Research can be deceiving.
RockM is never deceiving!
The only way to truly figure out any tree is to grow one and experiment with cuttings as Anthony says.
The trees don't know what we read!
That's to say....
Not everything is going to happen as we think...
Even much much less so when we are new and dealing with trees we think are healthy simply because they are growing!
A ficus Benjamin at 100% health can bud below a chop with no foliage.
But quite honestly.....it would Probly have to come from the ground!
I have never seen a ficus Benjamin at 100% health.
Not from a nursery...
Not in a bonsai pot....
Damn sure not from Craigslist!
So 9 times out of ten....
The Ben's we hear about aren't capable of producing those buds....so that's why we believe that information.
There's a lot more people bringing these home from the office than there are California's cutting them out of the landscape!
An indoor ficus, even just in winter under the best lights...is not 100%.
Hell....if I were a ficus....I would know the part that got knocked off the top of me has a damn good chance to root sitting on the jungle floor....
So why would I bother popping buds anyway?
There's a 96% chance the rootless top of me will survive!
That could probly be scientifically proven.
Anyway....
Where ARE these bougies?
I'm starting to think the soil may be contaminated.
A wilting bougie in Florida is confusing!
Sorce
Yeah in the beginning I was experimenting a lot more, have been refining and narrowing things a bit (and shedding go-nowhere plants!), but that ficus was in great shape* and in a container in my care for ages as a topiary, I didn't re-pot I just hard-chopped it (was told in another forum - maybe this one as well actually - that ficus b's just don't back-bud w/o any foliage; I know my experience with my other ficus b, the still-living half of that topiary pair, is a PITA when it comes to back-budding, like its canopy is a leggy mess and if I cut-back on any branch too-far (ie anywhere further-back than greenery) it simply won't back-bud, I'll lose that branch!)
(*you're right, I've never seen one in perfect shape - have often thought to myself that they're probably just ill-suited to my area, as they *never* look like they're in perfect health, at best it looks 'good' lol!)
I could've tried to root the top but it'd have been useless, far too leggy :/
RE the bougies - they're now on a table, if that's what you mean by 'where are' they
I built a ~10' table, with a closet-shelving 'table-top', to get most of them off the ground, here's a pic I took last night - plz note this isn't finished, it's getting 2 more horizontal ties on each end for rigidity, especially at the base as there's no strength for lateral pressures right now, although I can stand on the center of this thing
Though two of the bougies are stuck on the ground, they were my first two real large (1'+ wide) yammas, I wasn't ready and they ended up being boxed in a way that the boxes are simply not movable, if I want to get them off the ground they need new containers - getting them out of their boxes and into containers is something I was planning to do in autumn, after the summer growth had hardened-off, I was planning to take them out of their boxes, prune-back, do some woodwork (I can only imagine the cringes and face-palms at people reading me write that, but yes I've bought a couple tools and have been reading&watching Graham Potter and experimenting (on the remaining 7' topiary ficus.b!), as both of the stuck-on-ground bougies were really stumped yamadori, they're going to need a lot of wood removed and my intent was to do a 'rough' removal of much of it the first re-boxing, then do a more final carving once they've grown some more seasons
)
"a wilting bougie in FL is confusing"
FWIW, I got a HUGE amount of relief yesterday when, at a friend's place, I noticed their (landscape) bougie and rushed over to check it out - thing had 20x the caterpillar problem mine does (he lives ~0.5mile from me), presumably because he doesn't care much about it and has just let them do their thing (wasn't even aware til I showed him lol), whereas I've spent at least 20min daily out there manually hunting these guys, they're still a problem but with enough time hunting them I've only lost a small handful of growing tips so far
