Green island ficus on a rock

SWfloirda

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This project started December 2018 but I have no pictures until June 2019. It started as a stick with aerial roots all over it buried in the pot with potting soil.
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September 2019
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January 2020. It had a good hold on the rock. It had more roots than I thought it would but they were all very thin. So I repotted it with better soil and at a different angle.
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SWfloirda

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November 29. My thinking is that wire should be biting in fairly well by the end of January when it gets a big growth spurt, I will take the wire off and let it grow for a month then raise the rock an inch or two in March.
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Forsoothe!

Imperial Masterpiece
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You can get rid of the tiny hairy roots that radiate from the major roots by passing a butane torch over the roots when they are dry. Don't dwaddle, keep the flame moving and you'll see the tiny, dry, hairy roots turn fiery-red and shrivel-up. Big roots have more mass and don't heat up/burn as quickly as tiny rootlets. Brush the area with a toothbrush (an old one, not the one you use every day) before and after to remove more soil from covering the roots and rock, and it will clean up nicely. You can do this periodically and eventually have nice clean big roots without the shaggy "new" look.
 

SWfloirda

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You can get rid of the tiny hairy roots that radiate from the major roots by passing a butane torch over the roots when they are dry. Don't dwaddle, keep the flame moving and you'll see the tiny, dry, hairy roots turn fiery-red and shrivel-up. Big roots have more mass and don't heat up/burn as quickly as tiny rootlets. Brush the area with a toothbrush (an old one, not the one you use every day) before and after to remove more soil from covering the roots and rock, and it will clean up nicely. You can do this periodically and eventually have nice clean big roots without the shaggy "new" look.
It has been in that pot for two months, I have been planning to leave the rock alone through a rainy season, then think about cleaning it up a bit.
 

Steve FL

Seed
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Very nice. How big is the pot?
 
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