I’ve done many Blogs on trunk chop and root reductions on a willow leaf ficus, and other trees, so here’s a quick, almost comment free run through of the process. I’m trying some new things. Questions will be entertained in the comment section, as always.

I got the tree from Penjing Bonsai Gardens in Malabar Fl., maybe a year and a half ago.

I did a trunk chop last spring and let it grow out all last year with nothing done to it.

As usual, after the new shoots grow out, you cut down to more suitable shoots, better for the design.

This is the Chopping block.

The Chopper.

The Chop.

The bottom goes into a pot, it’ll sprout a whole forest of new trees and the circle of life shall continue.

My handmade roothook (I posted a micro blog of the fabrication process on my social media accounts).

I had to cut off another two inches off the bottom to achieve the root reduction I needed…..

Which is this ..

This aerial root needs to go.

It’s blocking the root flare into the (as yet nonexistent) soil line.

That’s better.

Still too much down below.

Better…. You’re thinking I’ve killed it, right?

No worries my friends.

A round Mica training pot….for training…

Some of my SuperMix ….

And around the base we go….

And go…..

And go……

And go…..

And……ok, you get it already…..

No wiring yet. Let it grow.

I’m a firm believer in letting the first branch describe the trees style.

So the tree will be more of a banyan or deciduous tree style, with that big first branch (or second trunk) leading the way.

But that’s in a few months.

That’s it. I still have two more to do.

As for the new stuff in the Adamaskwhy Bonsai World (remember the hashtag #mybonsaiworld) I’m going to try to push more content in the blog (I have a no-holds-barred blog post that’ll come out in the next few days), on social media (more finished trees of course, but more sneak peeks into the nursery and studygroup workings (maybe some Facebook live videos too) and more postings on YouTube (I do have a video in the editor now, and I’m working it, promise).

Let me know what you’d like to see.

10 thoughts

  3. Did Marty contact you yet to say “clean the pot!”
    How long before you think this will need to be in a bigger pot?

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  5. Hey thanks for sharing! Could i do something like this with a juniper ive been growing out for a couple years? don’t see you doing much with juniper on your blog any reason for that?

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    1. It’s not advisable to be so aggressive with juniper. They just aren’t as strong a plant as a ficus, and don’t backbud unless you really baby them. That’s one reason I don’t use them much, here in Florida, and I really find them boring.
      This ficus will be a real challenge, with the wiring, keeping up with the excessive growth, and wrangling the tree into shape. A juniper, I might only work two or three times a year.
      I do keep them in the nursery, but the interesting specimens available here just aren’t exciting either. Rocky Mountain junipers, or one seed junipers would be the type I’d like to work, but it’s too wet and warm for them to live here.
      And, the last reason I don’t show much in the blog with junipers, everyone else in the blogosphere and YouTube world work junipers, and there’s not much new for me to say about them.

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  6. Great post again, thanks.

    What (and why) is the straight cut down the centre of the trunk in the first pic? And where did it go?

    Martin South Africa

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