Help Ficus Styling Shari

[Shiu07]

Hi everyone! I’d love to hear your ideas or design suggestions for my ficus tree. I’m considering turning the second branch into a Shari—do you think that would work well? Or would it be better to trim the lower left bump to reduce its resemblance to a ginseng-style bonsai?


This tree actually belonged to a friend and was in pretty bad shape when she gave it to me. I took it in and nursed it back to health, and this is where it's at now.

 

[leatherback]

Ficus deadwood is shortlived. I would not design a ficus with deadwood.

Looks like it is healthy, I would however recommend just allowing it to grow for a bit.

 

[Shibui]

Ficus dead wood is VERY short lived so it probably won't matter if you design with dead wood or not. End result in a few years will be the same. I'm surprised you've been able to maintain the dead wood for 5 years.
Great to see that the tree has recovered health over that time.

 

[Shiu07]

Thanks everyone for your input! The main reason I went with the deadwood approach is because I felt it would be a waste to cut down that grafted microcarpa, it just didn’t have much visual appeal. I do have other trees, but this particular ginseng was more of an experiment, as I was mainly trying to keep it alive after a friend passed it on to me. The shari on it is actually over 7 years old now.


I’m curious what kind of design direction do you think I should lean toward? I was considering extending the sacrifice branch to thicken the trunk, but I’m not sure what diameter would look best in the end.

 

[Shibui]

I felt it would be a waste to cut down that grafted microcarpa,

The grafted part has died. The trunks you have now are part of the root stock. Not sure if that's still a Ficus microcarpa cultivar or another species that's used to develop the big roots.

I’m curious what kind of design direction do you think I should lean toward? I was considering extending the sacrifice branch to thicken the trunk, but I’m not sure what diameter would look best in the end.

Not sure I can advise on styling from this distance either. Ficus with thick trunks usually do look much more impressive but be wary of large sacrifice branches because Ficus don't heal wounds real quick. The larger you let tour sacrifice grow, the larger the wound when you chop.
Are all the swollen roots still alive? The rock and photo angle make it harder to see what's alive and what's not down there. Just wondering if changing the planting angle would help hide the dead wood or improve the flow of the twin trunks.
Ficus root really well so very easy to layer to get new roots anywhere on roots or trunk if you decide you don't like the swollen root style.