Ficus retusa

[markyscott]

Looking happy indeed. Have you been feeding at all?

I haven’t fertilized it this winter, but it’s time.
s

 

[Literati]

Without real strong reasons to do so, I’ve always called ‘Tiger Bark’ retusa and ‘Golden Gate’ microcarpa, but maybe they’re both just varieties of microcarpa.

You're right. Tiger Bark and Golden Gate are simply varieties of Microcarpa.

Per Jerry Meislik, Ficus Microcarpa was incorrectly named Retusa years ago and it stuck.

Ficus Retusa is not a plant in bonsai cultivation. See the actual Retusa here.

 

[thomas22]

Let’s go with special delivery. I haven’t made major styling decisions yet.

s

I can't help not seeing two trees. One straight really nice banyon style and the one on the right with some nice movement and character. Your challenge will be getting these two different trunks to look cohesive. If you haven't already, I would consider (not saying I would do it) separating the two and going with two nice trees. Not sure if that is possible without ruining one or both trees but it's at least something to consider.

 

[AaronThomas]

Beautiful as always Scott!
I thought my 24" pots were heavy!!!

 

[Grovic]

Great ficus, hopefully I can get my 1" tree to that size in 40 years

 

[markyscott]

So this tree was boarded for the winter (no room in my greenhouse) then came the weirdness this spring and i just never made it out to check on it until yesterday. When I did, it was covered in scale (at least I’m pretty sure it’s scale). All of the leaves were badly yellowed, but the tree was otherwise healthy. Although I generally avoid fully defoliating trees, i think it was the best approach to treat this problem.

 

[markyscott]

After defoliating, I pruned and thoroughly cleaned the trunk with soapy water and a nylon brush. I removed one of the large aerial roots, treated with Merit and sprayed with Malathion. I inspected all the branches and plugged the deep wounds with punky wood that had failed to heal over. Later this summer I’ll repot. The pot is massive - I’ll need some help. Done for now.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I have dealt with scale. It is not pleasant but it can be beat.

 

[markyscott]

I have dealt with scale. It is not pleasant but it can be beat.

Totally fixable. Usually rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, combined with a football game and a six pack will take care of it. But the thought of going through several thousand leaves with no sports on, didn't sound very appealing. Pulling them off and putting them in the compost pile seemed like a much better option. I’ll spray with malathion one more time in a week. Fairly sure they won’t make a comeback, especially with the merit in the soil. Generally, I just go with healthy living as these trees are pretty bug free.

 

[markyscott]

Repotting day. Temperatures are warming up and the tree is in active growth. I’m guessing there is some pretty heavy soil around the rootball and i want to get it out of there. I need to get the tree turned around too. This is the back.

 

[markyscott]

Big job for one person. Glad I have a hydraulic table.

 

[markyscott]

With some struggle, I got it out of the pot. Then I cleaned and prepped the pot. I used 4, 3.5mm to anchor it in. Measuring 3’ x 2’, it’s the biggest pot I have.

 

[markyscott]

To secure the tree while I worked the bottom of the rootball, I used heavy closeline.

 

[markyscott]

Working the bottoms was a chore. There were many seasons of compacted organic material in the core of the rootball and some pretty thick downward growing roots. It took about an hour and a half with a root rake and my heavy root cutters.

 

[markyscott]

Back into the pot. Need to do some guy wire work next.

 

[Carol 83]

Good grief, that thing is massive. All the Wal-mart and Ikea ficus's are committing suicide knowing that they can never aspire to such greatness.

 

[cockroach]

I love/hate repotting large ficus trees. Well done on those roots.

Just my 0.5c. Have you considered lower the side branches on both sides? Perhaps lowering the canopy will "age" the tree more and give a fuller looking bonsai. The left branch could even do a low swoop and rise up again. But then again, if you like this and its what you want. There is nothing wrong with it.

a very amateur virt.

 

[markyscott]

Hi C. Yes! And thank you for the virt! You might notice the guy wires in the photo. I’ve already started the process. For the key branch, I need to attach the anchor to the pot, so I had to get the repot done first. The branches are large and I’ll need to go slowly. Some likely won’t bend much. But we’ll get them pulled down a bit.

scott

 

[jason biggs]

The aerial roots on the low horizontal branches are natural guy wires already
In my experience the deadwood sections (like at the top of the main trunk facing us in your last photo)
don't seem to produce new growth - they just stay dead...
I have tried to thread graft my 2 microcarpa but the deadwood sections are much bigger??
looking good by the way !!

 

[markyscott]

Early summer 2020. Foliage looks like it’s glowing.