Just dug-up a large ficus, badly need help with some potting-pointers (am not planning to bare-root, hope that's not bad!!)

[SU2]

I know it's not a good time but thankfully it's a bit of a heat-wave here in FL so this "winter night" it's been dark over an hour and is still >70deg

Anyways I just dug-out a large ficus (easily 5" wide trunk, solid nebari beneath, it was trunk-chopped at like 1' some years ago by the owner so basically looks like pollarding lol) and have all the dirt in the root-ball, I'd normally bare-root something but I'm ignorant on ficus and, being so late in the year (though it's unseasonably warm!), want to be sure I'm doing things right!

Further, how should I approach the top? I'm going to wait til spring (obviously!!) before doing anything 'real' to it, am not going to remove any shoots or wire right now, but that foliage, it doesn't have the roots anymore, I usually 'balance' this by defoliation and don't see any reason to do otherwise here but wanted to run it by the tropical guys here!!! My intent with the scissors will be:
1 - avoid any&every growing-tip, and any foliage that's the top 2-4 leafs on any given shoot
2- will not remove any shoots (there's a ton, will wait til spring to choose!)
3- remove ~20% of the foliage by cutting-off ~85-95% of leaves (leaving the petiole and base of leaf), doing it evenly from the branches and starting at their bottom-most leaves

I think that's ^ solid but want to be sure, oh and am also unsure on sunlight-level right now I'm planning to put it in the patio in the evenings at least once it gets cooler, and to keep it in medium/high light going forth (and keep a close eye on it til spring!)

Thanks a ton for **any** advice/pointers on handling this guy!! Planning to use a styrofoam container if I can find one that's the right size, the insulation it gives appeals to me a lot ;D

 

[amcoffeegirl]

The only addition I can think of is advice that has been given to me in the past by experienced growers of ficus- add bottom heat to assist the roots in recovery.
A heating mat for seeds would be ideal.
Also share a photo if you don’t mind.

 

[SU2]

The only addition I can think of is advice that has been given to me in the past by experienced growers of ficus- add bottom heat to assist the roots in recovery.
A heating mat for seeds would be ideal.
Also share a photo if you don’t mind.

Thank you **so** much for the prompt reply!! Perfect timing, I'm ready to pot it right now and was planning to use a styro cooler (to insulate the roots) and would've normally drilled an absurd amount of holes on the bottom 1/4th of the container (bottom-drainage + side/perimeter holes, something I do to combat the inescapable effect of perched water tables), will be far more conservative w/ my drainage on this thing!

Will use a heat-mat if needed, although I guess that is part of the problem- I don't know what to expect, I have 1 ficus besides this and while I've found it to be resilient, I've never cut its roots (and I didn't collect it) so am real worried about it, do you think I'm being overly-cautious in my "no bare-rooting" approach? Am going to just gently tease-away the tiniest bits of dirt so I can fit it into a styro container, will be a very 'proper' sized container (closer to a grow-box than a regular lil box)

And yeah I'm sorry re photos my camera-to-laptop transfer is ridiculously slow so I do it in batches, will get them up after I've got this thing potted, it's a reallllly interesting trunk (and quite thick, unsure if I should count the very thick aerials (this is a real cool piece, can't wait to get the pics up ) I'm actually filming this as well (hoping to figure-out Wordpress and have a beginner's-blog soon), I couldn't find *any* video on youtube about "potting a collected ficus", "collecting ficus" etc, just re-potting ficus you already had, thought it was really weird and could be an artifact of how google processes things for me, would be interested if anyone could show that's wrong and provide a single url for this (I couldn't find one, though I have trouble imagining that I'll be the first person to ever upload a "collecting&potting a large ficus" video to youtube, would be quite the cool thing but have trouble thinking it's the case lol!)

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I think not bare rooting is a good idea but I have never collected a ficus.
Being cautious in my mind is always a good thing.
I think giving it good drainage is a better idea.
You will have to listen to the tree and watch how it responds to your watering.
Likely it will drop most foliage. Keeping the growing tips is crucial. I think you are on the right track. If it doesn’t respond with a new flush of leaves in several weeks. They do a scratch test to check for green and add bottom heat.

