Tiger Bark Ficus Cuttings Progression

[Apex37]

I took these cuttings from my very first bonsai that was gifted to me by my late mother-in-law. Lemme tell you, after she passed, the stress was real to take care of that tree. Luckily, ficus are crazy hardy as we all know, and even with me poorly overwintering it (due to ignorance before really getting into bonsai), it came back strong as ever this year, even with having to drop 3 major branches due to dieback.

Back at the beginning of June I took these 4 cuttings and stuck them in little 4" pots with some potting soil, perlite, and sand and let them root and grow over the next couple months. I lightly pruned and repotted back couple weeks ago.

I'm trying out to see the difference in development as I planted two in colanders and two in well draining plastic pots. All same soil medium, which is 50/50 pine bark/lava rock that has worked really well for me.

I will continue to update as they progress, but figured I'd just share my experience and start a progression thread. I'm still unsure on what the final size will be for all these, but I'm thinking none bigger than shohin size. I like the idea of the semi cascade as mame, but we will see; they all still have a long way to go.

Any questions or advice is welcome!

 

[hinmo24t]

I took these cuttings from my very first bonsai that was gifted to me by my late mother-in-law. Lemme tell you, after she passed, the stress was real to take care of that tree. Luckily, ficus are crazy hardy as we all know, and even with me poorly overwintering it (due to ignorance before really getting into bonsai), it came back strong as ever this year, even with having to drop 3 major branches due to dieback.

Back at the beginning of June I took these 4 cuttings and stuck them in little 4" pots with some potting soil, perlite, and sand and let them root and grow over the next couple months. I lightly pruned and repotted back couple weeks ago.

I'm trying out to see the difference in development as I planted two in colanders and two in well draining plastic pots. All same soil medium, which is 50/50 pine bark/lava rock that has worked really well for me.

I will continue to update as they progress, but figured I'd just share my experience and start a progression thread. I'm still unsure on what the final size will be for all these, but I'm thinking none bigger than shohin size. I like the idea of the semi cascade as mame, but we will see; they all still have a long way to go.

Any questions or advice is welcome!

awesome. i got similar going with tigerbark and green island, but youre a few steps ahead.
they look great i think, well done by you

 

[Apex37]

awesome. i got similar going with tigerbark and green island, but youre a few steps ahead.
they look great i think, well done by you

Hey thanks so much! It helps when it's such an easy species to work on. I really enjoy ficuses and those who don't see them as bonsai or choose to never work on them are really missing out.

I think that first one has the most potential out of the bunch. I really like the trunk movement, and it's hard to tell because soil line covers some of the nebari, but it has a decent taper already, so we will see where it goes. Hoping to update before they have to come back inside, thankfully for Texas that's still a month or so away.

 

[penumbra]

At this stage they all have the same potential.

 

[Apex37]

At this stage they all have the same potential.

I mean fair, just excited on them.

 

[penumbra]

I mean fair, just excited on them.

I see equal potential in each of them at this stage in their young lives.
If I was to pick one to work on personally, it would be #3. But at this stage it requires such minor work to each of them that you could be done with cursory training on all 4 in a half hour.
They all look nice and healthy. For me, Tiger bark roots easier than Green Island but neither is particularly difficult. I just got 9 of nine with the Tiger bark and my Green Island is never 100%.