• Monday, October 12th, 2009
I was contacted a short while back by a woman who I had met a year or so ago. Her brother was ill and she couldn’t keep up with his bonsai collection and asked if I would accept it as a donation with the agreement that I cared for the trees. I could hear the sadness in her voice, and how deeply these trees meant to her and her brother. I agreed without seeing them, but knew there would have been some neglect because of not being under the care of a bonsai hobbiest.
Ficus Nerafolia in need of pruning
Surface roots in too shallow of a pot
This is one of the trees that I was given to look after. It is leggy, and the roots were in poor condition. I know these trees are very forgiving though and knew after being repotted that it would be fine.
Of course this got me to thinking about my own collection, and what my trees mean to me. Not to mention what will happen to them after my time on Earth comes to pass. I often think that if I am able I will simply take the trees out into a nicely wooded area where I could plant them and allow them to grow into their full sized relatives. I guess only time will tell
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• Saturday, February 21st, 2009
I have had this tree for years, and knew that there were things about it that bothered me. However I just never did anything about them, and over time I got used to it. Recently I took this tree to my local club for a critique. If you haven’t done this, you’re missing out. They are a great opportunity to get opinions from other members on how to improve your collection.
As I put the tree in the front of the membership I pointed out the large root in the back of the trunk and the low left branch. Before I knew it, Mike Rogers had grabbed a saw and removed them in full agreement. It changed the look of the tree immediately for the better.
Here is the tree after the branch and root had been removed. You can see the hole it left in the canapy to the right of the trunk, but the lower left branch is not even missed.
The trunk line is now more simple, and the scars will cover quickly. In fact in a couple Florida months this tree’s canopy will be filled in once again.
I wired a few branches in order to move them into the open space so that they can begin to fill in. It won’t be long before I can post an updated shot of this much improved tree.
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• Friday, September 21st, 2007
Here we are 4 months later and you can see how this tree has recovered from the root pruning. This tree is just a joy to take care of, and maintain. Sept 2007
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The amazing thing about ficus is the ability to root prune them drastically and they won’t even slow their growth at all. As you can see I took about 80% of the roots.
Don’t let the foliage fool you, it is only changing out last years foliage for new growth for this year. It will fill in just a couple of weeks. Notice how much better it sits in the pot now. This tree has been an absolute joy to grow and develop. In the next few weeks I hope to really capture a great picture of it. May 2007
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