 

[SU2]

[Note- I took video but getting it off phone & processing it isn't happening tonight in fact I expect it's sloppy so may want to learn basic editing before ever posting a vid but got some pics courtesy of my flood-light, was outside past 11p when I'm usually asleep this late!!]

I think not bare rooting is a good idea but I have never collected a ficus.
Being cautious in my mind is always a good thing.
I think giving it good drainage is a better idea.
You will have to listen to the tree and watch how it responds to your watering.
Likely it will drop most foliage. Keeping the growing tips is crucial. I think you are on the right track. If it doesn’t respond with a new flush of leaves in several weeks. They do a scratch test to check for green and add bottom heat.

Thanks a ton, I haven't either (this is ficus #2 for me!), I wish my container was bigger but I didn't really have to root-prune to get it in there (though it's "wedged in" about as tightly as possible, thing was a perfect fit basically), I figure there's not a ton of room for growth but it's not growth-time, there's enough room to support the roots that'd grow between now and spring (when I can re-pot/style/etc), for now the idea is just to keep it alive til spring! I'd be very afraid if it dropped its leaves, as last year not one of my bougies did (my understanding is bougies will drop *before* ficuses will..fici? ficuseses? plural is weird)

I gave it absurd drainage, there's 9 holes in that box that are inches wide (I laid screen across the entire bottom) and used perlite exclusively for the bottom 10%, then started packing w/ a mix of mostly perlite and some diatomite, then started adding light amounts of peat + organic fert granules + micro/mineral granules as I watered-in everything, I must've used 15gal lol, I probably used almost 2gal of substrate on top of the root ball in there, the thing was a tough fit but had massive cavities in the box so there's growing-space and the roots that're pressed-up against the siding should be OK with it being styrofoam (and not 0.5mm thick black plastic ;P )

What are your thoughts on me doing a minor defoliation? I'm very much thinking that makes sense, not only does defoliating the bottom leaves (say, 10-20% of the lowest leaves on all shoots) tend to instigate growth higher-up but my reasoning for doing it is to help match it to the decreased root-mass (something I've found to be almost requisite with bougies) as I don't want to lose this thing and that's a lot easier if there's a heavy crown/root disparity wherein the roots can't support the canopy....planning 10-20% defoliation (no growing tips of course!) tomorrow AM, and then begin a heavy misting routine using a 1/4th strength solution of my regular synthetic fert (slightly N-rich but mostly balanced), may end up tenting if it seems a problem (and/or heat mat), hell I'd likely buy an indoor-grow-lamp (the LED types nowadays, dayyyum!) and create a grow-corner in my patio for this guy if I thought I was going to lose it, far too rare a piece for me (I've been collecting since I started ~2yrs ago and this is the first chance I've had to lift a ficus w/ a good trunk, unsure what cultivar it is but no idea the next time I'll get access to such gnarly material!)

Oh! This will sound silly but I figure it makes sense, I think I'm going to very very loosely wire some of the outer branches, for the express purpose of "spreading the canopy" to allow more photosynthesis to occur, I'll need to study the canopy more (I just potted it and cleaned-up, this is very late for me am usually well asleep by now!) but am guessing that a gentle outward angling (only 10deg angles, real gentle & loose so that it doesn't affect cambial flow to any real degree / only position) of the outer branches will let the inners get stronger and give more overall strength


Photos- A .gif or vid would be ideal, or day-time pics at least, because this thing's trunk is very very cool but it's really weird/unique, like a flat/wide trunk with a giant aerial-root that's basically become a limb in its own right (once they get thick enough, I wonder what differentiates an aerial root from a trunk, in terms of make-up?) This will be an odd piece of material to work for sure but, being a collector, most of my material is so am happy about this haha



Upon looking at these pics, and seeing how that aerial root supports the living-canopy on the front, I fear that the back-side (where that old trunk-chop slopes towards) could be subject to extreme die-back if I'm not careful, that rear root that runs to the bottom-right of the lowest jpg must be kept alive or I expect that half of the tree will die-back, could still work with it but deadwood wouldn't be remotely as fun to work with as this trunk!

