First time posting - need some Golden Gate guidance.

[willw86]

Hello Nuts

I have been lurking in the shadows for a while, but wanted to post, so here goes. I have dabbled killed a few trees since maybe 2014, but I really got the itch in May and now I have the humble beginnings of a collection.

Most of my trees are tropical pre-bonsai and I have them growing under a Mars Hydro LED light - 90W I think. The reviewers for this light on Amazon weren't growing bonsai, but boy did their plants look healthy. The trees are all sitting on plastic serving trays with lava rock/gravel that I try to keep wet. I also mist them daily-ish. In the last month or so that I have had them indoors, everybody has been growing well except the Ficus 'Too Little', but I have read on here that benjaminas are finicky.

Anyway, this Golden Gate I purchased from Meehan's Miniatures in May. Did not go there in person, but my experiences with them have been great - Martha is very sweet. I have done some pruning, but no wiring yet. It is planted in a mix of turface, lava rock, and pine bark. It will definitely be some years until this tree is presentable, but that's part of the fun, right? Excuse the magenta from the LEDs.

Front:


Back:


I know that one of the lower branches in the front has to go at some point; I'm working myself up to it.


Was very excited to see this shoot growing from the pruning scar near the apex. Should help with rolling over that scar.


The bottom ~15% is buried from repotting about a month ago, from which it has bounded back swimmingly. At the actual base, it has some really nice trunk flare. What concerns me is the knob.


Is this a grafted tree, or is this just a healed-over pruning scar? It is kind of unsightly and I want to do something about it. Probably would wait until Spring to do anything drastic, but it would be nice to have a plan in place. I have thought about thread grafting a branch below the knob, then air layering the top off and ending up with 2 trees. Is this a little too ambitious? Is the thread grafting an unnecessary step? I would also appreciate any styling tips to get this going in the right direction.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Looking forward to sharing more and learning from you guys.

Will

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Honestly it looks like it was grown from a cutting and the dead stub was pruned off leaving the scar in the back. What looks like the graft mark could be where the bud popped and was directed to grow upright. Or it could have just been trunk chopped but it doesn't look like a graft to me.

 

[JudyB]

Welcome to the forum.
I don't know much about that ficus variety, but seems to be the same bark above and below the knob, so is probably not a graft. Have fun!

 

[willw86]

Honestly it looks like it was grown from a cutting and the dead stub was pruned off leaving the scar in the back. What looks like the graft mark could be where the bud popped and was directed to grow upright. Or it could have just been trunk chopped but it doesn't look like a graft to me.

Thank you for responding. That makes more sense.

Welcome to the forum.
I don't know much about that ficus variety, but seems to be the same bark above and below the knob, so is probably not a graft. Have fun!

Thanks for the welcome. I think Golden Gate is a retusa variant.

So it's not grafted - good news. Will the tree "grow out of it" or will the reverse taper in that section get worse?

 

[JudyB]

It's not really reverse taper, just a bump where a branch used to be probably. If left to grow freely, in time it will be less noticeable as the trunk thickens.

 

[Kendo]

Retusa has many imperfections. I have to make strong cut and using paste to remove growing area. Hai You can seeing my picture of tree name Kaeru. I start with many strong cuts this year to make future in vision of bonsai tree. Hai Many imperfections to taking off. Hai Next year is more for strong cutting. This is normal life for the Tiger Bark Ficus.

 

[willw86]

Retusa has many imperfections. I have to make strong cut and using paste to remove growing area. Hai You can seeing my picture of tree name Kaeru. I start with many strong cuts this year to make future in vision of bonsai tree. Hai Many imperfections to taking off. Hai Next year is more for strong cutting. This is normal life for the Tiger Bark Ficus.

Thank you for sharing, Kendo. Beautiful tree you have there.

 

[W3rk]

Hello Nuts

I have been lurking in the shadows for a while, but wanted to post, so here goes. I have dabbled killed a few trees since maybe 2014, but I really got the itch in May and now I have the humble beginnings of a collection.

Most of my trees are tropical pre-bonsai and I have them growing under a Mars Hydro LED light - 90W I think. The reviewers for this light on Amazon weren't growing bonsai, but boy did their plants look healthy. The trees are all sitting on plastic serving trays with lava rock/gravel that I try to keep wet. I also mist them daily-ish. In the last month or so that I have had them indoors, everybody has been growing well except the Ficus 'Too Little', but I have read on here that benjaminas are finicky.

