Last year I essayed the bonsai-ification of an overgrown potted ficus tree. You can read about the first stage here: The Cruelest Cut
Over the recent long weekend I did the hard part: getting the tree out of its large original container, and into a large new container. The new container is a bit wider and a bit less deep, but approximately the same volume. It is a volume that precludes moving the tree very readily, if at all. So part of the process required first re-setting the stage, so to speak, so that once transferred I wasn't going to want to move the tree very soon (if at all).
This was a brutal operation. Observe, if you will, exhibit A. What is that instrument, you ask? It is a ten-inch utility saw. That is the tool I obtained for the purpose of cutting through the terrifically dense root pack of this tree, which resembled a thirty-pound dirt-filled loofah more than anything else.
The weather cooperated by providing several days of rain shortly after the conclusion of this operation. As a result, the tree seems to be quite happily settled in its new container, despite having lost approximately 60% of its root system. Herewith, exhibit B.
Because the project has not been thought of which I cannot further complicate, I intend to go back to the tree, secateurs in hand, in about a month to commence a shaping operation on the crown. The tree, you see, has in the past provided a home for several new generations of hummingbirds. I would like to host another nest. The prospective mamas won't come back, though, as long as that crown is so visually impenetrable.
I have bonsai wire, and I'm not afraid to use it!
WooHoo! Happy Housing for Hummers!
Posted by: Nativebackyard | January 30, 2013 at 06:16 PM