Ficus Tiger Bark, do all give fruits?

[ficusmania]

Hello there,

It may be a stupid question but I have been going through some of the post in here and have seen that most of the ficus Tiger bark give fruits. My ficus has been with me for 8 years indoors and never seen fruits in. Should it be expected?
Btw I share some pictures, I would appreciate your feedback on Style and placement. It is currently sitting on a southeast Window cill and bought some grow Led to complement. I have got a small humidifier next to them to increase a bit of humidity, temperatures now in summer range from 20 to 32 and humidity 40 to 70. I have also wrapped the trunk with some paper as I have noted that some aerial roots, hope it works!

 

[Crazy Diamond]

ficus has been with me for 8 years indoors and never seen fruits in. Should it be expected?

If is always indoors yes

 

[Maiden69]

Ficus has to be extremely "happy" to produce figs. Water, sun, and fertilizer helps. I think it would be near impossible for the tree to produce fruits while indoors, and maintained in a bonsai pot with not much foliage to recover energy. Most of my ficus have produced figs when they are growing strong and the bottom of the pot has been submerged in water. The are very thirsty trees.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have only seen fruit on trees kept outside. They have to be really strong.

 

[ficusmania]

Ficus has to be extremely "happy" to produce figs. Water, sun, and fertilizer helps. I think it would be near impossible for the tree to produce fruits while indoors, and maintained in a bonsai pot with not much foliage to recover energy. Most of my ficus have produced figs when they are growing strong and the bottom of the pot has been submerged in water. The are very thirsty trees.

Thanks. That is interesting, I had throught that the bottom of the pot cannot be left submerged in water. I leave mine on top of a humidity tray but without touching the water.

 

[Maiden69]

I wouldn't recommend you keeping it in water without full sun for at least 8 hours.

This pic is from May 21, at the time that was the humidity tray, no pebbles and the tree was in a "colander" of sorts. Water level is at the dark are on the basket in the morning when I water the tree. The cuttings I have growing now are in a smaller basket, but I have them submerged all day long in the summer. I have no pics here at work, I will try to take some later after work. That tree is almost 4 times the size right now, I will give it a hard cut and probably repot next month.

 

[ficusmania]

I wouldn't recommend you keeping it in water without full sun for at least 8 hours.

This pic is from May 21, at the time that was the humidity tray, no pebbles and the tree was in a "colander" of sorts. Water level is at the dark are on the basket in the morning when I water the tree. The cuttings I have growing now are in a smaller basket, but I have them submerged all day long in the summer. I have no pics here at work, I will try to take some later after work. That tree is almost 4 times the size right now, I will give it a hard cut and probably repot next month.

View attachment 448286

Thanks, it will be good to see how it looks now! I understand that the colander pot allows the soil to breath and helps avoiding root rot.. It also increases the root grow, doesn't it?
I'm straggling to get density on the upper brunches.. is there any way to stimulate this?

 

[Michael P]

I think low light indoors is the main problem with creating more density in the top. Move it outside if you can, give lots of water and fertilizer. When it is growing very vigorously, cut the top back hard. It should back-bud well, giving you many more branches and leaves for you to work with.

 

[penumbra]

Many of my ficus produce fruits. I'd say my Burt Davyi are among the heaviest producers.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

My ficus 89 got syconium this year as well as my BD. The ficus that we grow as bonsai will likely never bare edible fruit because it takes a certain type of wasp to pollinate each fig.
I have had this discussion will Jerry Meislik and Adam Lavigne on FB.
Jerry has some unidentified ficus and if he could get it to flower then he could better ID it.
So sadly there is no wasp in the area to pollinate my ficus.

 

[Maiden69]

I'm straggling to get density on the upper brunches.. is there any way to stimulate this?

Get it healthy and strong, then hard pruning. As you can see I had to graft a branch on the lower curve of my tree because it was not strong enough at the time, as I had just gotten it the summer of the previous year. I did a semi-hard prune in April-may, and the tree sent almost 10 shoots from the area close to every cut I made.

April 2022 - the terraccota have a few cuttings that I made during winter indoors, the 2 round colander/baskets have 2 small shohin trees I am trying to develop.


The figs are actually off the cuttings, not the trees.


Not the best of photos, but the only one I have right now. This was APR 2022, when I cut the ficus back. The green mass at the end of the top shelve.


Another bad picture, this is the ficus in JUN 2022. Same location on the bench.


Just now




One cutsite


Another

 

[Carol 83]

Get it healthy and strong, then hard pruning. As you can see I had to graft a branch on the lower curve of my tree because it was not strong enough at the time, as I had just gotten it the summer of the previous year. I did a semi-hard prune in April-may, and the tree sent almost 10 shoots from the area close to every cut I made.

April 2022 - the terraccota have a few cuttings that I made during winter indoors, the 2 round colander/baskets have 2 small shohin trees I am trying to develop.
View attachment 448427

The figs are actually off the cuttings, not the trees.
View attachment 448430

Not the best of photos, but the only one I have right now. This was APR 2022, when I cut the ficus back. The green mass at the end of the top shelve.
View attachment 448434

Another bad picture, this is the ficus in JUN 2022. Same location on the bench.
View attachment 448426

Just now
View attachment 448440

View attachment 448441

One cutsite
View attachment 448442

Another
View attachment 448443

Damn, what do you do with that thing in the winter?

 

[Maiden69]

Damn, what do you do with that thing in the winter?

Bring it to the garage with lamps. Shopping for a wider bag and nursery can to repot it in 2 weeks. I am tempted to buy one of the large Mica pots from Wigerts and make my own large rootpouch using 2 of their pouches together. Once I get the primaries and secondaries I want, it will be potted into a bonsai pot to start the ramification.

 

[ficusmania]

I think my ficus is giving his first fruit.. Cannot believe it..
Should I leave or remove it?

 

[SWfloirda]

Fruit does take energy from the tree but if the tree is otherwise healthy I don't see any reason to take them off. I think it gives them character, plus I have a lot of ficus trees, it would take me hours. Most of them turn black and fall off fairly quickly, I had a few get fertilized this year and they get pretty colorful and last a little longer.

 

[Maiden69]

I leave them on. Never had a negative reaction to it as long as the tree is healthy.

 

[Fidur]

Cuban Laurel Fig (Ficus microcarpa kinmen) by Rob Kempinski.