Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part II

Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part I

In part I, I detailed how I acquired the starting materials and first steps in :

• Create a compact and tough root ball of feeder roots
• Develop a nebari [ Surface roots that will give the illusion of an old tree anchored in the pot ]
• Toughen the main trunk

What was left was to start on the following points:

• Create primary and secondary structures
• Create ramification [ i.e. ramification is the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones, i.e. trunk into branches, branches into increasingly smaller branches, etc. - this step will also encourage the formation of smaller leaves as well as define helps recreate the form and ultimately give the illusion of a full-size tree ]
• Optionally : Give some shape to the trunk and branches, ex. via wiring.

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Shaping and selecting a new leader
Finally time to train the lower left branch.
The right side has sufficient character for me, over time the aerial roots should add more character to that section of the tree.
But the left side lacks character. If I leave it as it is I might get something interesting but I could also end up with a simple straight branch.



I decided to went ahead and wire the branch and simply give it a twist.
Now for the right side : It is time to choose a new leader.


Identifying the new leader and removing the old leader.



Final state of the tree at the end of this session.
Now just leave the plant alone and allow it to grow freely.
Don't forget to feed it regularly.

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Getting rid of invasive weeds
The regular feeding has given good results.
Lots of growth, but its not yet time to work on the tree itself.
On the other hand, the extensive feeding has also helped the weeds to grow.


Some weeds have shallow roots structures that won't compete with the tree to get resources in the pot.
Other weeds will develop huge extensive root systems that will over take the pot and end up reducing the bonsai's effective intake of water and nutrients.
Those weeds need to be removed as early as possible if they will compete for nutrition in the pot.


You have to know your weeds and decide if its worth keeping or not.
If in doubt, or you don't know how the weed's root develops over time, just take the weed out in this case.
Better be safe than sorry :)

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Starting on the creation of the primary branches at the right time
I've basically established my trunk structure now.
I could let it grow more and bulk up some more, but this bulking up will also occur when I'll start on the creation of my primary and secondary branch structures.

The plant is going into a new growth cycle.
Old leaves are turning yellow and will eventually fall off. Buds will start to swell soon and those will in turn become new branches for this new growth cycle.


At this stage its the ideal time to force the tree to pull new growth.
So I decided to go ahead at this stage and start developing the primary branches.

Removing the sacrificial branch
A sacrificial branch is a branch that is allow to grow freely in order to bulk up the immediate area where that sacrificial branch is located.
Below I'm pointing at my sacrificial branch.


As that sacrificial branch grew over the months, it also thicken the area below it.
Below : The indicated branch has thicken up significantly.


At this stage the sacrificial branch has served its purpose and can be removed.
Be careful with the angle at which you cut off the branch.
This branch become a primary branch.


Below : Another potential sacrificial branch.
I could leave it to bulk up that small "trunk", but in this case I will remove it.
The process of developing the primary branches on this "trunk" will over time bulk it up naturally.


Below : Final shape of the tree.
The basic trunk structure is established, now I need to start creating and developing the primary, secondary, tertiary structures etc.

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Follow up on the wiring
Don't forget to regularly check on the wires.
As the tree grows, the bark will start to grow into the wire, which in turn will leave a scar.
How long you can wait, or to what extend you can let the bark grow into the wire is entirely up to the tree's ability to recuperate after you've removed the wire.

Big scars = longer time for the tree to seal it off.
Smaller scars = shorter time for the tree to seal it off.

Below : The trunk is just starting to grow over the wire.
In a bigger tree I could leave it for another month or so.
But since I'm planning on making a shohin bonsai [ bonsai less than ~20 cm in height ] or even a mame bonsai [ bonsai less than ~13 cm in height ], I prefer not to allow the bark to grow too much onto the wire.


Below : After the wire was removed.
You can see the scar left by the wire.

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Reducing foliage, encouraging new growth

This step is optional, but if do try it make sure that :
1. The tree is healthy  - I.e. did not suffer an major pest attack or fungal attack in the weeks or months prior.
2. The tree is has enough food reserves to pull new growth - In this case I've been feeding the tree for months before hand so that it has enough resources to create the new branch structures I will try to stimulate it to grow.
3. The tree is being defoliate at the right time. Very important! The tree may be healthy and have enough food reserves, but if you are defoliating at a time where it should be sleeping, you will needlessly stress the tree. 
4. The tree rests and recuperates from the defoliation afterwards. Defoliation is a stressful process for the tree, it is using up its reserves to build new structures. You need to allow it to rest and build up once more its reserves before attempting any other stressful action in the future.



