Earlier this Spring (March 2019), I had what I now know with reasonable certainty, a wide spread spider-mite infestation among many of my potted plants, especially the ficuses. See this post for more gory details. Among the victims was one of the Ficus Benjamina cuttings that was a couple of years old. and not really targeted as a pre-bonsai, but a favorite nevertheless. Before realizing that it was a spider-mite problem, I was frantically searching for solutions, as the plants were declining fast.
This particular plant was declining faster than others - yellowing leaves that were wilting away... I noticed that the water wasn't draining well. When I dug up the roots, I was shocked to find a big tuber (or a "tumor" as I felt it was). Too bad, I didn't take any pictures. I guessed that the tuber in the root was probably a reaction to the poorly draining soil (is that how they develop all those ugly ginseng ficus "bonsai" with those hideous roots?). And so I replaced almost all the soil, with some coarse sand added in.
After a couple of weeks, in mid April 2019, while the drainage had definitely improved, the plant was still declining. Then in desperation, I decided to chop off the tuber. Unfortunately, in my haste, I cut off 90% of all roots. At that point, I knew I had killed the plant.
Keeping fingers crossed, I kept the plant indoors, kept it misted as much I could... but it dropped all leaves in a matter of days.
But, in another 10 days are so, some signs of life emerged! There was visible greening in one of the lower branches. And then in another branch.
By the second week of June it was beyond doubt that the plant was recovering... rather having a re-birth!
June 23rd 2019
And now, it has leafed out well in some branches, while others are clearly dead. But interestingly it has also sprouted a number of what could probably be called "adventitious buds", something I thought Ficus B. never did. So, a few new things learned!
October 13, 2019
Yes, there a some dead branches, but it has more than made up for them and greened out nicely all around. It's so gratifying to see this tree revive itself.
December 8, 2019
For a while I thought I'd keep the dead branches around as a reminder of what this tree has been though. But they just looked messy, and I have this blog to remind myself - so cut them off.
And now that the tree is solidly alive again, it's time to mess around with it again ;) Trying a new fusion technique - got a rooted cutting (from another ficus b.) and set it on top of that long left branch and trained the roots down the trunk line. Wrapped the roots with wet cloth and plastic tape. The idea is to mimic a "strangler" - like these trees do in the wild.
April 4th, 2020
The roots of the strangler have reached the soil and should be able to sustain it now.
Added a wire to shape one of the branches.
Also, trying a thread grafting experiment. You can see it right above the wired branch. Clipped off an "eye poker" branch, and made a cutting out of it; drilled hole in the trunk, inserted the cutting and covered the bottom end with wet moss. Let's see if this works.
If it does, it can be a game changer for my Ficus B. work.
This particular plant was declining faster than others - yellowing leaves that were wilting away... I noticed that the water wasn't draining well. When I dug up the roots, I was shocked to find a big tuber (or a "tumor" as I felt it was). Too bad, I didn't take any pictures. I guessed that the tuber in the root was probably a reaction to the poorly draining soil (is that how they develop all those ugly ginseng ficus "bonsai" with those hideous roots?). And so I replaced almost all the soil, with some coarse sand added in.
 |
| Spider-mites, plus a horrific root chop in April 2019 |
After a couple of weeks, in mid April 2019, while the drainage had definitely improved, the plant was still declining. Then in desperation, I decided to chop off the tuber. Unfortunately, in my haste, I cut off 90% of all roots. At that point, I knew I had killed the plant.
Keeping fingers crossed, I kept the plant indoors, kept it misted as much I could... but it dropped all leaves in a matter of days.
 |
| Not looking good! |
 |
| By mid May 2019, it looked dead |
 |
| A rebirth! |
But, in another 10 days are so, some signs of life emerged! There was visible greening in one of the lower branches. And then in another branch.
By the second week of June it was beyond doubt that the plant was recovering... rather having a re-birth!
June 23rd 2019
And now, it has leafed out well in some branches, while others are clearly dead. But interestingly it has also sprouted a number of what could probably be called "adventitious buds", something I thought Ficus B. never did. So, a few new things learned!
Yes, there a some dead branches, but it has more than made up for them and greened out nicely all around. It's so gratifying to see this tree revive itself.
December 8, 2019
And now that the tree is solidly alive again, it's time to mess around with it again ;) Trying a new fusion technique - got a rooted cutting (from another ficus b.) and set it on top of that long left branch and trained the roots down the trunk line. Wrapped the roots with wet cloth and plastic tape. The idea is to mimic a "strangler" - like these trees do in the wild.
April 4th, 2020
The roots of the strangler have reached the soil and should be able to sustain it now.
Added a wire to shape one of the branches.
Also, trying a thread grafting experiment. You can see it right above the wired branch. Clipped off an "eye poker" branch, and made a cutting out of it; drilled hole in the trunk, inserted the cutting and covered the bottom end with wet moss. Let's see if this works.
If it does, it can be a game changer for my Ficus B. work.
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