A mere two months later, time to take away wires, re-wire, and Reduce It Again.
It was on this article from a number of months in the past.
Right here’s the way you noticed it final, a Ficus microcarpa from a shopper’s again yard.
Received some good backbudding, glorious.
The wire is reducing in completely.
One in all my aphorisms for growing ficus bonsai “If you happen to don’t have wire marks, you’re not utilizing sufficient wire.”. I say that as a result of in case you don’t depart the wire on lengthy sufficient, the department gained’t maintain form. Particularly on a ficus. Then you definitely’re simply wiring for wiring sake.
The rain was fairly heavy this summer time right here within the state of Florida, or no less than in my yard. And I feel that is fungus.
It’s on lots of the leaves, one thing I don’t see on F. microcarpa a lot. I’ll deal with with BioAdvanced All-in-one Rose and Flower care, which has a systemic fungicide (tebuconazole), a systemic insecticide for Cuban laurel thrips (imidacloprid) and fertilizer (6-9-6). Good for going into fall for a ficus in Florida.
I imagine it’s a fungus as a result of, not solely the leaves however a number of the stems are black too, as seen within the pic above
It might, after all, be photo-toxicity, from the imidacloprid I utilized within the final session releasing too rapidly due to all of the rain we’ve had. However we’re going into the dry season and that shouldn’t be an issue as we go ahead (as I write this, although, the forecast is asking for a extreme thunderstorm occasion that’s been sweeping East, throughout the Gulf States. It hit Louisiana fairly arduous a day in the past).
However the latest shoots are good and inexperienced, so I’m not fearful.
And it’s a ficus. It’ll be okay.
Defoliation, and cleansing up all of the outdated leaves is, as at all times, step one (which I started earlier than the primary pics on the high).
Then some wiring, little or no.
And a few tie-down wires (man wires, so to say. humorous title for them, although I do know some guys into bondage. I don’t perceive it myself).
Let’s get again to the work at hand!
After defoliation, a great way to do away with all these fallen leaves is to make use of your scissors like you’re a upkeep employee policing a yard.
Jab the leaves…
Easy. It took me 18 years of choosing them up by my fingertips to determine that one out.
It’s the following morning, and searching on the tree, you’ll discover that the branches have risen a bit and a number of the motion has straightened out. Which is why I additionally educate that bonsai is “reducing, wiring, un-wiring, re-wiring, un-wiring, reducing, re-wiring, advert infinitum”.
And so that you don’t must scroll again as much as evaluate the upward motion, the primary pic once more:
Because the tune in the beginning stated, “the ficus has no taper so I gotta reduce it again”
My college students complain that they spend months rising ramification and I are available and reduce all of it off.
Belief the method. Taper, motion, proportion. And don’t fear. A tree grows. That’s its job.
Now a little bit of wire, on the brand new branches and re-wire a number of the outdated ones. (Wire, un-wire, re-wire, advert infinitum).
And, extra importantly, I’m going to tie down lots of the principal branches.
Why do new branches develop up? Identical motive youngsters insurgent, hormones. They’re compelled by the motion of hormones to develop in direction of the solar (auxin is the primary one, and auxin doesn’t like solar, so it collects on the underside of the branches, within the shade, and trigger these cells to elongate sooner than the cells up high, pushing the department up).
And that needs to be good, till subsequent spring. Besides some un-wiring, re-wiring, and so on….
Now I get to get pleasure from the remainder of the morning. Possibly…..
Onerous to imagine that the little ficus on the appropriate is what our topic as soon as regarded like, only a few years in the past. Rising-out within the floor (or a giant pot) erases many sins. Such is life and is a truism for development generally.