In this case I will not fully defoliate the plant, but instead reduce the leaves, but the warning above still prevails.


To reduce the leaves, just cut the leaf in half.
Ideally try to do it artistically to make it look like a leaf (kite shape)




After a few days new shoots appeared all over the trunk and branches.

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Bonsai design - Creating a virtual
Sometimes it’s hard to get a good idea of how to shape a bonsai material that was started from scratch.
The initial starting material [ see part I ] looked messy with poor potential, with almost no foliage, the few foliage present only growing on the ends of long branches.

Now the tree has evolved enough for me to see a potential image of a tree in my mind.
That image might evolve together with the tree as new features appears.

But its always a good idea to have a visual image of what you want your plant to look like in the future.
It helps you direct your actions on the tree and not waste time on unnecessary actions.
It helps you to identify areas that needs more growth or areas that should be more controlled.

At any point in the future it is easy to grab your tools, to start wiring and prune away, but to make sure you make the right decisions sometimes the best thing is to make a sketch or virtual first.

Below : Not the best virtual in the world, but enough to give me a general idea on how to nudge the plant in the right direction for the next 2 ~ 3 years.



Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part I

Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part I

Progression of a collected ficus plant.

I collected this plant back in June 2012.
I know it is of the genus Ficus , but I am assuming it Ficus rubiginosa, commly known as Rusty Fig, Port Jackson Fig, or Little-leaf Fig.
It is a plant that develops in cracks on walls and is common all over Mauritius.
Sometimes it grows on roots or electrical poles.

Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part II

ASK PERMISSION BEFORE COLLECTING
In this case it was collected from my own wall in the garden.
But if you are collecting from someone's else garden/wall, be sure to ask permission first!
Do not collect from parks or public gardens without permission from the garden's administration ( usually forestry services )


Collecting the plant and first repotting
The plant was growing on a wall, with some long lateral roots that we reaching for the ground.
I started to collect the tree at the end of summer / start of winter ( i.e. that's around June/July here )



I tried to remove the plant with as many feeder roots as possible, but there were nearly none to be found.
In the end, I simply removed some long lateral roots and sawed the plant off the wall.



I applied some rooting powder on the sawed area and further removed any unwanted roots.
The rooting powder can be obtained in nurseries or garden centers, such as espace jardin or vaneron garden.
Usually ficus species do not need any help to start throwing new roots. So this step is purely optional.



The plant was re-potted in a bonsai substrate (bonsai soil) made up of :

• 40% - river sand (sand used in aquariums) 
• 20% - baked clay pellets 
• 20% - perlite 
• 10% - crushed pine bark
• 10% - potted soil mix

And here is the final product, not much of a looker.
Well its not a bonsai yet.
Basic plan for it to turn into a bonsai over the next years:

• Create a compact and tough root ball of feeder roots
• Develop a nebari [ Surface roots that will give the illusion of an old tree anchored in the pot ]
• Toughen the main trunk
• Create primary and secondary structures
• Create ramification [ i.e. ramification is the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones, i.e. trunk into branches, branches into increasingly smaller branches, etc. - this step will also encourage the formation of smaller leaves as well as define helps recreate the form and ultimately give the illusion of a full-size tree ]

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Checking on the roots and starting the nebari

After several weeks, the leaves have matured and developed.
New sets of leaves have also appeared.

New Leaves = New roots.
Its not an absolute rule, but new leaves would also mean new roots have had time to grow in the meantime.
It was time to check if there was indeed new roots and to start the creation of a compact root-ball.



The new root system that developed going in the right direction for my taste.
Lots of feeder roots close to the trunk, not a tap root in sight.
Only those two lateral roots were out of place.



Below - After the two lateral roots have been removed.
I could just leave them for another growth cycle or two, but I felt that the tough root-ball near the trunk was good enough to sustain the plant for now.



Creating the nebari : Spread the roots to form the future nebari ( surface roots )
This is only the first step, as the roots will grow and thicken, they will become the base of the future bonsai.


After 3 weeks I went ahead and made an initial styling.
At that time I did not have any aluminium bonsai wire, so I used what I managed to find on the local market.
In this case a 0.7mm galvanized binding wire.
You can get those in "quincaillries" or espace maison / espace jardin, or in hypermarkets like Jumbo, Shoprite.


