AusBonsai

anthonyW wrote: ↑February 23rd, 2020, 8:24 am don t touch the other branches for now,...post and again to see where we are at, your basic just cleaning out for now.

Thanks mate, here it is after a bit of a clean. Bringing that left branch down further looks better already.

If you could pull where the purple line is to get it off horizontal at the end, we can spur off later to a better bud/shoot to get taper later if needed, but now try that and clean some more where crosses are.

where i have marked blue i would like to see some air/light could you remove the terminal bud and leaves back to two leaves right along on every shoot along that dominant branch and then do the same on the lower left side too if you only have 3 then just the terminal bud its mate(the one leaf), we will start to slowly develop these two branches and this will show the next branching either side to me.

anthonyW wrote: ↑February 23rd, 2020, 11:20 am If you could pull where the purple line is to get it off horizontal at the end, we can spur off later to a better bud/shoot to get taper later if needed, but now try that and clean some more where crosses are.

where i have marked blue i would like to see some air/light could you remove the terminal bud and leaves back to two leaves right along on every shoot along that dominant branch and then do the same on the lower left side too if you only have 3 then just the terminal bud its mate(the one leaf), we will start to slowly develop these two branches and this will show the next branching either side to me.

Done and done.

There's a branch on the right, between the bottom and top branches on that side, that goes off at a bit of a funny angle (you can see the angle in the "right" photo) that I'm not too sure about. This might look better as empty space anyway. What are your thoughts on removing this one?

PM sent mate...cheers

anthonyW wrote: ↑February 23rd, 2020, 7:35 pm PM sent mate...cheers

Didn't receive anything, are you able to resend?

Hi Greg try ringing me on this number...0499235558..cheers

When cleaning this guy up a bit I noticed something at the back that I wasn't expecting in the dry of Adelaide - aerial roots!

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It's loving' your care and the micro-climate you've placed it in! Well played.

greg27 wrote: ↑February 24th, 2020, 7:28 pm When cleaning this guy up a bit I noticed something at the back that I wasn't expecting in the dry of Adelaide - aerial roots!

Interesting. My figs are producing aerial roots at this time also. I thought that it could be due to the fact that the pots are full of roots because I didn't get a chance to repot most of them. Maybe the weather just happens to be right?

This fig has been powering on; it slowed down a bit through winter but never really stopped growing.

The base looks good!

kvan64 wrote: ↑October 13th, 2020, 11:00 pm The base looks good!

Thanks mate, I'll do a bit of work on the roots this year, hopefully it comes up alright.

Going to have a chat to Luke from Adelaide Bonsai Pottery about a pot too. Very excited. This may not be the most amazing tree but it's pretty special to me so it deserves something nice.

You've certainly done wonders with it, well done!

I took this one to the club workshop last night, and ended up with half a dozen different opinions - including some things I'd never considered - which was awesome. I gave the whole tree a hair cut (except for one thin branch right in the middle that I'll thicken up), shortened a few thick branches and completely removed one thick branch.

This morning I got the Dremel out to tidy up some of the cuts - what a breath of fresh air carving ficus wood is after all my carving practice on olives.

I'm really happy with where this one is heading. Come summer time I'll defoliate the whole thing, except for my new centre branch, so I can see what's going on and will wire it up a bit.

It's been hot and humid lately, so safe to repot I reckon. I was all excited to put it into a proper bonsai pot but realistically it's a year or five away from that, so instead I went for a Greg original - a plastic tub from Big W with some drainage holes drilled into the bottom, primed and spray-painted bronze (the only colour I had in the shed). Pretty classy! The idea is the plastic tub will be lighter than the wooden box, making it slightly easier to move it around, and the plastic will allow the roots to heat up more.

I think this would be the first proper repot in at least a decade. There were some very long, thin roots wrapped around the root ball, and some very thick roots going around the trunk in a circular pattern. I chopped them back and fanned them out as best I could - still some more work to do there next time - and repotted it into a mix of orchid mix from Bunnos, pumice and a bit of zeolite (Woolies kitty litter). I rotated it counter-clockwise slightly as there was a branch stabbing you in the eye, but other than that it's at the same angle as before.

I also removed yet another major branch. This one was on the right side at the back; it was straight, taperless, coming from the same spot as another branch and didn't really add much, so it had to go. There are a few obvious gaps now, but there are some handily-placed branches that will fill those in eventually.