Ficus 18 months after trunk chop

Steve C

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This is one of my ficus I chopped down about 18 months ago. You can see where I chopped it down to only about a 5" tall stump and then wired a new leader. It's really come back great the past year or so with a nice thick new apex and more branches. About 3 weeks ago I pruned it again and it now is pushing some nice new buds on the trunk in spots where it will fill in good so I will be able to remove the lowest left branch to get rid of the T bar branch look now.

One think I notice today looking at it. Some of the upper branches are thicker then some of the lower ones. I wired them a few weeks ago to start forming the canopy, but now I'm wondering if I should get rid of the thicker upper branches?

This is the front view...
bcbyYG.jpg


What I am thinking is maybe getting rid of the two x'ed out, then bending the one up and back to form a new leader in this pic... Then at the same time try to add some more movement into the whole apex?

OpNz3g.jpg


Here's a few more from various angles

fWktTg.jpg


T617aG.jpg


rXxwtK.jpg


Open to thoughts & ideas for this one.
 

just.wing.it

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How tall of a final image do you want?
If it were mine, I'd be going small, and cutting back harder.
Nice growth though!
 

Steve C

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I'm not 100% sure what I want overall height, but original trunk height is about 5"...so I'm thinking no more than 12-13" when done. Right now it's about 13-15" range from soil. Think I'm on the right track of what I said though, or are you thinking cutting back even harder than just the upper branches? I'm open for thoughts man, this one is just a fun/project so I have no ties to anything on it as of now.
 

sorce

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You made that chop...
Let that top heal it!

I'd cut off some of the little crap above those first two branches on the new section now.

20170820_211407.jpg
After a year or two I'd cut at that light blue for a nice back side chop again.

Hope for some more buds somewhere tween there...

And just let that low left branch catch up.

That new section is way too thin too chop it yet IMO.

Let that excellent growth work for you!

Hell...you could chop it back to the first two branches and call it a day 2!
Seems it's growing that well!
Honestly I think you could grow that out to something more interesting faster.

Sorce
 

StoneCloud

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Growing quick! nice tree.

I agree with Sorce, beat me to the key punch LOL

I would chop it now though. Right at the line he illustrated. Tree will have nice movement and will be at a good height for the trunk.

Just my thoughts!
 

Steve C

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Source- are you saying to chop it now at the blue line, or a year or two from now? And when I do chop it...are you thinking that small left branch as the new apex?

I'm kind'a like stoneCloud...I want to hack it NOW lol.
 

StoneCloud

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I would say the branch to the right of the light blue chop line is the new apex
 

Steve C

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Is this what you are saying StoneCloud?
.
.
.
vNj2eJ.jpg


I wasn't seeing that at all. I guess I could, would make the apex/upper branches thickness more in line with the trunk maybe. But then would I keep that T bar left lower?
 

StoneCloud

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Is this what you are saying StoneCloud?
.
.
.
vNj2eJ.jpg


I wasn't seeing that at all. I guess I could, would make the apex/upper branches thickness more in line with the trunk maybe. But then would I keep that T bar left lower?

Yessir. I think that would be best....wonder what Sorce is saying?
 

Steve C

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I honestly think that was lower than I thought....but I can see it though. IF I did that, what do you think about that left T bar branch? There are some buds coming in so I may be able to axe that branch, might take some time though for the buds to catch up with that right low one.
 

sorce

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Yeah, a year or 2 down...20170821_041800.jpg

Keeping both em them...

Oh...I don't think you need ONE new leader.
That's for them myogi style pine trees and such.

Especially on tropicals.....no reason not to fatten up a few "trunks".

Are you talking tbars at the bottom?
I drew that yellow line through there ....they seem far enough apart to be ok. ?

If you really itching to chop it....
Chop it back at that red!

I do think red and NOW is your best option!

I don't really like the last chop...it left it to wonkily three-y!

It's wonky! That big middle Wang!

The only problem then....waiting about 3 years to do anything after that!

P.A.P.P.Y

Patience after Proper Pruning Yo!

Sorce
 

Steve C

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Okay, now I need to look/think man...I'm lookin' to chop, but MAN THATs a big chop lol. So if I chop where you are saying Sorce (not convinced thought yet) but if I do, would you axe the left branch and use the right as a apex and just bend the hell out of it?
I dunno though man, that might be lower then I was thinking. Talk to me more man lol. What would that low of a chop do for me?
 

sorce

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Right now...
There's too much space between the low branches and the high....
Hoping for buds there can be x years, plus x years to grow them out, while also keeping the current branches small to allow those new ones to catch up...that removes energy, making the whole process take longer!

would you axe the left branch

NO! :p:mad: not up there...or down here either!

It's just uncharacteristic of tropical...one central leader...

But you could go Japanese then...20170821_044828.jpg

But that's not very convincing IMO...
Thinking of Hoe's award winner. downloadfile-2.jpg
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/b...l-my-learning-experience-in-a-big-show.24763/

His low branches are way closer than yours too!

I like more upward motion...20170821_044923.jpg

But this low chop ends any "backwards" work...like..
Keeping existing things small.

With this chop, you are free to grow it out.
Of course some resulting growth may need to be managed.

But it is easier and more efficient to manage growth that hasn't happened yet.
You can rub buds out before they grow.
That is the ultimate control to me.
Energy never gets wasted.
Eh...a little bud producing energy...but the tree never knows what it is to be reliant on its leaves...
That's the big plus!
Knock a bud, and there is little or no reaction except for no new branch there. Control. (Boxwood hint hint)

Basically, this is taking you to a fresh drawing board.
No time wasted erasing. (High branches that are too large)
Only "drawing" what is necessary.
Knocking buds is saying....
That doesn't belong in my drawing.

I could talk about it all day!

Sorce
 

Jeremy

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If you allow the lowest left branch to thicken, the distance between it and the right branch will close in and it WILL become a bar branch. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. For me, bar branches can be overlooked providing the base is thick/gnarly/interesting, on your tree it will look strange as there isn't enough spread in the root zone to make it look stable, nor is the trunk thick enough. I would definitely consider the chop that @sorce is indicating. I would also be tilting and rotating the tree to find the most interesting front before chopping, it seems to be leaning backwards in the photos.
 

Steve C

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It does lean. This tree has a really odd base that is flat and angled on the back so it's hard to get it fully upright because of the weird shape ob the back of the base. It was bought as one of them S-curve jobs from a flower shop for $25 4-5 yrs ago so I think they grew it at a weird angle that messed the base up. I'll try snap a pic of the weird angle of it and post so you can see what I'm talking about.
 

Steve C

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z4o4Q2.jpg


lnS7y2.jpg


Here's a couple pics to show what I was talking about with the trunk/base. See how crazy flat it is from these angles. Just weird.
 

Steve C

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CtBZQo.jpg


Took your advice Source. I thinned out a lot of the crap above those two branches just leaving a couple leaves on each so they don't die off. Left the main wonky trunk so that it has a chance to maybe fatten up some more over the next year or two before I chop it down to where you said. I'm gonna bet it starts back budding like crazy before time for it to come inside this fall. For some reason this one seems to grow more than any of my other ficus.
 

Steve C

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This winter has been REALLY cold and I've been REALLY jonesin to do at least SOMETHIN' bonsai related so I played around with this ficus a bid this evening. Been about 5 months since I cut some down on him and he's been inside now for the long Michigan winter since about October but he's still be growing well even downstairs just under a plain ol' florescent fixture. He's till got a long way to go but he's at least making some progress. And it felt to to at least work on a tree again for a bit even if it was just to fend off the shack nasties for a bit.

NFT7bX.jpg
 
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