Ficus techniques

[Anonymous User]

Before we go any further Will, lets have a little review to clear the water sort of speak. Lets start with this Ficus tree pictured below. Can you tell me where this tree is from and where you first saw it on this forum? You can use your notes if you like.

Let's keep it real and on topic, shall we?

Instead of using your own tree or a tree from the new source of information you have, you posted a picture without referencing who created it, where it was acquired from, photographer, or even if the nebari on the tree was created using the same techniques you were discussing. Since it is obvious that it is not your tree and that you do not know if the same techniques were used to create the nebari on it as the ones you wish to discuss, the picture seems quite out of place.

All that aside, it is just common courtesy to at least credit the source of the picture, if not the artist. Although I read the post you lifted this picture from, others may not have and those readers a year from now certainly will not have a clue at all.

Certainly you keep notes on all this valuable, but yet unheard information?



Harry,

Welcome back.

Will

 

[king kong]

BonsaiNut introduced this amazing tree in a thread called "Nabari Development in Siam". There was no further information because the site was in Thai, but the photos are self explanatory. This statement was paraphrased by me.

Seeing this amazing nebari was fascinating to me. See below, this tree is believed to be in Siam (Thailand). I made mention of this on a thread described above from the first day I laid eyes on it. I was sitting at the computer buck naked and I believe my words were "Holy Smokes" or something similar. I will never forget that day. I was contacted by an agent from downunder by PM who asked if I was interested in the story behind this growth development and someone (source) who might be qualified in answering(drilled) questions. I was thrilled with this news and vowed that I would tell everyone on BonsaiNut of my great find as soon as possible. I was to contact this agent at a prearranged time. Since I could not physically meet the agent, we decided e-mail would be the option to use for communication. After this process I realized the agent had a source that could be the key to the nebari lock. The mystery was now one step away! The source spoke English well even though his name signalled to me that he was from Indonesia or Thailand. So as not to be rude I did not ask what City and Country the source was native to. To be continued........

 

[Vance Wood]

Vance, please see post #12 on the thread "Hey Harry". I would love to see some of your Mugo's, most good one's I've seen come from Europe. I know there must be some good American ones.

Kindest regards,
Harry

Sorry Harry, my post was not pointed at you; sorry you took offence. I thought KKK's real name was Harry too. However you are right about Mugo Pines. Most of the real good Mugos seen in the world do come from harvested Mugos in Europe that are two and three-hundred years old. The Mugo Pine has not been in this country that long let alone long enough in feral conditions to produce that kind of material. Sorry if I don't have access to that sort of stuff, you do the best you can with what you have. As to me posting some trees, I have done that and it is quite obvious some of you don't think they are good enough---so what?

 

[greerhw]

Sorry Harry, my post was not pointed at you; sorry you took offence. I thought KKK's real name was Harry too. However you are right about Mugo Pines. Most of the real good Mugos seen in the world do come from harvested Mugos in Europe that are two and three-hundred years old. The Mugo Pine has not been in this country that long let alone long enough in feral conditions to produce that kind of material. Sorry if I don't have access to that sort of stuff, you do the best you can with what you have. As to me posting some trees, I have done that and it is quite obvious some of you don't think they are good enough---so what?

I haven't seen your trees. I can only imagine you have some good ones since you have been involved with that species for so long, forget what others think, I would seriously like to see some.I love pines of all types.

Harry

 

[BUBBAFRGA]

Sorry Harry, my post was not pointed at you; sorry you took offence. I thought KKK's real name was Harry too. However you are right about Mugo Pines. Most of the real good Mugos seen in the world do come from harvested Mugos in Europe that are two and three-hundred years old. The Mugo Pine has not been in this country that long let alone long enough in feral conditions to produce that kind of material. Sorry if I don't have access to that sort of stuff, you do the best you can with what you have. As to me posting some trees, I have done that and it is quite obvious some of you don't think they are good enough---so what?

I have seen some of your trees in post over the years and I would kill to have some of them. I might not agree with everything you post but you do grow nice trees.

 

[Vance Wood]

I haven't seen your trees. I can only imagine you have some good ones since you have been involved with that species for so long, forget what others think, I would seriously like to see some.I love pines of all types.

Harry

It will be probably mid summer before I am ready to post the new cycle. I have been in the process of restyling everything and nothing is ready to show. I have a couple no one has ever seen that I think will raise a couple of eye brows but we will see.

 

[king kong]

Just say no to 'tater' roots!

 

[bretts]

Now I remember where I was reading about this.
Come on KK out with it or do I post a link

 

[king kong]

It's time for all the hard questions. Have I become an unreliable source for information, an unexpected source for BB gun plinking and flame wars? Do I divulge my source? If I do there is a chance his theory will be hammered out of the gate. And the reprocutions, it could break his spirit and my trust.

