My ficus is eating its pot!

You remember this tree, right?

You last saw it in this post here.
It was a demonstration tree I worked on for the Bonsai Society of Brevard at their 2013 Brevard Zoo show.

This is the tree today:

It’s filled in pretty well over the winter.
The ultimate destination for this tree is the raffle or auction table at the 2014 Bonsai Societies of Florida Annual Convention. To be held right here in beautiful Orlando Florida at the Florida Mall Hotel on May 23-26th.
Go to www.bonsai-bsf.com for all the deets.

This years convention is going to be the biggest attended convention in 4 years and a truly great gathering of bonsai people. Don’t miss it!
And you’ll have a chance to perhaps take this beauty of a tree home.
Well, I have to pot it first.
This is the sweet, handmade container I’ve chosen for it.

Since we’ve seen it last, it’s grown quite a bit.

The big task is dealing with these roots.

It’s kinda holding on tight, this’ll be a challenge.

It’s like peeling a crab shell.

One piece at a time.

That wasn’t so hard (that’s what she said).
I could’ve been all dramatic and testosterone soaked and just got out the saw and chopped it here-

But I’m interested in the structure of the roots inside the pot.
And I’m a bit of a masochist, I think that a little hard work never hurt anyone.
And I think this process is a bit more interesting for the blog.
It is amazing to me that all those roots come out of just four small holes.

And now, the reveal….

Sorry, it’s a little blurry, got ficus juice in my eye.
You can probably tell that I trimmed the new growth on top a little in addition to de-potting it.

The roots don’t look too bad, right?
Wrong!
It’s a solid mass.
I need…the hook.

Well, it’s not THE HOOK, but it is A HOOK.
Or, THE NEW HOOK.
“….check out my hook while the DJ revolves it…..”
Anyway, it would’ve…(sorry, I must digress….I have a brother in law who writes the word “would’ve” as “would of” .
I know, I know.
I tried to explain to him that it’s a contraction of the two words “would” and “have” but he insists that it doesn’t matter, that “would have” and “would of” mean the same thing anyway. So I then used the sentence, “You have the intelligence of a monkey” and switched the words, “You of the intelligence have a monkey”.
I could only shake my head, I couldn’t convince him. He is not a bright man.
Now, as some of you might point out, it make sense if I say “You, of the intelligence, have a monkey!” with some advantageously placed punctuation.
But it only makes sense if you are the spawn of the great and awesome Cthulhu and are about to eat monkey brains with Indiana Jones. Sorry…
End digression and we return you to the blogpost where you left off…)…been way easier just to saw the bottom off of this ficus.
It really would’ve.
The pain I go through for my art.
And I didn’t learn anything useful from my investigation, except that the roots are in good shape I guess.

Basically I trimmed the long roots and made them about the same length.
It fits into the new pot easily.

I tie it in, as always.

And I spend time making sure that all of the empty space between the roots are filled with soil.
We don’t need air pockets in the roots.
Air pockets are good for trying to survive a sinking ship, but this ain’t the Titanic and I’m not Leonardo DiCaprio drawing naked pictures of Kate Winslet.
You’d probably like to see that, you sickos, but not here, not now.
Now, it’s time to wire.

Examining the wire I put on back at the zoo, I don’t think its time to remove it.
Which answers one of the most asked questions I hear.
“When do I take the wire off?”
When it’s ready, grasshopper, when it’s ready.
So I’m just going to wire the new branches that have grown.

And that’s it.

Hopefully you will see it at the convention.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if one of my readers won it?
Hope to see you there, I’ll be vending and running around like a crazy man, somehow they put me in charge.
Thank the bonsai gods for the convention team we have this year because I’m not smart enough to do it on my own; no way, no how, not smart enough at all.
I’ll see you there though!