I have just purchased an already grown Bonsai of the Ficus variety.
The leaves and branches were not in balance so just pruned the side which was heavier with leaves.

Now, the tree does not have a thick trunk but the branches are spreading from the lower part.
Is it possible to tie up (wire) the branches from somewhere on the lower part to make sure that the tree becomes compact?
advice will be appreciated.
also any advice on dealing with the aerial branches?
thanks

Hello!

Ficus is easy to tie, as new sprouts are soft, I would recommend wiring just later, you can tie the branches you want to shape on the pot, and that won't scar it much as wiring...
To prune it is easy, when you remove the tip of a bud, the plant will direct it's growth to new buds, making new segments on the branches...
About aerial branches, I didn't get it...

To thicker their trunk you must pot it on a big portion of soil, like a mesh/net pot, or even a plastic stainer, so you can boost it's trunk and roots, and keep pruning it (cuz there will be a lot of buds)... As the roots grow out of the strainer you can lay it on the ground, so it can also feed from ground nutrients, once you think it's enough, it's easy to trim the roots outside of the strainer, and repot... But as you just get it, let this to a later maintance...

Oh, now I see the image, well for aerial roots, is up to you, you can trim those you don't want, and let the ones you want touch the soil, or direct it to the soil, they'll thic...

And if you don't want more branches on the base, you can remove those lower buds... The main trunks may be a little be harder to train.

I am not too sure about your choise of design. Keeping all that trunks and put them tighter together would look funny in my opinion. I would proboably keep it as a clump style bonsai removing just a few of the branches to keep distance between them and variation in thickness.

But as allways, its your tree and you decide what to do with it.

Yeah! Clump style ficus are pretty cool!
You should search for some pictures on internet to help you decide about the design you'll go for.

I'm attaching a similar (but bigger/older) ficus...

But as Tropfrog said, in the end is up to you and what you have in mind for it... So take your time pitcuring it!

The first 10 min of this video might help you to determine a style to go for:



That is from yesterday. I was thinking right away about this tree, like on demand for you

thank you very much for the helpful responses.

hope the advice can be fruitfully used to tend to my bonsai.
thanks again