 

[agraham]

It doesn't matter who the source is.Kong has acknowledged that he is not the originator of the information,just the mouthpiece.If the source wants to be known...he can say so.

Proceed at your own pace Kong.....but please hurry the hell up.

btw...many ficus species are somewhat succulent in nature...thus the tuberous,water storing roots.nerifolia/salicifolia/whatever the heck its now called is one of the worst perpetrators of this nefarious development.

Andy

 

[nsmar4211]

If you get potato roots, you could try splitting them....... sometimes it leads to the loss of the whole root, but sometimes it leads to two nice roots. Not sure if you could split into three parts, that doesn't leave much live tissue to heal. I've personally split roots on Portulacaria that were too ungainly, using *very clean* shears and keeping water off that area until it healed (i.e. water from the other side of the plant). Had about a 50% sucess ratio (sucess being at least one of the two roots survived). Haven't personally split a ficus' roots so I'm not sure what tools are used in the process.

You could also just cut the root near the base, bury it back in the soil, and let it resprout smaller roots. Will take a while to catch up but it's better than tuber roots......

Course, these are suggestions for after the tubers form.......as to preventing them, that's a different story (and one I don't have the ending to).

 

[king kong]

Here are my modified figs (nerifolia). I decided to do only eight out of the ten available spaces. I will discuss this later when I know it is safe. These figs are mine and there are eight of them. Ask me how I know?

 

[Anonymous User]

Maybe we can get down to a dicussion ourselves then...

Root spliting to reduce the size of a root and to create more and better roots for balanced and proportioned nebari is a common technique. In fact, I mentioned this years ago, "A good way to deal with a root that is too thick is to split it down the middle, making two thin roots out of one. Once split, seal with cut paste and use a chopstick struck in the soil at the point of the split in order to keep the two roots separated." - http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/tools/chopsticks.php

With this technique, root wiring, root grafting, shallow pots, and even on cone growth, we have many opitions to created good nebari. I am interestged in hearing KK out, maybe we can all learn something and apply it to the better known techniques......



Will

 

[Mojosan]

"Once split, seal with cut paste and use a chopstick struck in the soil at the point of the split in order to keep the two roots separated."


Umm..... Excuse me Will, but you have exhausted us all with your insistence that cut paste was a waste of time, and was actually counterproductive.

 

[Anonymous User]

"Once split, seal with cut paste and use a chopstick struck in the soil at the point of the split in order to keep the two roots separated."


Umm..... Excuse me Will, but you have exhausted us all with your insistence that cut paste was a waste of time, and was actually counterproductive.

Yes, as mentioned, this article was wrote years ago, back when I still bought into the cut paste myth. However, I thought it would border on the unethical if I went back and changed what I wrote in the past. I also realized that the quote would be jumped on quicker than a twinke at a weight watchers convention if I put it here, but it was relevant, so I posted it in it's entirety, without edits.

I'm not surprised, but I was surprised that nobody used it in the great cut paste debate here.

Since the time of writing the article, I found the research and talked to experts and realized that cut paste is a waste of time and money, a view shared by many very experienced practitioners. Maybe I should put a footnote in the article?



Will

 

[Chris Johnston]

Yes, as mentioned, this article was wrote years ago, back when I still bought into the cut paste myth. However, I thought it would border on the unethical if I went back and changed what I wrote in the past. I also realized that the quote would be jumped on quicker than a twinke at a weight watchers convention if I put it here, but it was relevant, so I posted it in it's entirety, without edits.

I'm not surprised, but I was surprised that nobody used it in the great cut paste debate here.

Since the time of writing the article, I found the research and talked to experts and realized that cut paste is a waste of time and money, a view shared by many very experienced practitioners. Maybe I should put a footnote in the article?



Will

The simple answer is to add an amendment within the article as an editor's note. Easy peasy.

Chris

 

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Chris, good solution.


Will

 

[Mojosan]

quote would be jumped on quicker than a twinke at a weight watchers convention


Nice..

 

[king kong]

A couple of you are on the verge of cracking the code. As a matter of fact this might not be new news but you guys are pretty sharp....well most of you. Basicaly all you need is a healthy fig, a sharp cutting tool, and some wedges. The more taters you split, the more root production.

 

[king kong]

Here are some examples of shallow container grown 'natural' root bases. Natural would be a root base that was managed to some degree, more than others, from a seedling sized stock plant. As the tree developed, roots can be sorted out to spoke or they can pile up and left to their own devises with a little trimming when needed.