ficus aerial root ramification?

[artisanoo]

Hi, I havent posted in a while because I have been just letting my plants grow without much interference. its about that time again though, and so I have a question about what to do next.

one of my trees is a ficus (not sure the exact name, I was told microcarpa when I got it, but in any case it look like the standard ficus that everyone seems to have). lately it has started putting out a profusion of roots from different points on the trunk. I was able to coax one of the particularly high ones (maybe 7-9 inches up) to reach the soil over the course of a week or 2, kind of winding its way near the trunk, to add some character.

my question is, I know that that once it establishes itself, it will tighten up and become stronger, but I assume it will continue to grow and ramify under the soil. I would like to potentially induce some ramification slightly above the sol level, to help get some nice flair and character to the root/trunk.

if it is anything like a branch I assume it can just be cut an inch or 2 above the soil but I didnt want to damage it before asking. (I assume forcing a root to grow in certain direction is already one stress, and I don't want to add insult to injury and lose the root altogether.

can anyone give some tips on how to achieve this? pictures of results would be great too if anyone has any.

or is it wrong to try to induce ramification in a root at this point? is it better to wait until after it is established and use some more specialized technique?

thanks a lot in advance!

[Gnome]

artisanoo,

That's a good question, one that I have never considered before though. I'm not nearly as experienced with tropicals as some of our other members but I'll take a stab at it.

I think I would be inclined to allow the aerial root to strike root for now. Unless you are in a particularly good climate you might count your blessings that you have any. I have never seen them with my Ficus, but I have never actively encouraged them either.

Perhaps it might be best to disregard the fact that you are dealing with an aerial root and deal with it just as you would any other root that you wish to ramify. In other words do nothing now but plan on trying to improve it when you next re-pot. I always try to improve the root system/distribution of my trees at re-potting but otherwise do very little.

If you wish to induce roots a little higher how about allowing it to grow naturally as I suggested but doing a sort of layer on it? If you mound some soil around the base of the root that may encourage it to ramify higher. Or maybe an open ended cylinder like [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18867]this[/url] could be employed for a while.

I guess what I'm saying is that I have doubts whether or not you should cut your root above the soil, you might be sorry. Hopefully someone else with actual experience in dealing with aerial roots will chime in.

Norm

[artisanoo]

exactly, thats why I had the hesitation. I thought it possible that it might dry out if wounded at this critical stage, or dieback, etc. bottom line is that I didnt want to make any assumptions that it would be 'just like a branch'

I actually think the mounding is a great idea, I may give that a shot. maybe a spent toilet-paper roll or something similar would be a good candidate for my need.

if anyone else has any insight, please chime in - in the mean time I will try and get that tube set up asap. maybe ill try before it strikes the soil, since then it will have to spend less time 'searching' for soil and have a greater chance of establishing.

maybe ill try and get some pics too

[bonsaiboy]

I would not cut it as of yet. Ficuses are known to grow thick roots very quickly. When it becomes thick enough, it may put out secondary roots then. You might also want to make a paste of rooting hormone and water and rub that onto the root. This may also encourage secondary rooting.

[artisanoo]

so the root hit ground and I can only assume is in the process of establishing itself. just wondering if any of you guys with experience in tropicals know how long it takes for a root like this to start thickening? (I don't mean when it gets massive, but just when it starts changing from the 1mm thick strand it starts at)

if its of any relevance, it is about 7-8 inches long

thanks guys,
gabe

[bonsaiboy]

I have noticed this may very between roots. On my scheffleras, some roots swelled up a week after they touched the soil top, others have never yet really grown. I do not know if this applies to the ficus roots or not.

[artisanoo]

so far it seems the same - a few other ones have a little more thickness to them, but this longer one seems to be stuck at the same width. some more have begun coming out of the trunk though at lower levels (few inches from soil, as opposed to the 8 inches this one is), perhaps the longer ones need more time
ill post if anything interesting happens

on another note, my other ficus (a green island - the one from the original post is a retusa I think) all of a sudden looks like it has tons of little root bumps all over - may have some interesting roots on that one too soon but its not too big yet, so I would probably only want a few (so as not to let the roots completely screw with the scale when they get to huge.) probable id keep as many as I could close to trunk, and a few farther out, depending on which ones actually extend nicely.

[artisanoo]

as a follow up, ive got a question for you guys.
after the root from the original post hit ground, more have begun coming from the trunk. most are closer to the ground than the long one, id say a give or take a few inches from the base.

my question is, I can either just let them do their own thing, or I can try and hold them closer to the trunk with string or something (in an effort to allow them to eventually fuse into it and make the trunk thicker). I like the idea of a thicker trunk but I was wondering if that sounds natural, or if it would look contrived and funky looking.

any opinions?

sorry I don't have pics right now but any thoughts would be helpful