AusBonsai

This is a PJF that I purchased as a starter from Bonsai South 4 years ago when my son was born. Here is a photo when I purchased. And here is a picture of it now. I just potted it up. Some of the early wounds are still healing and I have way to go with the branches. There is a bit of the trunk that grows upper left that I will be shorting when it wakes up a bit.
I actually purchased another one at the time but that's going to stay in a big plastic pot for another few years.

Unfortunately, two heavy frosts in two consecutive days about a month ago appear to have killed the entire top half of this rubiginosa.
It's hard to see, but the base has really thickened out in the last year or so, so I want to save it.
It needs re-potting so I'll slip pot it into a larger pot (I'll tease the roots out a bit but won't remove any), feed it heaps and cross my fingers that some of the top survives. I would usually wait until November to do this but I'm inpatient and I have spare time this weekend. Hopefully by the end of the growing season I can provide a positive update.

My first ficus! Not sure what sort of ficus it is but I like it I'm a newbie to growing trees so I'm just trying to keep it happy/alive for now

Yep, alive and happy, thats what we are all trying to do.
Great start, I like the trunk base. May I make a suggestion the long right branch you have, are you keeping it as a new top? If you look you can clearly see it thickening more than the lower branch on the left. If your using the long right as a new top it’s fine. If not your second branch is thicker than your first left branch and you will need to let the first left branch elongate to thicken and cut back the long second branch on the right to slow down the thickening.
You need to balance your tree thicker/larger branches on the bottom graduating to thinner branches going up the trunk.
Just something to be mindful of.
Cheers
Kirky

Step one complete. Into a bigger pot about twice the depth of the old one.

Formerly Waltron wrote: ↑October 6th, 2022, 11:46 am Step one complete. Into a bigger pot about twice the depth of the old one.

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I'm sure it'll be able to recover well from there!

melbrackstone wrote: ↑October 6th, 2022, 11:47 am I'm sure it'll be able to recover well from there!

The question is how much of the top survives?

I'm sure it'll let you know sooner rather than later.

But on a positive note, I think I figured out how to take an acceptable bonsai photo with my phone.

Not such a good photo. A ficus I've had for a while.

Ficus experiment alert…

Last summer / autumn I pulled some figs growing from the wall of a local park.

This was one.

I almost threw it out because it was looking pretty sick compared with the others but it has taken well, in fact it has thickened up faster than others thanks to being on the ground.

Still I had no idea what to do with it, and I have a few going so I thought I would try an experiment.
I have split the trunk in two, inserted the rock etc.

The roots are doing great so put on a tile too.

Honestly don’t really care where it ends up. Just interested to see where it does.

Figs'll take just about any punishment you throw at em.

melbrackstone wrote: ↑October 10th, 2022, 7:13 pm Figs'll take just about any punishment you throw at em.

Mel that is what I figured, so I thought I would start experimenting with one of them and see how it responded.

Once I get some idea I *might* start to consider something a little more serious

My large fig - 35 years from seed - needs a severe cut back. It was not looking too good last summer due to a measure of neglect so I let it grow and fed it to regain health. Now that the weather is warming it is time to trim. This one is getting too big for me to manage so will be looking for a new owner sometime soon.

love a good ficus experiment Bobbie keep us posted