hein wrote:

A shari on a ficus? Wow, I never knew it could be done. I always thought ficus trees weren't suitable trees for it. Is it the same principal as for other trees?

Software-wood / deciduous trees are less suitable for shari. Ask a japanese master and you would most likely hear: Don't do it. Probably the best way to get rid of most of the scar, is by letting it grow out. When it is clear where the bark dies off, you can start drilling the scar out a little so that the live bark can grow over the scar. Choose one leader and let that one whip out, remove most of the other branches. Once the whip has reached 1/2 of the size of the trunk, you can cut it off again, a bit about the first cut. THat way you create a series of cuts, each smaller than the previous. By letting it grow out you give the tree the energy to cover the scar.

sai wrote:

Variegated Benjamina is slow growing one and trunk may not thicken. It is not easy to form good bonsai except for the color of leaves. But if you provide enough humidity you can get more areal roots which can add to the beauty of Bonsai. Dont try small bonsai.

Excellent observation. There are ways to go for a smal bonsai, with a massive trunk though. I was not sure whether I wanted to share what I did yesterday, as I am very worried the whole experiment will fail, due to a lot of mis-handling of the plants I used (I left them with less than 10% of the roots). But.. As it is fitting, I created a new thread:

www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/progressions/...erge-ficus-benjamina

sai wrote:

Variegated Benjamina is slow growing one and trunk may not thicken. It is not easy to form good bonsai except for the color of leaves. But if you provide enough humidity you can get more areal roots which can add to the beauty of Bonsai. Dont try small bonsai.

Thank you Sai for your helpful advice. I think you are right about it's limitations in bonsai.

The elderly gentleman who gave me the cuttings had many young trees planted in a forest form in a very low, irregular-shaped dish. All the trees were straight and slender with the tallest in the forground and the smallest in the background and extending out to the left side for perspective...I have seen this in Nature. It truly looked like a beautiful forest/grove of say...Aspen, only with the lovely variegated leaves.

Hello All,

Thought I would update the latest progress with my Variagate Ficus cuttings and ask for some guidance. It has been approximately 15 weeks since I first planted the cuttings in a shallow tray filled with seed-starting mix so they could root. Four out of six cuttings rooted successfully (the other two cuttings were too small with only one node and missing leaves). So, I have now transplanted the four rooted cuttings into their own pots with a soil mixture of 1/2 small- grained diatomatious earth; 1/4 leaf compost soil (for root developement); and 1/4 seed starting mix. I'm not sure if *how* I potted them is correct...I filled the pots 3/4 full of soil and formed a mound in the centre; then I gently spread the roots of each cutting over the mound and covered the roots with remaining soil which is only about 1/4 inch thick. Is this okay? Should I add more soil over the roots?

I also need advice with regard to pinching back buds. The transplant into pots was done on Nov.14th...10 days ago. I have been keeping them under florescent lighting for about 16 hours a day plus on sunny days they get lots of bright, indirect sunlight. I would like to pinch back the one apical bud on each plant to encourage some back budding and branching. Can I do this now or is it too soon after potting? Will pinching back this one apical bud also help with root growth? I believe my primary focus right now needs to be on developing the roots and the trunk. According to *leatherback's* article on building a strong trunk and base, branching is necessary. Am I understanding this correctly?

Any advice and/or suggestions are ever-so appreciated. Here is a photo I took today of the rooted cuttings in their own, cozy pots.

I tried to position these so you can best see the stem and leave structure.

I am looking forward to watching these Ficus progress. I enjoy learning stuff as others progress their work. best of luck on the forest.

Thanks Angie! Me too...and I'm very much a visual learner so progession photos along with the explanations helps me tremedously.

Hi Leslie,

These look pretty good now! They seem to like your attention. Hm.. My 2 pennies..?

I think the planting is ok. Next time, I would not take a mound to spread the roots out over; Rather, I would keep them as horizontal as possible. Naturally, the root radiate out from the stem evenly in all directions, right? Surface roots add a lot of character to the tree, so the first few cm of roots I would keep fairly horizontal, maybe sinking 1 cm for the first 4cm of root. As the tree matures you can place the tree a little shallower, and the first cms of roots will be visible. Also, I try to keep a bit of movement in the roots; Think a dense forest with loads of roots: They are hardly ever perfectly smooth. Often they appear and disappear a few times.

As for pinching back.. I am not sure what your objective is for the tree. You *could* pinch them back, and start with a bushy tree with loads of side-branches which you later remove. Or you just let them grow wild for the next year or two; THat would create the trunk faster. But would give you a bigger scar to deal with. By letting it grow wild, side-branches should develop by themselves without taking the top out. Branches add to trunk thickness, but mainly serve as an assistent to add taper.

If these were my plants, I would remove the growing point when the tree reaches 50-80% of height I would like to reach. Then I would take 4 or so branches that appear, and let those grow out. Other branches I would keep removing as soon as a bud appears on the trunk. One of the 4 branches I would push vertical, to create the elongation of the main stem, and here I would regularly remove to growing point, to keep it slender and short. The other 3 I would use to create taper & thicknes. The more biomass the plant has (Particularly leaves), the faster the plant will grow (!)

Once the trunk has reached the thickness you want, you clip all three branches away, as smooth with the trunk as possible (Ideally: A little deeper, so the scar heals over smoothly. The leader you also trim back, to maybe 20% away from the height of the tree. Then you start building branches. That is also the point at which I would start considering bonsai soil as you have better control of nutrient availability. I would still give the plant lots of rooting space. Only after you have the main branches set up, and you start working on ramnification I would place the plant in a smaller pot.

Hi Jelle,

Thank you so much for your patience and taking the time to explain this to me. It makes a lot of sense and having it written here is invaluable because I can come back to it regularly to refresh my tired memory.

I think also you have inadvertantly answered my question on how to create shohin. In order the keep them small, I would follow your advice here only start it now on the very young treelets. Yes? I will try it with one of these Ficus however, I plan to create shohin with two of my Chinese Bird Plum treelets.

Thanks for your support and invaluable advice!

Hi Leslie,

I am also working on some shohin (Remember these Linden seedlins?).

I think your trees are still very small. Probably letting them grow untill the tallest part you want to keep is 1/8 of an inch will not be too bad. If you allow for loads of side-branches, the base of the trunk could be over 1/2 inch thick by then. I have joined a bonsai group about an hour drive away. Last Monday one of the peope there had a shohin where the stem thickness was half of the height of the tree. Almost ugly this taper. But very nice ramnification made up for it.

I am there really working with sacrifical branches. I picked the ones that have already started a nice fat nebari with good strong taper. I have flattened out all the roots, removed the growing points and am now trying to force growth on a few solid branches. I actually took pictures of one of them today, where you can clearly see the straegy I am taking with one, which should be ready for a bonsai tray after the next summer.

The main thing I want to avoud is big ugly scars on trees which are not going to be allowed to grow strongly. So I try to just let a branch grow for maybe 1 season before removing it. In one I have managed to get a side branch come around the leader, and basically take over the role as leader. Once I remove this branch, the leader is still there, allowing for a natural apex.

Hi,
The variegated benjamina is slow growing plant when compared with its green counter part. The only attraction is foliage color. In normal benjamina we usually guide the areal roots to reach the soil through the main trunk which later becomes fused with trunk to get an old age look. But this requires humid tropics or artificial humid conditions.