New guy with a ficus

[neeelt]

Hi. I'm just getting started learning so please bear with me.

I bought a Tiger Bark Ficus tree last August. After almost killing it a couple times, I feel like I've figured out how to keep it healthy and happy and It's growing nicely in the sunniest spot in my home. Now I'm thinking about how I might prune it this spring and I'd love some of your thoughts.

First off, how did it grow like this? It's got a nice thick trunk that is only a couple inches tall but stops abruptly, almost square on top with a handful of branches growing only off the top. All the branches are very vertical which seems like it will limit this tree to broom style. Many of the first branches are very thick and a couple inches long and then were cut, leading to one or more skinny branches that are even longer and only have leaves at the top, making it look lanky. If the trunk is going to stay short I'd like the canopy to be more low and tight.

So what should I do and when should I do it? I'm thinking at some point I'll want to prune it hard (maybe even back to the thick first branches?) to get the leaves and smaller branches closer to the trunk. Or should I prune the tips of the long branches and see if I can produce back budding? It's in a deep pot with ordinary soil but at some point I'll want to trim the roots and put it in a shallower pot with a proper bonsai soil. Should I do that before addressing the branches?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with me.

 

[Forsoothe!]

You need to spread the branches to suit your tastes. You could bend (wire) them to spread outward like spokes of a wheel that all are slightly different heights with the at couple inches flat, from which you encourage new growth to grow sideways into a ~270° fan with the front of the tree mostly open to view through to see the insides of the tree, shown here as bending left, rear and right with the top of the front slightly tilted towards the viewer...

or you could make a wind swept or modified windswept by wiring them to all go down wind. Still, the branches end in essentially a flat plane at different levels with flat-ish pads/clouds...

Windswept are almost always left to right as shown here, but this tree would seem to favor leaning the other way, so maybe the front should be the other side. (We can't really gauge the depth of field on a computer.) Here's a FTB then...
and now with tree major clouds (that you can see)...

Which shows that you can make a lot of progress pretty quickly. Good choice for a beginner tree.

 

[Michael P]

Please put your location in your profile, it will help us give you good advice.

Put it outdoors in the spring when when low temperatures are no lower than 55 or 60F. Start in the shade and slowly move it into the sun over several weeks. Start fertilizing it. In early summer when the tree is growing well it is time to repot and do major pruning. At that time, ficus will bud back very well, so you can do some drastic pruning.

One way to design the tree is to choose the thickest and best shaped branch and cut all the others off. This would give you an informal upright tree. Or you could keep one or more of the other branches as well. These secondary branches need to be distinctly thinner and shorter than the main branch. But it is too early to make those decisions now. First, get it outside and growing strongly. Then show us more photos.

Good luck!

 

[neeelt]

Thanks Forsoothe! and MichaelP. I managed to change my profile photo but not my location. I'm in WI and it probably won't be until May that I can put it outside again.
I'd thought about fanning out the branches to make it wider but never considered training it to be windswept. My mind was already made up to train this tree in broom style so I think I'll save windswept for a cutting.
Michael, your advice is what I expected but was trying to avoid. Maybe I'll wire it to fan out a bit and just grow it as well as I can for a while and see what happens.

 

[Shibui]

First off, how did it grow like this? It's got a nice thick trunk that is only a couple inches tall but stops abruptly, almost square on top with a handful of branches growing only off the top. All the branches are very vertical which seems like it will limit this tree to broom style. Many of the first branches are very thick and a couple inches long and then were cut, leading to one or more skinny branches that are even longer and only have leaves at the top, making it look lanky. If the trunk is going to stay short I'd like the canopy to be more low and tight.

Figs love to grow long and tall. They are rain forest species so normally it is a race to the top and slow growers are losers so long, unbranched growth is an advantage but they do have the ability to grow new shoots if a branch gets damaged.
It is likely your tree was pruned early where the trunk splits. The new shoots that grew were allowed to grow and became the primary branches. When they grew long enough they were cut too and you can see the new shoots that formed where the branches were cut.
Now the new shoots have grown long - too long for your liking - so they need to be cut. New buds will form and new shoots grow again. this is bonsai fig growing - grow and cut, grow and cut. Don't worry about hurting the tree. Figs respond very well to pruning. You do need to cut further back than you first imagine. Remember the new shoots will only grow out again so cut lower than the desired outline of the tree and let the new shoots grow out to there. For good looking bonsai each section of growth is generally a little shorter than the previous one so look at the first section of those branches and cut the long shoots about 2/3 as long on average.
if you think the previous prune was too high and the lower parts are too long it is fine to chop them back to whatever length looks good and start growing the canopy again figs will do that no problem.

Figs respond well to bonsai shaping so you can wire any branches to the desired shape. I prefer ficus as a spreading tree rather than something like windswept. Those soft branches should set into the new position in a month or 2 so don't leave wires on too long and make marks in the bark.

figs respond better to pruning when they are active. That usually means summer. I guess it is pretty cold in Madison right now but if you have good conditions indoors and this tree is still growing you could prune now. Waiting till spring would be even better.
Repotting figs and other tropicals is better when they are active so usually early summer. Figs are resilient enough to cope with pruning and repotting at the same time but wait until growth is strong.
Occasional fertilizer even in winter should give you a healthier tree come spring growth.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Love the Couch..couch?, But the lines make it hard to look at the tree.

Good Start!

Sorce