One method to propagate new plants is from root cuttings. This is a thick piece of root that I cut off during the potting process. I selected a root that showed some nice movment and planted the lower end into bonsai soil. I watered as needed and in 6 month’s time the end of the root sprouted new leaves and stems.
Not all Ficus will grow from root cuttings but one fig that does particularly well is Ficus tremula.
Ficus concinna is one of the figs that has the reddest new leaves as well as being an excellent material for bonsai.
The following shot shows the tree, grown from seed, in old and then new foliage. The new foliate sprouts out red and gradually turns green over the next 1-3 weeks. There are other Ficus species that can have new red leaves but concinna seems to have individuals that can show very red or bronze new leaves.
Ficus ‘ExoticaJs’, probably another cultivar related to Ficus salicaria, is a great material for bonsai. In 2013 I purchased a pre-bonsai and did an immediate rough styling. The first image shows the result of an hours’ trimming back.
The second shot shows the tree rin 2018. It is beginning to take a nice shape. I think a few more years of training and it will be an attractive bonsai.
To learn more about growing figs buy the definitive reference work on Ficus for bonsai. The book is a softcover, 8 by 10 inch volume, with 144 color pages, containing detailed information for the beginner as well as the advanced hobbyist. Click here for more informationIt is not easy to create a bonsai from a long and thin piece of material. One way is to use some heavy wire and shape the limber material to your desires. Be creative and try many different shapes. Some will be exciting and some will be losers.
In this case a root cutting of Ficus ‘Mystery’ was used to create an interesting bonsai.
One of my favorite forms of bonsai is the root-over-rock design. It incorporates an attractive stone with nice texture and fissures and a bonsai tree growing over it.
In this case it is a Ficus ‘Mystery’ that was planted on this rock about 15 years ago. The original plant was quite boring and frankly ugly but over the years it is maturing into a lovely piece that surely will improve over time.
More secondary branching is needed to mature out the design.
Here are two Ficus microcarpa bonsai of small size. Both were taken from cuttings from one of my large Ficus. They have always been in small pots so their growth has been slow. They are now more than a dozen years since having been harvested. The mother tree has provided many cuttings over the years.
In developing bonsai it is best to first start in larger containers for the early development of structure and size. Once structure and size are nearly completed the plants can be transitioned to bonsai sized containers for their final refinement training.
We all learn to appreciate thick trunked, massively tapered trunks in our first years in bonsai. I remember well trying to achieve this look with my trees and failing. I could neither afford nor find material that worked well for this style of bonsai.
In the last number of years I have come to appreciate and cherish trees made from young, thin materials that are relatively easy to find. In many ways these may be considered bunjin, literati or penjing type styles. In any case I hope you like some of them.
In order to get a thicker branch on a bonsai fig it would mean getting the branch to grow faster and have more leaves than other branches on the tree. Another way is to fuse several branches together to achieve greater thickness.
The easiest way to propagate most Ficus trees is to use cuttings. Cuttings of any size Ficus generally will root. However, some people prefer to use an air-layering process as this can be a safer way to propagate a specific piece.
