MTM - Schefflera banyan progression thread.

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I really like banyan style tropicals so in March 2023 I decided to give it a try. I bought two of these Dwarf Schefflera in 1 gallon nursery pots from the local bonsai nursery. I'm going to focus on the one I've done more work on since I have two of these. I haven't taken a lot of pictures until lately, and I'm basically learning from doing, and anything I can find on the internet. Any advice is appreciated, & opinions good or bad.

Picture from when I first got them.


I put the plant into a big clear plastic bag to trap the humidity so Aerial roots (AR) could form, I keep them under lights & take it out of the bag every 4-5 days to check on it, and let it breath. The AR began to form in a week and, then the weeks long growth process to reach the soil.

Here's a pic of the AR that made it to the soil in April of 2023 about 5-6 weeks from forming. You can also see some that dried up & died.


A week later I decided to direct these AR to were I wanted them with plastic straws (see below), using some moss inside the straws. I removed the straws once the AR hardened off.



I didn't take any pictures of it during the spring/summer while it was outside, but below is a picture in early September 2023 with the roots fully formed. I also completed defoliated it in late May of 2023, and that was a real nail bitter for me, hoping the defoliation wasn't going to kill it.



I just let it do it thing for the rest of they fall, trimming when needed. Fast forward to December 2023 I put it in a clear humidity tent that I could vent more easily, for more AR to form, but this time I misted the trunk and all the branches until I saw the AR forming. I now see the misting is the key. Below is a picture from February 4th 2023.



I just let them grow wild instead of using the straws to direct them like last year. Seeing all of these AR I cut the ones I didn't want off and let the rest harden off.


Below is a picture of it today with the AR hardened off, I now have a grow tent with fans and proper ventilation, so I don't worry about mold and fungus as much. My next step is to see which/how many of these AR survive, and to place them where I want when I repot this year.



I mentioned that I have two of these Schefflera, and this is just one of them. At some point, (not quite sure when) I want to plant both of them together to form a wider Banyan Tree. The second one is currently in the grow tent and instead of letting the AR grow wild I'm going to be more selective & direct more to the ground with straws.

The final goal is a smaller version of this.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Full picture of the plant in post 1 I'll call it, Subject number one.


And here's Subject number two, no work by me. This year I'll prune and partially defoliate.

It already had some nebari going when I got it, You can also see the new aerial roots growing

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Subject #2 today. Five weeks later most of the aerial roots (AR) have made it to the soil. Waiting for the AR to harden off so I can trim off the roots that are growing sideways off the main AR.



Still trying to figure out what causes the AR to grow like a tripod. I'll cut the two roots on the right off and just leave the one growing down once it hardens off. And you can see another root growing off downward one.



An example of the AR growing on green not brown wood.



I also found some weird growth on a few of the leaves. Nothing weird underneath the leaf. Might create a separate thread to ask the community what this could be.



I did find & remove some scale bugs a few months ago, and was wondering if these may be eggs, afterbirth, or feces, just speculation on my part. Trying to scratch it off just ripped the leaf. It's not sticky and doesn't smell, and nobody wanted to try tasting it.




I'm planning on repotting both Dwarf Schefflera together into a home made grow box in early summer.