A very worthwhile fig to grow is Ficus rumphii. It is used extensively in southeast Asia for bonsai.
The pictures show two rumphii that I grew from seed and that are now 12 years old. The bark on this species is light in color as contrasted to religiosa which has a darker grey bark. Religiosa also has a longer drip tip on the leaves.
Upright style of rumphii, about 16″ tall
Slant style rumphii,15″ wide, the curving roots on the left will be removed.
I collected and sprouted a seed about 13 years ago that resulted in a plant that had low branches which I decided to keep as secondary trunks. The bonsai is what I would call Clump or Sprout style and is not that common in the bonsai world. It may be close to needing a nice container rather than its plastic development pot. Height is about 10 inches.
Ficus microcarpa, seed grown, in the sprout or clump style
On a visit to South Africa I saw a very interesting fig, Ficus tremula, shaped as a small bonsai in the bonsai collection of my friend Hennie Nel.
I was unable to find Ficus tremula for sale in the US so I am resorting to growing them from seed. It will take many years for these now two month old seedlings to mature into a reasonable bonsai. Growing from seed is for the young and those with lots of patience.
Ficus tremula bonsai grown by Hennie Nel of South Africa
Ficus tremula at two months of age grown from seed
For more information on growing figs from seed see:
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/ficusforum/FicusTechniques/FigTechnique33.html
Multiple trunks fused together from separate seedlings
Ficus infectoria is an invalid name, according to the botanists, and should technically be called Ficus virens. This material shows a coarser grower than some of my other virens. It seems to be quite happy in container culture with no special needs.
This bonsai is actually 3 or 4 root fused trees that were grown from seed. The seedlings were never separated to their own containers so that over time the root and bases fused to form one tree.
Defoliated once or twice yearly to improve branching, produce smaller leaves and to allow visualization of the branches
As the trees grew they naturally fused to each other so that now this is one root connected tree.
