BonsaiMatthew
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Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:52 pm
Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

Ficus Spire -- nursery stock help (photo)

I bought this ficus spire from the nursery even though I'm much more familiar with the benjamania species. It was a great deal, I couldn't turn it down. The spire species seems to develop a nice woody stem.

Do you, more enlightened botanists than myself, think this tree could make good bonsai? The tree currently stands 2 feet tall from soil to tips.

Any thoughts on how to start it? It's definitely showing apical dominance right now and I'd like to take quite a bit off the top to shorten it and promote lateral growth.



[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/73992342@N04/6686287095/][img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6686287095_fc709ca5aa.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/73992342@N04/6686287095/]DSCI0165[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/73992342@N04/]freefall365[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/73992342@N04/6686287037/][img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6686287037_72c26a10f4.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/73992342@N04/6686287037/]DSCI0164[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/73992342@N04/]freefall365[/url], on Flickr

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rainbowgardener
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just discovered your unanswered post, so I thought I'd bump it, in case there's someone out there that can answer your questions....

linlaoboo
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It will need to be a large sized bonsai given the large leave size. I don't recall seeing this as a recommended ficus bonsai type so let us know how it goes if you do decide to try it.

TomM
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Location: Cedarville (SE of Utica) NY, USA

The one thing that comes to mind with this is a possible forest or group planting where you could get a second, smaller, clump and plant them together on a wide low tray or shallow oval pot. Over time (a few years) the required pruning and wiring will turn these youthful, or juvenile, looking trees into a very attractive style with maturity and grace. Leaf size can be reduced a bit - but a large size grouping of trees with the right size container could become a very nice forest.

Let us know what you do with this.



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