Ficus - The First Pruning of Spring

I know what you're thinking: it isn't Spring yet. However, you are mistaken.

Spring does not have to due with the temperature outside, it has to due with the length of the days. As the sun gets higher and higher in the sky each day, we experience more hours of sunlight. This in turn makes all of the plants around us wake up from their winter slumber. The cold plays a big role in damaging any foolish plants that wake too early.

Since my room is a comfortable 60 degrees Fahrenheit (you can thank my mom for that choice of temperature, but it does indeed save on the heating bill), my ficus tree has continued growing through the winter. This is not only because it's warm. In fact, if I were to keep a pine or maple in my window, they would probably die. My oriental fig tree does not have this problem because it is a tropical tree.

I was told a tropical tree is a good starter bonsai for several reasons. First off, I got my ficus in the winter and who wants to start taking care of a tree that is currently in hibernation. Secondly, because it is tropical, I can keep it indoors all year round. This means I will have something to look at and enjoy throughout the year. It also means I don't have to find a cold space to store it during the winter months when cold hardy trees need to freeze. Finally, ficus is a fairly resilient species. It has a relatively large leaf size which, while not so large as to make the tiny tree look stupid, makes it more forgiving in terms of lighting and watering.

Enough rambling, here are some pictures of my tree as it stands since the last time I trimmed back some of its shoots.



The left picture is taken from the front while the right is a top view. Below is a left side and right side view respectively.



As you can see, my bonsai is very happy in my southerly window. The tree has significantly grown despite the winter months and is in clear need of a hair cut.



Post-cut photos in the same ordering as above.



It may not be as obvious in the photos, but I put a lot of work into this pruning. My main goal, with spring and summer months approaching rapidly, was to thin out the foliage so that sunlight will penetrate into the depths of the tree. This will create opportunities for tiny branches to mature and also produce a smaller leaf size.

I also tied a branch on the left hand side to a loop shaped root. This new position will become permanent in a few weeks and will help me achieve my desired shape. Note that the string is not wrapped directly around the branch as it might cut in. It is instead placed over a rubber ear piece from a cell-phone accessory. My hope is to create a half-moon curve when viewing the tree from the front with an oval canopy when viewing from above. We'll see if Bonsai West agrees when I take it in for a "Get Wired" session.

Near future decisions include:

1. Do I repot my tree into a bonsai pot this spring?
2. Should I wire the tree into the desired shape?
3. How do I fix the trunk near the apex? (it bends forward - big no, no in bonsai)

Thanks for reading.