There are thicker diameter wires of 1mm and 1.5mm available, but they are too hard to bend without damaging the bark of the trees. So I personally don't recommend them for bonsai use.
Below : Left wire is the 0.7mm wire, right is the 1.5mm wire.

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Follow up on the nebari

After several months of leaving the "wee tree" to its own devices, there were several aerial roots that formed and proceeded to grow out of the pot.





Initially I went ahead to made a basic re-potting to place those escaping roots back into the pot, but during the process I found two thick lateral roots.

The lateral root does not absorb nutrients for the tree, it is mainly a "highway" to transport nutrients and water from the feeder roots that are at its extremities to the leaves and vice versa.
In a normal plant that grows in the ground, it would grow long in search of nutrition and water for the plant and most of the feeder roots would form at the end of those lateral roots.

In a bonsai context, since we are placing the plant in a small container, we want as much feeder roots as possible close to the trunk to maximise the plant's needs. The lateral have no purpose in this case.
If we let it develop further, it will only grow thicker and product more feeder roots further from the trunk.

I went ahead to remove those thick roots.



Back into its pot.



Out of the points that I needed to cover in my basic plan to turn this plant into turn into a bonsai over the next years, I've started the following points (Those points above have been started but NOT completed. It is is an ever-going process.)

• Create a compact and tough root ball of feeder roots.
  At every re-potting, I will need to check on the root-ball to make sure that the lateral roots or tap roots are not taking over. 
• Develop a nebari [ Surface roots that will give the illusion of an old tree anchored in the pot ]
  I might need to make corrections to the nebari [ remove roots that are becoming too thick or promote thinner root to allow them to thicken to fit into the design ]
• Toughen the main trunk.
  The main trunk will continue to thicken slightly as new branches develops. At this stage there is also a risk of reverse taper occurring.

I now need to start on the following points:

• Create primary and secondary structures
• Create ramification [ i.e. ramification is the divergence of the stem and limbs of a plant into smaller ones, i.e. trunk into branches, branches into increasingly smaller branches, etc. - this step will also encourage the formation of smaller leaves as well as define helps recreate the form and ultimately give the illusion of a full-size tree ]
• Optionally : Give some shape to the trunk and branches, ex. via wiring.

Ficus rubiginosa #2 - Part II

Pomegranate from Seed - Part I

Some time ago I kept some pomegranate seeds and decided to try to make them sprout to make, in some unknown future, bonsai out of them.

With the tropical climate in Mauritius, I got quite a bit of growth over the last 12 months, but it still has a long way to go before it even comes close to bonsai material.

This is the basic plan done so far :
> Germinate seed
> Leave alone to grow freely
> Prepare Sapling for bonsai life:
> Get rid of taproot
> Leave alone to grow freely
> Young plant - wait for basic lignified structure to appear
> Start wiring (if you want to)
> Allow for sacrificial branches to thicken up the plant
> Leave alone to grow freely


There's roughly 12 seeds that sprouted and so far only one has progressed far enough to go into the wiring stage. The rest have been through the "get rid of the taproot" stage only and are growing freely for now.

Stage 1 : Germinate the seeds.

No bonsai excitement in view at this stage, only basic horticultural skills needed to keep the seeds alive and kicking.
Stratify it, plant it, wait for it to germinate, wait for it to get strong enough for transplant, cross fingers and anything else that you can cross and hope it does not die on you.
Each seed germination process will vary, so just be patient at this stage.









I also placed seeds in other containers, same story: wait for seeds to sprout and be strong enough for transplantation.

Stage 2 : Prepare Sapling for bonsai life

Do some basic bonsai root works: Get rid of taproot, spread the lateral roots in a desired radial shape to become future nebari.
You can forget about ramifications at this stage, because the main trunk is usually way too thin.
You need to let it grow, grow, grow and thicken, thicken, thicken.
Oh and stick it in the ground or a training pot! :)
Keep the bonsai pot inside the closet for now.

The "Get rid of the taproot and spread lateral roots" are probably the two most important actions at this stage.

The taproot is usually a long vertical root that is used by the plant to anchor the plant into the ground, over the years as the plant grows, this taproot grows deeper and thicker. It will also create lateral roots that will go in search of nutrition in the ground. As the tree grows older, some taproot dies and rots away, leaving only the lateral roots to hold the tree into the ground.

