Plan of action...my big benjamina

aml1014 · Jun 17, 2016

Hey eveyone, when I was 8 years old my mother gave me a little ficus group as you would see in any big box store. When I got it, it was about a foot tall with pencil thin trunks. About 8 years ago I wrapped the 5 trunks together with velcro tape and left them for several years to fuse ( I had no idea about bonsai then). This tree has been severely neglected for years, including being my mother's, cats, litter box for about 5 years, and sitting in a dark room most of its life.

Over the last 13 years it has sat in the same pot with the same soil, until last year when I got some fresh soil under it.

Now that the tree is 7ft tall from ground level and the 5 fused trunks are about 4" across, I need to start chasing the foliage back to the first 24".

What I'm planing is to chop the tops down to the lowest branch, and cut that branches back to the first leaves. This should induce back bidding along the trunks.

Since they are not completely fused I'm also planning on wrapping the lower 12" of the trunk with a tall thin pot with bonsai soil to induce some roots to go down the trunks and fuse them completely.

Here's the tree(s)

The mostly fused trunks

And the root buttress.

It'll never be a masterpiece, but it's been with me through a lot and has sentimental value to me.

Can't wait to start hacking, and making some new cuttings.

Aaron

eferguson1974 · Jun 18, 2016

My benjis dont want to backbud from the trunk much. They want to grow them from the branches. Maybe you can cut it back enough to bud back, Id like to know how it goes. My other ficus have no problems, chasing back causes buds to pop out in two weeks or less. Idk the species of most of them. I collect them from the roadside here, stuck to posts or other trees. My point is that they play nice, my benjis (bought, not collected) are a pain even here in the tropics (Costa Rica). I have been able to air layer them. So it is a mystery to me! The veriagated ones are worse, but I like them. So how hours does is interesting to me. One thing Ive noticed from experiance and reading is that you need to leave some green on every branch or trunk. Or they die. Just 2 leaves will work for branches, idk if trunks need more, I never chopped one under the first branch. And If I chop them, I leave a bit on the lowest branch, since the trunk is thicker and taller than branches are long. I figure trunks need a bit more green. I have some native stranglers bound up, but theve just been bound a few months. But its a cool idea, Im thinking of wrapping up 20 or more skinny ones to make a nice tree much sooner. Maybe I will try some benjis too. Theyre sold here braided, so Ive seen them (benjis) fused. Anyway, cool project, I hope it works for you! Let us know...

aml1014 · Jun 18, 2016

eferguson1974 said:
My benjis dont want to backbud from the trunk much. They want to grow them from the branches. Maybe you can cut it back enough to bud back, Id like to know how it goes. My other ficus have no problems, chasing back causes buds to pop out in two weeks or less. Idk the species of most of them. I collect them from the roadside here, stuck to posts or other trees. My point is that they play nice, my benjis (bought, not collected) are a pain even here in the tropics (Costa Rica). I have been able to air layer them. So it is a mystery to me! The veriagated ones are worse, but I like them. So how hours does is interesting to me. One thing Ive noticed from experiance and reading is that you need to leave some green on every branch or trunk. Or they die. Just 2 leaves will work for branches, idk if trunks need more, I never chopped one under the first branch. And If I chop them, I leave a bit on the lowest branch, since the trunk is thicker and taller than branches are long. I figure trunks need a bit more green. I have some native stranglers bound up, but theve just been bound a few months. But its a cool idea, Im thinking of wrapping up 20 or more skinny ones to make a nice tree much sooner. Maybe I will try some benjis too. Theyre sold here braided, so Ive seen them (benjis) fused. Anyway, cool project, I hope it works for you! Let us know...

I'm planning to chop back to the first branch on each trunk, then cut that branch back to the first leaf. I have some pretty good success in general with Benjamina, and have successfully chopped a tree to nothing and it's now a mame.
I'm just waiting to get soil so I can turn this tree into a crap ton of cuttings!lol

Aaron

Geo · Jun 18, 2016

You chopped a bengie below the leaf and got away with it?

aml1014 · Jun 18, 2016

Geo said:
You chopped a bengie below the leaf and got away with it?

Yep, it's dark right now but here's an older pic.

Aaron

Geo · Jun 19, 2016

Sweet!

sorce · Jun 20, 2016

That's a miracle!

I would get all those branches rooted...
And squeeze them up the outside too...

