For our August 2007 meeting, our own Tim Kong discussed using trees from the Ficus family for bonsai. The Ficus genus encompasses over 800 varieties and includes the fruiting fig, the prolific rooting banyan trees and even tropical vines. All Ficus trees are native to tropical climates and are used commonly as house plants and, in temperate climates like San Francisco, are planted outside in pots or the ground.

Ficus trees are generally identified by their white, milky sap that seeps from fresh cuts and by their waxy thick foliage. Leaves can be round or almost willow-like in appearance but are always alternating on the twigs and usually evergreen. The bark of most Ficus trees is soft and smooth sometimes with a mottled appearance.

The culture of Ficus for bonsai is very simple. This is because, in general, Ficus are very forgiving trees. They require sunlight (bright-indirect and full) and a balanced fertilizer and grow like weeds. As a result, young trees progress quickly into mature looking specimens in a short time. Because Ficus are tropical, some species must be kept at temperatures above 50 degrees F. Some trees are more tolerant to cooler temperatures but none can survive freezing temperatures. Because of their sensitivity to low temperatures, Ficus trees are considered one the few bonsai that are ideal for indoor culture. In our area, the most common ficus used for bonsai include F. benjamina, F. nerifolia, and F. retusa.

Ficus trees are readily propagated by cuttings at any time of the year. In fact, small twigs to 8” diameter branches/trunks will root when placed in soil. Tim recommends obtaining material from tree trimming crews that are pruning sidewalk Ficus trees along San Francisco streets (with their permission of course). Once the tree is established, shaping of the branches is achieved with aluminum wire instead of copper because these trees have relatively sensitive bark. Ramification of the branches can be accelerated by partial defoliation of healthy trees.

For the evening’s demonstration, Tim provided a large F. retusa specimen that was rooted from a 4-5” thick branch. The tree was started about 3-4 years ago from branches pruned from a neighborhood tree. First, Tim removed several branches not necessary for the final design by using concave branch cutters. Afterwards, the foliage was thinned from the tree to allow sunlight to penetrate the inner branches. To shape the tree, aluminum wire was used to wrap the primary branches. The final product was a very nice informal upright tree with graceful branches and an interesting silhouette. Congratulations to Bob Carlson who was the lucky raffle ticket holder at the end of the evening and now this very nice tree is gracing his garden.

For the Show-and-Tell portion of the meeting, Craig Thompson brought along two of his outstanding Tiger Bark Ficus trees (top right picture) as examples of Ficus bonsai. Many of us are familiar with Craig’s sumo style tree in its flattering Sara Rayner pot.
If you are interested in growing Ficus as bonsai, you should definitely search the BSSF library for recent publications of bonsai magazines and websites such as the internet bonsai club (www.internetbonsaiclub.org). In these publications, one can find masterpiece examples of Ficus bonsai from Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hawaii. In these tropical locales, Ficus trees are collected from the wild and because of the warm weather, experience year long growing seasons. The tropical cultivation of these trees results in magnificent specimens with aerial root systems, fine ramification of the twigs, and near perfect radial nebari. As for local specimens, the Collection North maintains an excellent large Green Island Fig that is a wonderful example of Ficus as bonsai.?

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