Today I am sharing a new bonsai tree in my collection
Received this young #tree as a gift from a friend, grown by a local nursery.
This is a Ginseng Ficus. All I know about it, is that this is a tropical species, not native to my region, so it has to be kept indoors during the winter or all year.
I have so many question about this tree, and I will have to research as much as possible to give this tree a good start in its new home. If you are knowledgeable about Ficus trees and bonsai, then please help me out in the comments below with your feedback.
The #roots (part of the #nebari design in bonsai terminology) are enormously swelled, and almost constricting each other. I am unsure if this is a result of the way it was cultivated, or if this is a natural condition of the tree. The soil looks to be mostly peat moss and perlite.
My belief is it looks as if the soil line used to be much higher up on the neck of the trunk, and was reduced to showcase the large roots.
The crown of the tree ends with a thick cut where the old trunk used to continue. I believe the last owner prefers to grow a tall healthy trunk, and then chops it off as a sacrificial limb, to promote the growth of many smaller branches. This gives it a strongly tapered trunk to branch ratio, which is ideal for bonsai. However, I am not sure that having so many branches connected to the same junction is a good idea, as that may promote a whorl, causing a weak point in the tree and a disfigured trunk.
Big Question:
If you were going to re-style this tree, which limbs would you choose to keep, and which would you remove? Let me know what strategy would dominate your approach.
Questions to Research:
Where is Ginseng Ficus native to? What are its origins?
What sort of habitat is this tree evolved to live in? What sort of needs does it have: sunlight, temperatures, soil, water, nutrition, diseases, pests, etc.?
How old would you guess this tree is?
How can this tree be propagated?
Why are the roots so large? Is this normal?
Any changes this tree might require as a bonsai? Root pruning? Height of soil? Composition of soil? Branch selection/styling?
Is there a best time of year to prune indoor bonsai trees? Do wounds heal easy, or does it require careful work to seal the wounds?
Getting a new bonsai tree can be an exciting time. I look forward to seeing how this young tree evolves.
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.
Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.
Bonsai!
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It's nice to see that my bonsai hobby is starting to produce a #wealth of luck and #success. One tree becomes two, then tree, then four. Such a simple concept to grow money on trees. If only I had the business sense to sell any of my collection. It is a difficult choice for an artist and a nurturer of trees to make, to part with one of their own.
May my happy trees bring #fortune and blessings to all of my friends here on steemit!
These trees are immortal. You can't begin to kill them. Feel free to water it every two weeks in summer and once per month during winter. Let me put it like this, cut as much as you would like to, prune, repot, whatever you want to do, do it to this tree.
A bit of advice from my side, repot it every year and trim vertical growing roots as much as possible in order to get those fat 'legs' to fatten up some more. Those are the main feature on this tree. If you cut the tap root (once the tree has established strong enough support roots) those legs will grow even fatter over time.
As for the foliage, and buds, remove as you see fit. I personally prefer the canopy style for this tree.
Best part, this tree can handle full sunlight 365 days a year. Mine has been outside for the last four years, even during winter.
As for the origin, according to the nursery I got mine from, these are actually two species of plant (Just repeating what I was told) which are grown in 'ginseng factories' in china.
You can also take cuttings the same way you would from a ficus benjamina. Pull a branch downward until it peels off or snip one off and shove it in vermiculite/perlite and compost. Water weekly. Remember to remove like 90% of the foliage when taking a cutting.
As for the wounds, they do leave a mark. Adhesive aluminium foil should help heal those up if they are fresh. And yes, those trunks are normal. These are actually quite nice looking.
Check out the below image of one's 'legs' at the nursery I went to over the weekend.
This tree is supposedly 18 years old.
My honest advice. I would leave this tree as is aside of wiring it to allow the branches to form a canopy. Think mushroom cloud.
I doubt anyone could really do much more with a tree like this and yet, they really do add value to any collection.
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Here's some decent info about the ginseng: https://www.dallasbonsai.com/care-guides/ginseng-ficus.html
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I'm guessing the ginseng ficus is named for its big swollen roots that resemble ginseng. So I'm thinking the roots are normal or at least desired trait. Looks very healthy so hopefully will take well to whatever route you go with design. You have good friends. Good friends will always feed your passion :)
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I upvoted your post.
Cheers to you.
@Pinoy
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The roots are pretty normal from the trees Ginseng I have seen. Its a pretty quick grower from what I understand and is usually pruned in spring, with undesired shoots being pinched off during the growing season. These are often grafted, with smaller leaf varieties grafted to larger leaf (and more robust) root stock. you would want to pinch off any shoots below the graft, but i can't tell if your tree was, in fact, grafted...
Personally, I would pinch off the new shoots from the chop area, and thin to just 2 branches for now (at the next prune) to start to develop further taper in the trunk. the current trunk ends pretty abruptly...
TL;DR - I would just treat it like a ficus.
I have no experience with these trees, so take my opinion for what its worth ;)
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Thanks @mattlovell. Yes, I tend to prefer that strategy for the branches too. Keep two, then focus on those branches.
Now I just gotta learn how to "normally" take care of this exotic tree.
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Testing to see if I can post and edits, and what effect it has on my voting power and RC's/Mana.
I made my first upvote this morning after hardfork 20, and it dropped my voting power from 100% to 28.26%. My RC Manabar says estimated pct. is 32.29%.
Edit: Success. Manabar Estimated Pct. is now 31.77%. At least I can comment and post again. Upvotes will take a few days to charge up.
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