One of the best small leaf fig species to use for bonsai is the Willow Leaf fig, scientifically called Ficus salicaria. It has many great features including aerial roots and wide-spreading surface roots. One possible issue is that it does not like having roots that stay too wet. Water the tree well and make sure to allow the soil to nearly dry before watering it again. Continually wet roots leave room for fungal and other rot problems.
Willow Leaf tree that I lost due to root rot
Developing a bonsai requires many steps. One critical step is allowing the bonsai in development to grow wildly. This allows the tree to gain strength and to form branches that will be used in its development.
Periodically the overgrown tree will be trimmed back, given a haircut to bring the design back to a more compact design while also keeping the needed branches and eliminating the ones that are not necessary. This process is repeated until the later stages of a bonsai’s maturity.
Once mature and the design is set growth is kept more restrained. The cycle of growth followed by trimming back is kept up for many years until the tree hits maturity when a more restrained growth and tim back cycle begins.
Willow Leaf fig that has been allowed to grow wildly in order to strengthen it, provide more branches for the design and to thicken the roots draped over the rock
Branches and foliage are reduced back and branches to be kept are selected – now further growth will be allowed
Trees ideally should have a wide root base that tapers up into the trunk. A bulge or lack of proper taper often ruins the visual flow from the rootline to the apex of the tree and is called reverse taper.
In this case several root cuttings of Willow Leaf fig, Ficus salicaria, were bound togeter in about 2006 and fused together to form a larger trunk accomplishing in a shorter time than it woud take to grow the same diameter trunk in my plant room. Fusion was helped greatly by using a large container and allowing free growth of the tree.
The first shot is taken in 2009 when the fusion was successful but the fusion was not totally complete.
2009, with trunks partially fused
A picture of the tree in 2014 shows good fusion and a reverse taper with the roots and base of the tree appearing narrower at the left side of the base than a bit farther up the trunk.
2014 showing the left side of the base of the tree with weak rootage
Three roots were moved around from the left front and left back of the tree. Two of the three roots were fused to other roots at the base and a chisel was needed to separate them from the base, allowing the roots to be moved. One root at the back was just up-rooted and moved around to the left side.
The lowest root on the back was simply dug out and easily moved around to the front
Side root is fused to the base – it is separated with a chisel
2015, the moved roots now enhance the base of the tree and eliminate the reverse taper
A few years back I styled a Willow Leaf cutting into a windswept style. I enjoyed the plant although it was a young and immature plant.
The young cutting shaped out as a windswept style
The tree was re-potted some time ago and looking at the image of the plant revealed the tree was no longer attractive. What was the problem?
The tree in its new pot just isn’t exciting and feels wrong
Often when re-potting a tree I get the angle of the trunk wrong. I get busy selecting a pot, arranging the roots and securing the tree into the pot in the process the tree winds up being potted at the wrong angle or wrong position in the pot or tipped forward or backward and out of position.
Tipped back to the right – the design feels better
Once potted at a better angle I now like the final result much better.
