developing Nebari Surface roots by washing away surface soil

[thailand-steve]

i have a Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) in a nursery pot. it has some nice surface roots already but i'd like to expose more, make them more pronounced.

so i replanted in a larger pot (because i'm trying to thicken up the trunk too) but left the new surrounding soil about 4-5cm below the original soil level. then i carefully scraped and washed away a couple of cm of the surface soil as in the picture here




do you think this is ok for the tree? can i keep it like this and perhaps do more in a few months or should i put some soil back? on the right side you can see a lot of fine roots exposed to the air now. should i trim them?

also, you can see the aerial roots coming down nicely here, i'm hoping they are going to develop into nice thick roots too

thx

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I think it'd be best to leave the roots covered. If I recall correctly, roots won't really grow when exposed to light. Uncovering them really wouldn't do anything to help them thicken anyway.

Also, I don't think that's a benghalensis, it looks more like a microcarpa.

 

[Tieball]

Tangled

Seems to me like the better solution is to comb-out and fan the roots out more cleanly, begin to address or shorten the pronounced heavy straight roots that over power all the rest, and then bury all the roots for health and continued development. I believe that if left uncovered, those finer roots will just dry-out and die-off. My understanding and experience has always been that roots grow bigger underground where they do their work.

I'd comb out the roots and begin to develop thickness below ground...checking on progress at the appropriate time yearly. Once growth has thickened well it can be time to "slowly" introduce light and air on surface roots beginning this process at the points closest to the trunk first. Natures washes away the soil from roots slowly.