With winter around the corner and the sudden urge to style a tree I stumbled upon this ficus that cost me 20 euro's that's 27 dollars.
Big tree never had proper care or pruning so it has little foliage close to the trunk and leggy branches.
The challenge is to make something out of every piece of material I get my hands on so I gave it a go.
It's big 1,2meters (almost 4ft) big base and the typical chinese 'mallsai' mass production tree.

Here's a before and after. It's in a warm room close to a window and get's misted at least 3 times a day.
I styled it for the future, when ramification goes well and it develops finer branches and more foliage the longer branches are cut back.
This will compact the tree in time.
Also the big left branch is bend down in phases because the bark of a ficus rips easily or the whole branch will break off.

before


after for now

I have nowhere to keep anything that big inside, that is very nice Chris. I like the change of pot works well.

you have a nice start going. the tree must have some age I have never seen a braided ficus fused together to that extent.
my question tho is what made you change the front of the tree? IMO the trunk is much more interesting in the 1st pic.

just a tip if you want more growth on one side leave it facing the window . ive been developing one side of my large ficus and I get twice the growth on the window side even with overhead lighting

Check our blog for some more info!

Nice progression. I love ficus.

It's posts like this that really inspire! It looks fantastic already, can't wait to see it progress and develop

Thank you! A little update: After styling I've put it on a humidity tray and build a green house around it.... Still mist it a couple of times each day and after about 2,5 weeks it started showing new buds.
The tree seems happy and small little leaves popping out everywhere.
My guess is that within a year the tree will look full and more developed.