Orlando Bonsai » Ficus Nerafolia

Ficus Narifolia – Clump Style

Paul Pikel — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:33:29 +0000

I’ve only had this tree for about a year now, but the changed are drastic. Even without the foliage this tree has great strength and presence. Additionally this type of ficus is so easy to work with, and it perfect for bonsai because of its small leaves. A rewarding tree at any level of experience.

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The Clumps

Paul Pikel — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:47:51 +0000

I have been looking for a clump style bonsai for a long time, but never have been able to find one that I really liked. However yesterday when I visited Jim Smith’s nursery I was able to track one down. This is a pretty large planting, and will take some work to get it right, but it is easy to see that this will be a great bonsai one day.

Raw clump pre-bonsai

Here it is as I bought it. It never fails to amaze me when I see the small amount of roots needed to support so much foliage.

Clump repotted

I wanted to do a few things by repotting this tree. First I will get a wider root base. So when I repot in to a more shallow pot in the future I will have more surface roots. Also I need to get more energy to the top of these trees so I can develop more branching. Also I want to add another trunk on the far right side to balance the tree. Right now I have 6 trunks and I need to get to an odd number and 7 is the goal.

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Ficus new growth

Paul Pikel — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:00:28 +0000

A few weeks ago I worked on my shohin ficus nerafolia to get it back into shape. As you may remember I priuned this tree pretty hard to get it close to the trunk. Well just a few weeks have gone by and the tree has pretty much completly filled in and regained its great shape.

New foliage on Ficus Nerafolia

It still needs so refining, but it won’t be long until my negleted little tree is back in show shape.

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Neglect

Paul Pikel — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:19:15 +0000

Even though my bonsai collection has been greatly reduced over the past few years, I still find it challenging to keep up with it. At times I am actually overwhelmed with the wiring, pruning, repoting, etc that goes along with bonsai. However I find no greater satisfaction then when I maintain a tree and get it back under control.

leggy ficus

Take this tree for example. I worked very hard to reduce the branches a couple of years ago, however I wanted to give the tree a chance to recover healthwise so I’ve let it grow out. Problem is now the branches are leggy and too long for the trunk. I’m thankful it’s a ficus nerafolia.

Trimmed up Ficus

All it takes to regain control of these trees is to cut the branches back, way back. These trees will break back beyond the green. This means that when you cut a branch back you don’t need to leave any leaves. There are trees such as junipers, Brazilian raintrees, boxwoods in which the branch will die if all the leaves are removed. In the case of the Ficus Nerafolia you don’t have to worry.

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What 300 pound Gorilla?

Paul Pikel — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:38:12 +0000

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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