Warmer weather and Ficus

[Pup]

As we in the west are experiencing early summer temps I thought I would defoliate my Ficus. This one is called the Toe it has not been re potted for 10 years.

I thought it was about time. Also wanted to see what it would look like in this pot. As I want to encourage more aerials. I think it suits it.
It was totally root bound no soil in the pot the roots had gone though the drainage holes, in my haste sorry, bugger I forgot pics.

Here we have the re potted tree. Ficus rubiginosa from seed self sown on the rock. The name comes from. When cleaning out under the bench, I had on Japanese safety boots ( thongs Flip Flops ) I hit my toe with the rock drew blood so the tree has been known as the TOE since. For those that want progression shots, it is another OH bugger I forgot, sorry there are some here as this was part of an early discussion .

Here are today's what I remembered.

Cheers Pup

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[Graeme]

Glad to hear the Rock came through unscathed Pup The tree is going to love it's new home M8, that pot is enormous.

Better pop up another pic in a month or so hey.

[Bougy Fan]

Hey Pup where's the battery ? I would like to know how big it is. I am guessing an OAP would have a smallish tree

[Jamie]

pup says,

Re potted without any more damage to the rock

how bout the toes??

[Pup]

Hey Pup where's the battery ? I would like to know how big it is. I am guessing an OAP would have a smallish tree

The turntable it is on is 45cm across or diameter. The tree is 33 cm from the edge of the pot the trunk just above where it enters the rock is 5cm.

I have just come in for a well earned beer, as it is warm enough at 30 so there, we OAP's have to have some fun, seeing as I can only 2 a week better not go into that ,.

Cheers Pup

[roka]

Hey pup that is funny.!Japanese safety boots LOve it ! BUT I DONT LOVE BLUE TOE NAILS as i did on dirt bike last week. OHHHH gosh i know your pain.Now for piece of resistonce, when i smacked my big toe my neighbour goes to me thats nothing ,few years ago he used to do water speed sking on the murray river, aaaaaaaaaand just before he began he ripped his big toe nail off,,, so Reecy being him he jumped on behind the boat and as the boat hit 90 or 100ks the big toe nail was fllaping from the water hiting it and i was like maaaaaaaaaaaaate shut te f up ..cos i could relive it through my little bump i had yesterday.That is pain!!! and my big hit was just a joke. Realllllllly .. it was after hearring Rheecy's little story.and your tree is fine...realy i like it, but i cant seem to shake off the toe sindrome.

[bodhidharma]

Wasnt the guy in"Mad Max" called the Toecutter. Nice branching Pup. Is the other half of the trunk through the rock?

[Waltron]

Whwn you defoliate do you also cut off the growing tips?

[Mitchell]

Hey pup

If I had Mod priv's on this forum I would so remove that story.... I'm cringing in my chair...



Pup- I'd have to get the weed wacker out to get that close to my ficus now!

Looks great!

[Graeme]

Whwn you defoliate do you also cut off the growing tips?

Yep M8, the growing tip of all branches should be picked off (or the branch length reduced), otherwise the reliablity of back budding will be reduced to near zero.

[Pup]

Whwn you defoliate do you also cut off the growing tips?

Yep M8, the growing tip of all branches should be picked off (or the branch length reduced), otherwise the reliablity of back budding will be reduced to near zero.

Got it one M8 pot does look enormous after the tray, funny the price I paid for it is still there $ 35-00 not bad for a Japanese tray.

Cheers Pup

[Mitchell]

I'm eager now to de-foliate again. I did mid winter, and now all plants have masses of new growth (can't see branches anymore) should I defoliate again, as you have to work on branch refinement prior to summer growth?
I feel if I let them go now, by the end of summer I'm just going to have exhausted a lot of energy on creating useless straight branch growth.

[Pup]

Mitchell defoliation is for a number of reasons.
1 for leaf reduction
2 for ramification
3 to strengthen part of the tree, as in branch one that needs to be kept short, while the strength of another needs to be thicker.
4 the trunk needs a new leader that needs to grow. So the taper is better.

With Ficus this is able to be done more so than other tree's, as the growth habit of them in warmer climes is better.


Cheers Pup

[Guy]

I would try to wrap a few more available roots onto the rock--

[Pup]

Hi Guy, I do not have to, they are growing though it and breaking it apart. So I will have to find some thing else in a couple of years, that is why I want to encourage more ariel roots.

Cheers pup