http://www.buglogical.com/spider-mite-predator/

Redwood Ryan · Dec 4, 2012

Something odd has been going on with this tree lately. Dropping more and more leaves each day. When I repotted the other day the rootball had some yellow looking fungus in it, but I'm not sure as to whether or not that was the cause of the leaf drop. I made sure not to over water too, so it's not root rot (I didn't see any black roots when repotting). Something is definitely wrong...

Redwood Ryan · Jan 1, 2013

Did an emergency repot with this one today. I haven't seen new growth in months. I pulled it out of its new "pot" and put it back in its old one:

I then placed it into my efficient greenhouse that's got 100% humidity and trees that are bursting with new growth. Maybe some peer pressure will help it...?

october · Jan 2, 2013

That trunk is amazing. I am not into tropicals.However, I will be following this thread. Your virt is amazing Ryan. I hope the tree starts doing better. Could just be the tree doing what it wants..dormancy etc..

Although I gave up tropicals years ago. One of the nicest trees I have ever seen was a ficus, from, I believe Taiwan. I have had this pic in my files for years. Here it is.. Just one of the most magnificent bonsai that you will see.

Rob

Redwood Ryan · Jan 2, 2013

october said:
That trunk is amazing. I am not into tropicals.However, I will be following this thread. Your virt is amazing Ryan. I hope the tree starts doing better. Could just be the tree doing what it wants..dormancy etc..

Although I gave up tropicals years ago. One of the nicest trees I have ever seen was a ficus, from, I believe Taiwan. I have had this pic in my files for years. Here it is.. Just one of the most magnificent bonsai that you will see.

Rob

Thank you Rob. I really like the trunk too. I just really want to start seeing some promising signs on it. Given its location now, it should really perk back up in no time.

That is such a beautiful tree, thanks for sharing. Although I'll probably never have trees like that where I live, they can certainly serve as inspiration. Maybe one day...

Redwood Ryan · Jan 11, 2013

I had to cut back some branches in order to get the tree to fit into the enclosure (when the tree was first moved in here a few weeks ago). Those branches are backbudding now, a sign that the trees making a recovery and growing again

Redwood Ryan · Jan 13, 2013

After all I've been through with this tree, this is such a relieving sign.

Redwood Ryan · Jan 14, 2013

Anyone think I should cover that "belly button" area in the center of the trunk with cut paste? I fear that it could start to rot out because water just pools there.

Redwood Ryan · Jan 22, 2013

Backbud is a great sign that this tree is back to growing like a weed. I'll give it a little while longer before cutting it back, as I'm pretty excited to do that.

october · Jan 22, 2013

Thats good news Ryan. As far as the cut paste, it would be your call. If the water is not pooling that bad, I don't think there would be a problem.

Do you have a fan in the tropicals area? Usually tropicals benefit from some air circulation. Not blowing right on them, but just a fan in the room.

Rob

Redwood Ryan · Jan 22, 2013

october said:
Thats good news Ryan. As far as the cut past. It would be your call. If the water is not pooling that bad, I don't think there would be a problem.

Do you have a fan in the tropicals area? Usually tropicals benefit from some air circulation. Not blowing right on them, but just a fan in the room.

Rob

Thanks Rob. I'll think about what to do with that spot.

I don't currently have a fan, as I'm trying to figure out a way to keep the humidity inside the setup high, and I thought that having to open it to let a fan blow on them would drop the humidity levels considerably. Still thinking about what to do....

october · Jan 22, 2013

When I had tropicals. I had a fan that sat on top of a wooden post I made. The fan was about 7 feet in the air. It provided a little air circulation in the room, but was not blowing on the trees.

I look forward to seeing this ficus' progression. It has amazing potential.

Rob

Redwood Ryan · Jan 23, 2013

october said:
When I had tropicals. I had a fan that sat on top of a wooden post I made. The fan was about 7 feet in the air. It provided a little air circulation in the room, but was not blowing on the trees.

I look forward to seeing this ficus' progression. It has amazing potential.

Rob

Thanks again Rob. I've been searching the web to see whether or not it made a difference if the fan was blowing on the trees or not. Seems the general consensus is that it doesn't really matter, but a fan blowing the branches can help strengthen them.

I did find a small clip on fan that I'm going to use. If I point it at the ground, I'm not sure if it will still work as well (it's more powerful than I thought it would be).

Redwood Ryan · Jan 25, 2013

I patched up that big hole and just decided to crack the roof and let the fan blow air into the setup that way for a few hours a day. We'll see how the trees respond.

As for this tree, I'm taking it up to Meehans Miniatures tomorrow to have Martha Meehan take a look at the belly button and maybe dremel it out and fix the pooling water situation. We'll see what happens.

Redwood Ryan · Jan 26, 2013

Brought it to Meehans today, and Martha cleaned up the spot for me. She dremled down to the live wood, covered it in paste, and created a little channel so water doesn't pool in there. I also gave it a slight trim to get some backbud started.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 26, 2013

Now that this is finally backbudding and growing again, I'd like to start taking it back, height-wise at least. The top leaves are still getting burnt by the T5 lights, and they're of no use in that form. What I'm wondering is, those of you with experience with Ficus stock this size, is there any reluctance when it comes to backbudding? I don't really have experience chopping something this size back, but I have heard that Ficus don't tend to backbud as well as they age. Comments?

thams · Apr 27, 2013

Redwood Ryan said:
Now that this is finally backbudding and growing again, I'd like to start taking it back, height-wise at least. The top leaves are still getting burnt by the T5 lights, and they're of no use in that form. What I'm wondering is, those of you with experience with Ficus stock this size, is there any reluctance when it comes to backbudding? I don't really have experience chopping something this size back, but I have heard that Ficus don't tend to backbud as well as they age. Comments?

Ryan,

The really old Ficus that I hacked back popped shoots everywhere! It's not a matter of the trees age, but rather the amount of energy reserves the tree has to throw new shoots. As long as it's been kept in good light (which it seems like your tree has), and it's been given some good time to recover then it should be just fine.

KennedyMarx · Apr 27, 2013

Are you not going to put this one outside for the summer? Maybe cut the top back a few nodes and leave it be until then.

Redwood Ryan · Apr 27, 2013

thams said:
Ryan,

The really old Ficus that I hacked back popped shoots everywhere! It's not a matter of the trees age, but rather the amount of energy reserves the tree has to throw new shoots. As long as it's been kept in good light (which it seems like your tree has), and it's been given some good time to recover then it should be just fine.

Thanks Tom, that's kinda what I was hoping for. I had just been told that they do tend to be reluctant to backbud as they age, so hopefully that won't happen with this one.

KennedyMarx said:
Are you not going to put this one outside for the summer? Maybe cut the top back a few nodes and leave it be until then.

I'm weird when it comes to chopping trees back. If I didn't plan on chopping it back it'd go outside, but I'd much rather prefer to chop it back and leave it in an environment that I can control. That way I know how high the humidity is and how hot it is where the tree is.

Here's some update pictures, it's full of leaves...

Redwood Ryan · Apr 28, 2013

Took the top of this one back today. I chopped back to the lowest branch on the long, straight trunk:

HUGE Ficus microcarpa

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