Ficus Benjamina Wiring Advice

[SerSwanky]

I had a question about wiring. I watched Colin Lewis “Bonsai Wiring Essentials” someone recommended in another thread (thanks for that!) and learned a lot. I’ve read that f.benj can be pretty stubborn and resist wiring after it’s taken off. I wasn’t sure if it is better to wire this tree with it being as skinny as it is and or wait a year until the trunks thicken up before messing around with shaping it. It’s small enough that it doesn’t really have any branches, it’s just one long trunk with leaves (at least that’s how it feels. It’s “branches” are needle thin at the moment).

I’ve seen a lot of really small trees wired up no problem but I didn’t know if this would be worth waiting a year or so before trying it. But I don’t want to wait a year and then find out I should have done it sooner.

Most f.benj I see have no leaves down on the trunks, I don’t see any like mine (leaves down to an inch before the soil). I wasn’t sure if that was due to pruning or if I need to wait for my plant to grow more.

 

[Cypress187]

I think most of it will get chopped off in the future, but, you cannot have too much practice in wiring!

 

[MHBonsai]

Wire away. Can’t do harm at this stage. Added movement down low is always a benefit. Benjaminas grow quickly and they do hold shape…

You have to let the wire bite in though. They can fill in wire scars incredibly fast.

 

[Shibui]

The low leaves are just because the trunks are young. Leaves generally live for 2-3 years then drop because new ones have grown. I guess that means these trunks are only around 2 years old buty others you have seen are a bit older.
You can cut off older leaves or wait for them to fall.. It is certainly easier to wire without leaves in the way.

There's no problem wiring and bending young stems provided your wire is not too thick or stiff. These trunks look fine to wire but some of the smaller branches may be more difficult. The thinner they are the easier to bend and the quicker they set generally but young, thin stems do thicken rapidly so make sure you watch the wires and get them off before the trunk swallows them. Even if the wood has not set properly I'd rather remove the tight wire and rewire than end up with bad wire scars.

Another thing to be aware of is that bends tend to straighten as the trunk thickens. New wood grows more inside bends than on the outside of bends which eventually 'straightens' the bend. This just means I make bends in thin trunks much more pronounced than I intend to counteract the change toward straight as they thicken.