To encourage back budding on your trunks perhaps apply florist tape to the top of those trunks while in your greenhouse setup..it would discourage top and side budding on trunk forcing to the bottom where you want it!! 😊
Nice work. I second the top fusion AND modified with air-layer tourniquet method.. tie a wire so tight the tree is force to backbud and send out roots.. double the fun. Thank you for your videos-Always a pleasure to watch.
Thank you, I appreciate that! I have to admit that I'm too nervous about the air layer to try it. If it doesn't work, that's a big portion of trunk that I'll lose.
you can fuse branches to the taller trees from the smaller ones here in this bush to bonsai. you have the fusing experience allready. hear it call aproach grafting too. thanks mike. cool tree/s lol
Daggum, this is gonna be epic, brother. I think you can help those cutting root if you packed in some sphagnum around them. And the airroots will help fill those gaps in the base. Great work, Toy. Looking forward to the update in a few months
Thanks man! I thought about the spagnum moss but I've had mixed results with it, especially when it's exposed. It gets kind of moldy for some reason. But it might be the brand that I have. I should do some searching online to see if I can find more high quality sphagnum Moss.
"a half bagged up ficus" had my rolling. loads of full sun might help it back bud. just hard chopped mine its got buds lower then ever before. i took off almost all the growth/green i could. left just 2 leafs at tips on branches i want to keep. to keep the sap flowing. shit makes me itch lol
I was thinking about doing that same thing actually. It's grown out quite a bit since this update, but STILL nothing lower down the trunk where I was hoping for. The top and bottom have exploded though.
Have you tried grafting branches to the straight trunks? I have a 3' ficus that I finally got the nerves to start cutting down. I never knew how easy it was to root the cuttings! I just stuck the cuttings in water hoping 1 out of 10 would root. Surprise...they ALL rooted! Gave a lot of them away, lol.
I obtained a 35 year old, 6foot tall Benjamina house plant and did a Hail Mary trunk chop to begin its bonsai journey. Kept it in humid greenhouse and it spouted huge amounts of shoots.. so I think aslong as it’s old wood and their is enough energy in the root system they will shoot out. Be brave! Cut them down!
Agreed. I've seen ficus benjamina back bud even after the branch has been defoliated. But the conditions have to be just right, unlike some other trees that have a little more forgiveness in them.
Mike, why not try air-layering those trunks off? While the air layer is forming roots, the trunks SHOULD shoot profusely once you do this. There should also be no worries of the trunks dying off as all the foliage on top will still be there... just a thought
Given my track record with air layers, (maybe 60% success rate), I'm scared! If they were to fail, I would lose those entire trunks, hence like 40 or 50% of the main trunk 😳 My little heart couldn't bear it. Lol
Oh looks like you found the Bush to Bonsai 2 that I commented on earlier! And yes actually, just did an update on this one about a month ago, give or take.
Better cut back above leaves and try get lucky. You can also cut 30 / 50% from the tip of the leaves. There needs to be light so cut of last years leaves. Whenever backbuds open cut back and remove leaves to remove vigour from the tip. Ficus... you need luck...
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