Really ? I know we should leave nature to itself and not touch anything so as to not disturb the eco system, but what do you say about ants,my ficus Benjamina plant's pot got some red ants, should I treat it and get rid of them or leave them?
Great find, Toy! The air layer is going to be a monster. Good call on waiting with those side branches. Once the air layer come off, you’ll have lots of options for the mother tree. Keep growing, brother. Looking forward to part two.
Thanks! I'm thinking this project will end up being the mother tree, and then several phases of different fusions. It's giving me my bonsai fix in these boring winter months
Nice to meet you. New sub. Liked the calmness of your voice and minimum music while working. I'm in Florida. Ficus is my favorite cause it takes alot of neglect. Meaning it won't die easily. Those "potatoe roots" hold enough energy in the plant to outlast even some of the native plants. They will be the last thing I saw off when they are ready for the bonsai pot.
I use teflon tape for fusion ficus. It adheres to itself when you wrap it around a few times, but not to the trunks, so it doesn't damage the bark. It's also a bit flexible, so even if you wrap it a bit too tight it doesn't bite into the trunks. That's the best bang for buck 20$ I've seen hahaha, nice video!
Great rescue Mike! Lots of success with cuttings! Ficus are fun that way. 😁 I find the typical rooting hormone is hit & miss, but the #3 is really powerful and works better. Looking forward to all the results. 👍
@@BonsaiBoise Oooh, I’ve seen a few cheap ones here.. but a I don’t have the space (this year) for more tropicals inside unless they are really really special.. Hopefully some more will be available when I’m ready, or in the summer when I can keep outside.. before expanding the indoor setup ..
Imagine how a teacher feels. You have to be redundant in order for some of us to learn. Sometimes, I have to watch bonsai videos 3 times before the lightbulb goes on.
@@blooky102 To the best of my knowledge, no. I've always treated them both the same. I'm sure there are some differences between them but as far as I can tell, they are the same in all the basic care needs.
I'm not an expert but I think those insects were flies, related to the common fruit flies. I've got them in the past when I was using soil rich in organic matter. They seem to be attracted to the decomposing matter. This was a great buy, looks in a pretty nice condition and to get so many trees form a single pant ... definitely worth it. Good luck with the airlayering and fusions! Looking forward for part 2.
Whatever they were, they were camera shy. They were swarming that soil every time I looked at it, but once the camera was on they disappeared. Yet another reason to hate fruit flies! lol
Some I did and some I didn't. I've done a 2nd "bush to Bonsai" recently and those I know I bound a lot of those cuttings together before rooting them. But, I still let them sit in water and root there, even after binding them.
@@jc-wx3sm well when it comes to ficus I do a lot more successful cuttings for sure. Although I haven't tried with a fiddle leaf ficus. I did see that Nigel saunders rooted some cuttings from a fiddle leaf so I at least know it's possible.