 

[SU2]

Any guesses on cultivar would be appreciated, thought benjamina but it didn't put out the latex I'd have expected... Also guesses on whether or not ~15% of the foliage defoliated sounds on-point for this (no growing-tips, just the lowest foliage from the branches, like 3-5 of the lowest leaves from all branches or something, going to do that + mist to help make up for transpiration conducted w/ compromised roots, also thinking to wire some of the outer shoots very loosely, not bend them and hurt cambial flow but just gently 'splay' them so that the inner branches can get more sun / I can have more total photosynthetic surface-area w/ the same quantity of transpiring foliage!

 

[amcoffeegirl]

I would say just leave the leaves on- it will self defoliate very quickly.
Where are you located??
I know nothing about collecting ficus.
I am only thinking of mine if there are no roots or damaged roots. There are likely folks in Florida who could assist with experience.
It does look like a bejaminia. If so it may abort some branches.

 

[MHBonsai]

More leaves will drive root growth. I would leave them all on myself. Humidity will be your friend as it pushes out new roots. Treat it like a cutting. If it was here I might keep it under plastic to keep those leaves humid and bottom heat/greenhouse it until it recovers.

Looks like a Benjamina to me! Cool find.

 

[sorce]

I'd pluck out all that BS growth.
Probly clean up that wound too.

Nice.

I wouldn't worry much.
I could do these things succesfully indoors up here, you're $ down there!

Sorce

 

[SU2]

I would say just leave the leaves on- it will self defoliate very quickly.
Where are you located??
I know nothing about collecting ficus.
I am only thinking of mine if there are no roots or damaged roots. There are likely folks in Florida who could assist with experience.
It does look like a bejaminia. If so it may abort some branches.

Thanks! I abstained from the 'scheduled, minor defoliation' as it was carrying Thrips when I got it home so, over the first week (especially the first few days) I was losing enough leafs daily that, by the time it'd stopped, I felt it was "balanced" enough - I've got a handful of growing-tips I've been keeping a sharp-eye on to make sure I always know when it's on the way up/down!!

Re collecting, it's been 2wks so I'm guessing this 'made it', though again I did get a great root-mass with this thing so wasn't expecting too-much trouble unless they were hyper-sensitive to collection or something (and the trunk-chop had been done a year or two ago obviously!) I've been misting it 1-4x daily since getting it (more in the beginning, though still doing it a bit), more-often-than-not it's with fertilized water, to help aid it while it settles-in!

It is a benjamina btw, have verified it so am VERY thankful that, regardless of where, someone already did a 'successful' trunk-chop for me, effectively "2-stepping" this collection over a 1-2yr period!

Sooooo stoked on this guy, it's been 2yrs and finally found an in-ground ficus w/ a good trunk I could get a permission for, and already-chopped is just epic

 

[amcoffeegirl]

That’s great news. What treatment did you use for thrips?
Very cool that it’s pulling through.

 

[SU2]

More leaves will drive root growth. I would leave them all on myself. Humidity will be your friend as it pushes out new roots. Treat it like a cutting. If it was here I might keep it under plastic to keep those leaves humid and bottom heat/greenhouse it until it recovers.

Looks like a Benjamina to me! Cool find.

Thank you! Yes it's a ficus.b, and yeah it took me 2yrs of wanting to find something like this (finding scores of large bougies in the meanwhile!), so happy with it! **NO** idea WTH I'll be doing with it lol, but with it already chopped and all those primaries to choose from, I expect it'll be pretty straight-forward ;D

I agree on leaves driving roots, it's just that in some instances that initial, significant mis-match between 'roots&shoots'(foliage) can be enough that you get more die-back going than you want and it can go awry, for a bougie for example I'd never just leave its foliage as I'd have a dead-leafed, pest-infected mess in short order (especially if misted!)

