2022 5 year discount rack contest: Clearance Ficus Rescue!

[BonScience]

Hi all!

Love this contest idea! Just got into Bonsai about a year ago and am already addicted to checking the discount sections for neglected trees.
I found a ginseng ficus in a terrible state on discount for $6 and am amazed at how well it's grown but i didn't have pics of the receipts.
Today i found one of Lowe's bonsai on the clearance rack, looks like it spilled and all the roots are messed up, they're not well secured in these pots anyway.

This thread will be dedicated to this tree which i got for $13.49. While not the steepest discount (I got a landscape $240 Osakazuki marked down to $40! unfortunately also no receipt) , I am very satisfied with the purchase and it has some good growth and interesting character already! I also got another potato (Ginseng) ficus for $4 but i'm really not a fan of the potato ficus style so i'm just getting it for the experience and to potentially work out some ideas down the line.

I HAVE TO SAVE THEM!


Receipt!

On the way to their new home


I have to hold it down or it will fall out of the pot (it fell right after this pic, gotta set up something to take quality pics)


It has some really interesting scars and twists. I'll get more detailed truck pics when i repot tomorrow


This is where they'll be staying since it's getting colder at night (thermometer recording 50degrees already!)
Note to self: Gotta bring the other ones in too!


I'm in the process of moving so i can't do a whole lot to get a permanent setup going but i'll be using grow lights and this stacked clear storage tote "greenhouse" during the winter, as well as a pop up mini greenhouse outside for some of my other trees when i move to my temp home.

My thoughts for recovering this guy is to do what i did for the other one picked up earlier this year
(Just for reference, i didn't defoliate it, the two leaves that were left fell off when i picked it up for the first time)
August 27th to June 21st


A mix of sphag moss and perlite, with leftover bonsai soil mix as a topper for no particular reason. I think now's also a good time to determine how i want to develop the root system since there's basically nothing there anyway. I'll try and grab some pictures of that tonight too for reference.
I'll most likely repot in terracotta pots but i do have some cloth grow bags i want to try out so i may just give that a shot instead.

Suggestions and comments always welcome!

 

[19Mateo83]

The one with the s curves is a tiger bark, a good find for $13! Looking forward to seeing what you can do with these. I also found the same tiger bark s ficus on discount earlier this year and two of the ginsengs last year. They are definitely fun trees to play with, once they are healthy you can chop the tubes and plant them deeper and they won’t skip a beat.

 

[BonScience]

Thanks! I have 2 other tiger bark ficus, one "golden gate" from Brussels and one that's brown with white stripes/ dots from a local bonsai nursury. Glad to add this one to the family!
That's my thoughts with the tubers, because they seem to be so vigorous i plant to try and do some grafting and more extreme shaping experiments with them. If this one survives and grows out well too that'll just add to the amount of material i have!

Here are some pics i took last night of the roots. Poor thing literally just flops out of the pot. I'm probably going to burry it a bit deep and try and see if i can find a good portion to start "air layering" a root base.
*having issues posting pics from work, i'll just have to save it for when i get home*

 

[Crazy Diamond]

Ayoo I think that ginseng ficus is a male specimen hahah lol

 

[BonScience]

What's left of the roots


Potted yesterday, the roots are deep at the bottom of the pot. I think i'd like to get the base of the trunk up around this area:

I want to try and get some roots developing on the bottom here:

And i'll probably also not leave it tilted so far. More like this, but leaving it tilted so it will 1) fit in the pot and 2) get some more roots near the new root base


I'm leaving as many shoots as possible with the hopes that i can get some good ones to graft/ root and graft as soon as possible. They probably wont get big enough to make a good impact on the overall design but here's hoping it turns out ok in time.

 

[BonScience]

Hi all, had a busy year, moved in December, new job in march and adopted a rescue puppy earlier this month. Whew!

I'm in a good spot now to put some focus back on the contest entry.

@19Mateo83 I have a question and I'm not sure if it's in the rules, but is grafting permitted if the cutting comes from the contest tree itself?
I took a cutting from one of the leader branches and want to use it to build out a section of the tree.
Here's a bad picture of the cutting and where it came from:

March 3rd:
Cutting:

Early June: The little one sticking out of the fabric pot is a cutting that ended up failing

Twisting some branches

left this on too long but it has recovered since then:



Late June:
I decided to repot it in a [much to] larger fabric pot: The cutting from before is in the pot with the yellow butterfly sticky (leftover from keeping it indoors, too lazy to remove it lol).


I cut the bottom root portion off, probably a mistake but it's still alive so

Closer look at a weird branch. It started at the bottom of the scar, but i bent it up into the scar and around the back



August:
Before some minor work today


Trying to figure out what to do with grafting the cutting, either
Blue: remove the embedded post and fill with the cutting
or
Green: grafted to add root/nebari mass on the right and curved up through the scar to fill out the right side branching?


End of the day results, only wired out one more branch and added a bunch of spagnum moss around the base, trying to get some more roots to form above the soil


That's it for now. Next i'll be working on getting my indoors setup in place in prep for winter. I've added a looot of indoor plants that will need shelf space. I have a small shelf near a window that i supplement with some powerful shop lights.


BONUS PUPPY PIC!!

 

[19Mateo83]

You are 100% good to go for the contest with this tree. Grafting is allowed and I even tried it myself on my Japanese maple entry. Very nice find and cute pup too!

 

[BonScience]

Thanks!
I might try out the grafting sooner rather than later. I think once i get my indoor set up finalized. Trying to find a large/cheap enough aquarium to use as a terrarium for the winter months