In a bonsai, you don't need that anchoring structure, so we need to remove the taproot to be able to place the plant successfully into a smaller pot. The advantage of a seed over a nursery material or a yamadori material is that we can remove that structure earlier and also arrange the lateral roots earlier.

Young pomegranate sapling

The taproot has been removed and the lateral roots spread about

Repotted

Processing several seedlings

Removed from the seed tray, and sprayed regularly with water to prevent the roots from drying out.

Identifying the taproot

Taproot removed

Do the same on the other saplings

Optional step : Use some rooting hormone to encourage new roots where the taproot has been removed.

Repotting : Creating a small hole into the soil

Repotting : Slowly position the root mass into the hole

Repotting : Adjust position before filling the hole once more.

Repotting :  Done

The whole batch processed

Step 3 : Wiring and sacrificial branches

One of the plant has started to lignify, that is it started to produce true woody structures.
At this stage its ideal to wire the plant into a desired shape.
As the plant continues to grow and produce more lignin ( essentially more wood ) this will hold the plant into that new shape.

In nature, the plant's own leaves, fruits and branches will also bend under their own weight to shape the trees. In addition to that, the plants are shaped by external elements like wind, rain, animals (birds, squirrels, monkeys) or even men.

In the case of a bonsai, the bonsaika ( bonsai artist ) has various approaches to creating/shaping the trunk, some approaches I could take in this case are :

• Leave the plant on its own and allow external elements affect it just like in nature.
• Place the pot at odd angles and changing the angles every year or so. 
• Wire the trunk and force a shape on the plant.

With established nursery plants it can be more difficult to create daring curves and shapes because of the rigidity of the trunk. In the case of a young 1~2 year old plant the trunk is soft enough to bend without breaking.


So basically at this stage you can :

• Give it some basic shape and flow to the trunk (Via wiring or placing the pot at odd angles and letting it grow or other means)
• Choose your main branches, sacrificial branches (you can optionnaly get rid of the rest right now)

What you should AVOID to do :

• Do not start on the ramification process!
  The plant is still too young to start creating the ramification
• Do not place it into a bonsai pot!
  The plant needs a bit more room for the roots to develop and to thicken up the trunk.
  Use a training pot or if you have enough space, plant it into the ground for 2~3 growth cycles.

Important side note :
DO NOT OVERWORK THE WIRING!

Place the wire, give it some shape and LEAVE IT ALONE!

Do not give it a twist in one direction then change mind and twist it around in the other direction 5 mins later or the next day.

Decide of a general shape, wire the trunk, shape it and let it be.

The sapling is still young and twisting this way then retwisting another way etc will weaken the trunk and in the worst case scenario might well kill the plant altogether.

If you are not satisfied with the shape obtained, leave it alone for the next 2~3 months to allow the tree to recuperate and give signs of new growth before attempting to "correct" the shape.

Stage 3 - Part I : Wiring

The plant at stage 2 : taproot removed and repotted.

After the plant was allowed to grow freely.

The older lower section has started to lignify ( turn into wood ).

Here you can clearly see the older lower lignified trunk
and the upper newer semi-green trunk.

As you move up the trunk it turns from woody, to semi-green to green.

Time to wire

Give some shape : Slowly and carefully give twists and shapes.

Same tree from another angle. At this stage it is important to not overwork the wiring process.

Stage 3 - Part II : Sacrificial branches
After some time (a few months in the best cases, several months in worst cases) new shoots are going to appear.
Most bonsai books stress a lot on "Remove unwanted growth", but that approach is usually for ESTABLISHED bonsai or near established bonsai.
In this case, the plant is FAR FAR AWAY from being established.
It needs to grow and most of all, it needs to bulk up the trunk, and the best way to do that is to allow it to grow freely for some time, OR make use of sacrificial branches.

The principle of the sacrificial branch is simple :
Allow one or more branches to grow freely to bulk up the trunk or branch with which it is connected.
And once the desired thickness is obtained, cut off the sacrificial branch.

Same plant but as you can see it has pulled several new branches.

Here I'm pointing at one of the sacrificial branches.

As the sacrificial branch will grow, it will become thicker and thicker,
in return it will also make the area underneath it to thicken up.
In other words the lower trunk will become thicker.

Same thing here : The sacrificial branch that I am holding will be allowed to grow freely.
In return as the sacrificial branch grows, the lower section will thicken up.

As the plant will bulk up, I will have to check on the wires to make use that the trunk is not growing over them.
The areas most at risk are the points with U-turn curves or S-shape curves like the point that I am pointing at.