Anyway, this Golden Gate I purchased from Meehan's Miniatures in May. Did not go there in person, but my experiences with them have been great - Martha is very sweet. I have done some pruning, but no wiring yet. It is planted in a mix of turface, lava rock, and pine bark. It will definitely be some years until this tree is presentable, but that's part of the fun, right? Excuse the magenta from the LEDs.

Front:
View attachment 212453

Back:
View attachment 212454

I know that one of the lower branches in the front has to go at some point; I'm working myself up to it.
View attachment 212457

Was very excited to see this shoot growing from the pruning scar near the apex. Should help with rolling over that scar.
View attachment 212458

The bottom ~15% is buried from repotting about a month ago, from which it has bounded back swimmingly. At the actual base, it has some really nice trunk flare. What concerns me is the knob.
View attachment 212455View attachment 212456

Is this a grafted tree, or is this just a healed-over pruning scar? It is kind of unsightly and I want to do something about it. Probably would wait until Spring to do anything drastic, but it would be nice to have a plan in place. I have thought about thread grafting a branch below the knob, then air layering the top off and ending up with 2 trees. Is this a little too ambitious? Is the thread grafting an unnecessary step? I would also appreciate any styling tips to get this going in the right direction.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Looking forward to sharing more and learning from you guys.

Will

Ficus are generally such hearty trees, they grow well and root easily from cuttings, it doesn't make any sense that it would be a graft.

I have what looks like the same tree actually - they classed it as "Retusa Golden Gate" - it has a thinner, finer leaf than most Microcarpa (which are a thicker more rubbery leaf) - bought at Meehan's about a year ago. I have some cuttings from mine that I'm working on getting to root currently.

I would not do any work to it over the winter, unless you clearly see signs of vigorous growth with your indoor light set up. Your foliage is rather sparse so let it get healthy. My overwintering set up mostly just keeps my ficus alive through the dead of winter.

 

[willw86]

Ficus are generally such hearty trees, they grow well and root easily from cuttings, it doesn't make any sense that it would be a graft.

I have what looks like the same tree actually - they classed it as "Retusa Golden Gate" - it has a thinner, finer leaf than most Microcarpa (which are a thicker more rubbery leaf) - bought at Meehan's about a year ago. I have some cuttings from mine that I'm working on getting to root currently.

I would not do any work to it over the winter, unless you clearly see signs of vigorous growth with your indoor light set up. Your foliage is rather sparse so let it get healthy. My overwintering set up mostly just keeps my ficus alive through the dead of winter.

Thank you for the info and advice, W3rk. This tree has been putting out a good amount of growth - I've just been too eager with the pruners. I will sit on my hands for a while. Good to see a Marylander.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Probably a shallower wider pot would be good to encourage nebari and trunk flare

 

[willw86]

Probably a shallower wider pot would be good to encourage nebari and trunk flare

Thanks, good idea. I will probably wait until at least this Spring as I repotted it in July or August. This will be a good opportunity to change the soil up - mine drains WAY too well.

 

[willw86]

1 month update on this tree. Seems to be happy, has about doubled the foliage mass and the individual leaves have improved their color. The lowest, eye-poker branch needs to go; I think I want to thread-graft between its current shoulder and the knob. This will hopefully prevent the inverse swelling that is bound to happen at that mass of branches.

The other possibility would be airlayering the entire trunk halfway up and hopefully ending up with 2 trees. We shall see.

I know this tree isn't anything to sneeze at but I do enjoy having it and watching it grow.

October 6:


November 6:

 

[Chriscenzo21]

1 month update on this tree. Seems to be happy, has about doubled the foliage mass and the individual leaves have improved their color. The lowest, eye-poker branch needs to go; I think I want to thread-graft between its current shoulder and the knob. This will hopefully prevent the inverse swelling that is bound to happen at that mass of branches.

The other possibility would be airlayering the entire trunk halfway up and hopefully ending up with 2 trees. We shall see.

I know this tree isn't anything to sneeze at but I do enjoy having it and watching it grow.

October 6:
View attachment 216447

November 6:
View attachment 216448

Looking good! What are you using for your indoor setup? I just got my first Ficus Retusa and am trying to come up with an indoor setup. Thanks!

 

[willw86]

Looking good! What are you using for your indoor setup? I just got my first Ficus Retusa and am trying to come up with an indoor setup. Thanks!

Thanks Chris! I have them under this growlight, a 300W LED, which is probably the most important factor for strong growth. All my indoor trees sit on catering trays with gravel/lava rock. Whenever I water the plants, I also put .5-1" of water in the trays to help with humidity.

Edit: the lights are really bright, that's where the magenta tone in the background of these pictures comes from.