Willow-leaf ficus: How similar are these to Benji's & Macrocarpa's?

[SU2]

I won a bonsai-lottery this past weekend and got to choose from a table, went for this guy as I had every other species:



Since no name-dropping is involved I figure it's OK for me to say, well, that I look at the cuts on this thing and think "What were they going for?", it's clearly got two "trunk chops" or "toppings" in its history (for clarity, my finger points to each in this picture, if you look closely you can see unhealed wounding they're definite "trunk chops":

But to my mind, those chops were done before it was even time for chop #...but maybe that's because I'm thinking more like Ficus Macro's, and not like Ficus Benji's (where you don't trunk-chop too hard, lest you kill the thing)

Would just love to know "where the differences are", the most-significant ones at least, for instance if someone were getting their first Benji (coming from just Macro's), the BIGGEST thing (IMO) to tell them is about how it doesn't back-bud generously, there's plenty of other differences but none that're so significant for our art....hoping to learn the quirks of this Willow Leaf cultivar, thing just feels fragile!!

 

[SU2]

How about just 'Toughness of the rootmass'?

Could do a whole lot just knowing that, found a big encircling root in the pot after doing the top and, were it a Macrocarpa, I'd be cutting roots as I wanted them to be, w/o much thought towards plant-health, uncertain if Willows tolerate that the way Macro's do!

 

[SWfloirda]

You can treat it like a microcarpa. You might be able to take a root cutting too.

 

[SU2]

You can treat it like a microcarpa. You might be able to take a root cutting too.

This is outstanding to hear from a fellow Floridian!

Which of the two would you say is tougher? Like, Macrocarpa's are a bit tougher overall than Benjamina's, what of Willow-V-Macro's?

Also - unsure if you've found this yet yourself here in FL (or if you water frequently enough to make-use of this), but I've found an easy no-chem treatment for the rampant *Thrips* infestations: Simply blast the hell out of the foliage-mass every.single.watering!!! Works a charm, haven't had to use chems for thrips and I'm talking BIG yamadori Benji's that were thrip-infested when collected, I still put them into the ficus-area and just start blasting them along w/ the others, the physical abrasion/force of the water just "removes" enough of them (or maybe their eggs) that it works a charm....but in looking at this Willow's foliage, I fear the trick may not work so well with those leaves (or that it may destroy leaves, the force used), so would LOVE to know what chemicals you use (or would advise) for thrips on Willows since I expect they're an inevitability once this guy enters the nursery (still on my porch!) If Bayer's 3-in-1 suffices, then Yayy

 

[SU2]

You might be able to take a root cutting too.

I can't say I'm too familiar with root-cuttings.....I DO take & stick pretty much anything I prune-off of my 3 cultivars of Ficus right now, have far more whips/seedlings than I have use for (waiting til Arbor Day to dump them), do Willows stick just as readily as macro's? I literally just jam Macro cuttings into the substrate of already-setup containers, and get very high success%, would love to be able to do the same w/ Willow I mean I easily have 4 or 5 dozen Ficus seedlings(well, 1yr old and younger plants) accumulated, would love adding Willows but wouldn't do so if they're a more "normal" success rate (few species aside from Ficus would stick/propagate the way that Ficus.M's do!)

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nerifolia are practically epiphytes. You don’t need to worry about preserving much root mass...especially in FL.

Regarding the cuts and wondering what the previous owner was going for, remember sometimes the cuts are about what was removed as much as what’s left...

 

[SWfloirda]

For a root cutting when you prune the long, circling root off replant the long part and it may strike. I haven’t had luck with this myself but I only have one willow leaf and I’ve only repotted once. For traditional cuttings I’ve gotten one larger one to take but no small whips. I have better luck with 1-2 inch thick microcarpa cuttings over small green growth too.
Ive only had thrips on my Benjamina varieties.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Remember, macrocarpa is still incorrect terminology. It's microcarpa.

 

[Michael P]

My climate requires both F. salicaria and F. microcarpa to be brought inside for the winter. Willowleaf is much more sensitive to the move, and I struggle to keep the leaves on and the spider mites off. It is also more easily damaged by cold. But when both species are happy outdoors in the summer there isn't any difference in care or growth rate.