BADLY compacted Ficus Benjamina - How Agressive Can I Root Prune?
JakeDiamante
12 years ago
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Comments (8)
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoJakeDiamante
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Water Rooting a Ficus Benjamina
Comments (6)What great timing! I was having the same question about my water-started ficus as well! I had read this guy's blog (http://i-grow-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-propagate-ficus-benjamina-in.html) So I took a cutting from my ficus alii... maybe two weeks ago? three weeks? four? (I wish I had written it down!). I followed his directions to cut it where it was not yet woody, but not completely green either. I removed one leaf and left two, and following instructions from another website, I cut through the leaf node to encourage rooting (I don't think this did anything, because no roots are coming from the cut area, just the other intact side). The cutting is inside a jar with filtered water that I change now and then, and that jar is inside a container I filled with water in hopes to "insulate" the cutting jar and also perhaps add some humidity as the water slowly evaporates? The cutting is next to my other plants and the mother tree, and gets some direct light (oops!) and mostly indirect SE window winter light. It's winter here in Minnesota, and the mother tree (actually 4 trees braided together) faces a SE window... in other words, not a ton of light but not bad either. It's not putting out a ton of new leaves like it does in summertime outside, but it looks like she is doing well. I made a cutting from the end of a middle branch that was getting too long. I have since read a lot of posts on here that say putting cuttings in water is a bad idea, since they grow water roots, not soil roots, and will just have to grow new roots once they get put in soil--oops! So I'm hoping my cutting will make the transition. Eukofios, what are root initials? Can those turn into soil roots? I'll include a picture of the cutting so you can see the size (1-2mm?). I've never intentionally grown anything from a cutting before, only tomatoes and mint and basil cuttings that I threw in water since I didn't want to watch them wither and die. Today I am going out to buy some perlite perhaps, and maybe some other things to make a rooting medium--exciting! Thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing all their experience and knowledge of ficus and other plants--invaluable to a beginner like me! OK, I can't figure out how to move images in the post, or attach more than one image to the post, so below is a picture of the cutting "roots." This post was edited by wndy on Fri, Mar 8, 13 at 17:00...See MoreFicus Benjamina Variagata Losing Leaves!
Comments (1)Hi Mike. If it were mine I would flush it out in its current container and then repot the next day. Prune the roots and remove all the old potting mix you can. Prune the top for shape and to reduce the total number of leaves. I am not sure what the leaf spotting is caused by, we actually talk about the edible fig in this forum and it is very different from other types of fig....See MoreFicus Benjamina pruning suggestions
Comments (6)It's fine to change to something like a bark:peat:perlite mixture at a ratio of about 5:1:1. It will look something like you see in the middle here when it's dry. The bark at 3,6, and 9 would be what you're looking for as the bark component. Taking responsibility for the plant's nutritional needs is no big chore. It can be as easy as fertilizing with a little teaspoon every time you water, or you can stretch the intervals out to every 2-3 weeks in summer & maybe monthly in winter. Once you decide how you want to approach the soil & nutrition, I'll help, but if you're willing to order a little Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, I can pretty much promise you it doesn't get any easier. You really can't depend on the soil to fill the nutritional needs of your plants if you want them to be healthy. Here's the general plan for your tree: You have multiple apices (competing leaders) right now, and that needs to change by about 2/3 of the planned height. What you'll need to do is prune off the vertical growth on some of those trunks immediately above a horizontal branch. You'll turn the multiple trunks into multiple branches. If you want your tree to be 9' tall, you want to be sure that you have selected only 1 leader to grow taller than 6'. ALL the rest of the stems growing vertically will have their vertical growth truncated so they then terminate in horizontal or nearly horizontal growth. You'll need to plan out how you want to do this so the branches don't all occur at the same ht. Does that make sense? Yes - that's salicifolia/nerifolia. It was just repotted in the pic - thus the jute holding it secure to the pot. The top needs a hard pruning and the tree needs thinning, but I waited until the roots had reestablished before working the canopy. I have about 25-30 ficus of various species, but benjamina is well-represented in my collection. It's a favorite. I had a forest planting of benjamina 'Starlight' (which I'm thinking your plant is) that I didn't think was anything too special (my planting, i.e.), but it won the people's choice award at the MI All-State Bonsai Show several years ago. Go figure. I'm guessing you should be patient for now & be looking to start working on your tree this summer. I'd be thinking about getting it outdoors when nights are reliably above 55*, unless you want to shuttle it in and out. I'd be planning a full repot, including root pruning in late June & then a heavy pruning in late July. You'll be amazed at what the repot will do for the tree's fullness & o/a vitality. Let me know if you're up for it. Al...See MoreHELP! I Inherited 20 Ficus Benjamina trees. - Los Angeles
Comments (29)Thanks so much parker25mv! Looks like we're both on the same page. I'm not planning on planting them in the ground, and I agree that they're too dominant in LA right now. When I was trying to find a suitable screen plant I read through all of the ficus discussion on here and decided against them. Then these fell into my lap, which opens up budget for native CA plants elsewhere so I'm trying to make lemonade. I'll leave them in the half-barrels, but I'm also open to any suggestions to make them healthier. Root pruning has been suggested above, which I'm looking into now. Thanks!...See Moregonebananas_gw
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoIvan Edgar Pratt
7 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
7 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
7 years ago
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