That way....once it self grafts....you don't even have to worry about it budding.

But...you'll Probly work another miracle anyway!

Sorce

aml1014 · Jul 13, 2016

Today was the day. Chopped to the last branch on the lowest branch of each trunk. I am airlayering one trunk and it's rooting well. The top of this tree is now about 30 cuttings.
Before

And after

After having this tree for most my life this makes me kinda sad. But it must be done for its future! Now I wait and see where it wants to grow. Once it gets a new canopy going and I separate the layer this fall, I'll repot into a training pot.

Aaron

leatherback · Jul 13, 2016

Just a tip.. Keep this WAY wetter. You should get explosive growth. Our benjamina is 3 inches from 1/2 inch in less then 10 years, in a very dark cold country..

sorce · Jul 13, 2016

sorce said:
That's a miracle

Lets h i or for m pre!

Translation....

Let's hope for more!

Sorce

aml1014 · Jul 13, 2016

leatherback said:
Just a tip.. Keep this WAY wetter. You should get explosive growth. Our benjamina is 3 inches from 1/2 inch in less then 10 years, in a very dark cold country..

It was badly neglected at my mother's house which just shows how tough they are. Since being at my house for a few weeks, it absolutely did explode just like my others.

Aaron

aml1014 · Aug 1, 2016

Lots of back budding going on

I also rebound the top portion to fuse a bit more, there's a Budd directly under the green tape in the pic.

The airlayer is also rooting like crazy, for some reason when I started it, the top dropped every leaf then started to grow again lol

After the chop, this tree became extremely vigorous.

Also to give some idea of trunk size, here's the good Ole beer bottle shot.

Once all of the new buds are established and growing strong I'll repot this guy into a smaller training pot(mainly because of greenhouse space, and we all know that time of year is creeping up quickly)

Aaron

aml1014 · Aug 10, 2016

Airlayer was separated today, pot packed with roots!

And now I'm left with a flat top!lol

It's now less then half it's original height, many of those branches are 12" or longer and that's just in the last month, it's very vigorous right now. I think it'll need a repot next week and once Temps cool and it moves into the greenhouse I'll prune back even more.Turns out this tree does have a future as a bonsai.
I'm planning on almost making it a weeping style and have a low spreading canopy.

Aaron

sorce · Aug 10, 2016

If you let a tree grow....

Just one day....

The next day you'll have a bonsai.

The BSD's are being equipped with a magnet to steal your Fucking pruners!

Sorce

aml1014 · Aug 10, 2016

sorce said:
If you let a tree grow....

Just one day....

The next day you'll have a bonsai.

The BSD's are being equipped with a magnet to steal your Fucking pruners!

Sorce

Come on man, I gotta get ready for winter if this thing isn't small enough by then, it'll have to go in the house which I really hate lol

Aaron

sorce · Aug 10, 2016

Rentabeaver.com

Wait....don't click that!

Seriously though.
I would love to see you use your green ass, thumb, (not green ass or ass thumb) to make some dope ass shit...

Before you "hedgecut" yourself into a 100 year plan!

Sorce

aml1014 · Aug 10, 2016

sorce said:
Rentabeaver.com

Wait....don't click that!

Seriously though.
I would love to see you use your green ass, thumb, (not green ass or ass thumb) to make some dope ass shit...

Before you "hedgecut" yourself into a 100 year plan!

Sorce

Don't worry, I've got a plan, I just really suck at virts! The basic frame should be set in the next few months, but I will be letting it grow quite a bit to help fuse the trunks a bit more.

Aaron

aml1014 · Aug 17, 2016

Well this happened today!

Some what squished into its new home.lol

The nebari

And a bit of pruning on the super vigorous shoots up top, to help with moisture loss and give a bit more energy and light to those buds down low I'd like to keep.

This tree officially has an 11 inch root spread, 4 inch fused base, and a 3 inch fused trunk.
I'd like this tree to be in the 20 inch tall range when said and done. It's currently 33 inches tall. I'll need to prune back further then that obviously then start styling from there to get to my ultimate size I'd like.

Aaron

Shima · Aug 17, 2016

Don't let it get away from you!

aml1014 · Aug 17, 2016

Shima said:
Don't let it get away from you!View attachment 114368 View attachment 114369

That's the canopy that I'd like to build on this tree, just not such a stout short trunk lol gorgeous trees!

Aaron

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