The Wife's Ficus

[lacertilian]

Hi everyone,
I bought this Ficus sp. for the missus in around 2006 as a starter from the bonsai nursery, potted it into the pot she liked ( ) and several years of irregular pruning later, I have this.
She doesn't look after it and has allowed me to take over so to speak.

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I don't have any older pictures but it has thickened to around 3-4 times it's original girth. Going to repot it when it heats up into a nice training pot. I have some ideas on a big cut back to get it looking sort of like the style of \Grant Bowie's 'Port Jackson 21 years from seed' tree. Just wondering where the experienced growers would go with this tree before I do anything too drastic.
Any ideas/directions welcome!

[GavinG]

It's certainly a good solid trunk to start with. Just a thought - in view 2, the trunk angles gently to the right at the first big left branch. If you lean the trunk left (and maybe lose the first right branch) the trunk would then rise straight up from the first left branch, and you might have a stronger shape. As it is, it's a bit to the left, then a bit to right, and not much of either.

Hope you can make something of this,

Gavin

[kcpoole]

Remove all the branches and big lumps and get back to nice trunkline, there is one there using the right hand side an then regrowing branches.

Nice start on a short powerful Fig

Ken

[lacertilian]

Hi all,
Just an update on this one, here's a picture of it's big haircut.

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The bottom left branch will go eventually. It has began back-budding pretty well and will keep me busy with new shoots for a while yet I presume.