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Old 09-06-2003, 05:20 PM
Jim Lewis
 
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Default [IBC] Ficus tree bonsai - beginning

I'd appreciate any website info or primer on this particular
tree.
Specifically, to start ... I found a special at my local Home

Depot.
10" pots with trees 36 - 48" tall and 1/2" to about an inch in
diameter ... each pot has 4 - 6 trees. What's the best way to

begin
... should i separate these trees, or bind them so they form

one big
fat trunk ? Some have no branches for a foot or more ... and i

don't
want my finished tree to be that tall ... if i trunk chop, will

it
grow branches ?

Ouch! In the plant department at HD, a "special" is offered when
they have stuff that just hasn't sold -- for whatever reason.

I'll answer your last question first. Since these are almost
certainly F. benjamina a trunk chop will kill them.

If _I_ were you I'd put each tree into a separate, large, shallow
pot (a cut-down 10- or 15-gallon pot is ideal) Then I'd cut the
tops back, being VERY careful to leave green on every branch, and
hope that the trees bud back. I doubt that they will, but . . .

I don't know whether binding them will cause the trunks to grow
together or not.

Good luck.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - This economy
is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. - Gaylord
Nelson, 1995

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