I'm very happy you mentioned the humidity & protection topics, I felt like I may've been crossing the line into 'too OCD' by thinking this way but I intentionally planted it in an insulated styrofoam cooler, gave it a heavy sphagnum-moss top-dressing (and am thinking of adding the black-rock mulch I have, not only does it help prevent evap & peg the sphagnum in-place but it also attracts sun and heats, I'd have spray-painted the cooler it's inside of black if it'd pass-through to the roots!) Couple things on this note:
1- Do you know if aerial-roots that are not white are able to uptake nutes? I have tons of 'spaghetti aerials' on this thing, lil 1mm thick, lignified aerials that are either new-ish or just halfway to the soil, anyways it's been on my mind a lot when I consider ficus- do aerial roots actually perform before they reach the soil? Also re keeping a humidity-zone at the surface & canopy:
2- I was considering building a "wall" that I can easily attach/un-attach to the thing's box, essentially I'd be taking a 3'x3' piece of plexi-glass, using L-brackets to mount it onto a thin sheet of plywood at a 90deg angle, and then standing the container on the plywood with it positioned so that the clear plexiglass 'wall' is on the north/northeast side of the box (ie opposite the sun's path so I'm not blocking 1 lumen of sunlight/lux)

Thanks for any & all elaboration on any of these you could offer me, I'm good w/ my in-ground 'niwaki' ficus b but so far as container horticulture I'm real new to it and very, very badly want to do this guy right! It had thrips upon pickup and I was about to use bayer's 3-in-1 as recommended to me by a professional in my state but, considering I was getting far less thrip-infected leafs per day, and that this neat green spider was setting-up shop pretty quickly, I decided to "keep it natty" for a lil and thankfully that proved to work, spider is still there and it's days between finding a thrip-folded leaf at this point! I've applied lime sulfur to that trunk-chop-wound despite it probably being irrelevant right now lol, I [VERY gently] wired & splayed the bigger primaries a lil just to increase total photosynthetic area, am stoked to see how it does once growing-season starts but til then I just hope it stays in positive vegetative growth (ie doesn't go dormant/drop tons of leaves and make me wait til spring to be sure it took!), so on that note one of my biggest Q's of all:
- What's the highest nighttime low-temp that you'd advise bringing the guy into my patio? Or into my house? Alternatively, instead of a temperature, could you compare it to either bougies, like are they more or less cold-hardy than bougies?

Again thanks for anything else you can offer, am unsure how to tell when teh right time is to use the heating-pad, I do have one ready-to-go (it's a back-heating pad but imagine it's fine to use off-label here) but am just unsure about when & how I'd use it, like would it do better with an always-on (@low temp) during a week that's averaging daytime highs of 65? Or on at high-temp during those worrisome 5 nights we may get this winter in FL?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

 

[SU2]

That’s great news. What treatment did you use for thrips?
Very cool that it’s pulling through.

Thanks! I just treated it manually, I had noticed a beautiful green spider was setting-up shop so I held-back on spraying the 3-in-1 and just focused on the tree every day when misting it and, over the first days, I'd find thrip-folded leaves at a rate of like:
day 1: removed >15 folded leafs
day 2: maybe 10
day 3: 7
day 4:2-4
day5--day7: maybe 1 a day
2nd week: almost no thrip-folded leafs whatosever

I dunno what % each factor - the spider and my quick-removal of any thrip-infested leaves- makes on its own but, if using folded-leafs as a guide is a good way to detect them, then I'm "clear" at this point!

Re pulling-through, I'm hoping it basically just keeps growing very slowly through the winter til spring comes and everything can be done, but for now - do you have any rough guidelines for when it should come indoors? Whether temps that are worrisome, or how to treat it relative to bougies, would be useful! Last winter not one of my bougies shed leaves, surprisingly! Though I'd brought them into the patio at least 4-5 nights.. This year I of course have that patio but I have a small car-port type of thing that will let me make on e of my benches 'in a greenhouse' as-needed!