Hey guys,

Been doing some more research, I bought the beginners guide book here on this site and it's a great read!

I'm still having trouble understanding good starter material though. I took a trip to the local nursery again today with some of my newfound knowledge and found a couple okay plants. I took a picture of the one that interested me the most however it's quite tall, about 4' tall to be more specific. However the trunk is very slim (probably 1" in diameter) I'm really digging the look of a proper bonsai fig, the aerial roots are incredible.

I'm wondering if reducing the trunk back, to maybe about 6" tall. Would it regrow? I've seen some conflicting information online regarding trunk reducing so I thought I'd ask here.

I've attached a photo of the tree I have my eye on, but I want to make sure I learn a bit more before taking the plunge.

Should I start with something a bit younger? Do you think I could reduce the trunk down on this tree and have it regrow?

Thanks in advance for the knowledge sharing!

PS: My apologies for the sideways photos!
-Justin

Hi Justin.
I would call this too young, unless you are in the tropics; Figs only thicken up slowly I fid, in temperate climate.
Picking out a tree for bonsai starts with roots and trunks. If you have a good radial rootspread, and a thick, tapering trunk, you are in busines to create a bonsai over a period of 5-20 years. If you still need to grow a trunk or roots, you can easily add 5 years to that, for species that grow fast in your climatic zone.

leatherback wrote: Hi Justin.
I would call this too young, unless you are in the tropics; Figs only thicken up slowly I fid, in temperate climate.
Picking out a tree for bonsai starts with roots and trunks. If you have a good radial rootspread, and a thick, tapering trunk, you are in busines to create a bonsai over a period of 5-20 years. If you still need to grow a trunk or roots, you can easily add 5 years to that, for species that grow fast in your climatic zone.

Perfect! Thanks!

But if I find a fig like this that's a bit older will cutting back the trunk be okay? I know the fig is a strong tree but the older ones are $80 and would rather not spend that just to kil it haha.

Air layering is always and option, it really depends on the tree through, if part of the tree is good, and the rest of it is junk i say air layer