Roots protruding from soil of my ficus

[Crassula king]

Weird development on two of my ficus trees. On both my ficus benjamina "too little " and my ficus nerifolia there are roots growing out of the soil. Pretty much straight up. It isn't super clear from my pictures and I am not talking about the aerial roots seen in one of my pictures. Last repot was pretty recent for both trees. Less than a year ago. Has anyone else seen this growth pattern before or have insight into what it means? Thank you!

 

[penumbra]

I see it frequently, more with some types of ficus than others.

 

[Colorado]

I think it means your ficus is rocking out! Nice!

 

[Forsoothe!]

Roots grow in the direction they are pointed. If they are pointed out of the soil they just keep on truckin' anyway. You can scrape a little pathway back into the soil, but they are pretty brittle and often break off, so be delicate.

 

[Lorax7]

I have several ficus benjamina 'Natasja' and have seen this behavior from the roots before.

 

[Vance Wood]

Time to repot.

 

[Shibui]

Ficus roots seem to be happy to grow any direction provided there is enough humidity to support growth. May be an adaptation to colonize rock faces and support epihitic growth on host trees - curtain figs, strangler figs.
Roots growing out of the soil means is you are providing high humidity and good growing conditions.

 

[Crassula king]

Ficus roots seem to be happy to grow any direction provided there is enough humidity to support growth. May be an adaptation to colonize rock faces and support epihitic growth on host trees - curtain figs, strangler figs.
Roots growing out of the soil means is you are providing high humidity and good growing conditions.

Thanks! I have been trying hard to keep up on tree maintenance. I think I will just need to be a bit more careful to trim any and all upward facing roots when it is time to repot again.

 

[penumbra]

Thanks! I have been trying hard to keep up on tree maintenance. I think I will just need to be a bit more careful to trim any and all upward facing roots when it is time to repot again.

Be aware that roots are like branches. You can cut them off and you can't (normally) put them back. In some cases those surfacin roots can become part of the future design.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Set a small ornamental rock on top of those roots, that will point them back down. Or trim them off (prune them off). The point of bonsai is appearance, if those roots disturb you, remove them.

They are doing that because the tree is healthy, it is a sign of good vigor and proper humidity. You are in Utah, this is the wrong time of year to repot if you have less than ideal winter conditions for your tree. But if you have a well planned indoor growing area (lights, humidity tent, etc) and can keep them actively growing all winter, then repotting now is okay. Myself I put my Ficus outdoors for the summer, and limp them through the winter as best I can. If you are like me, then do all your repotting May to end of June, so the Ficus has time to recover before the low humidity and cool weather of indoors for winter.