Ficus defoliation

This is my favourite ficus bonsai. I bought it in 2005 as a small under developed and somewhat  underwhelming stock tree that someone was getting rid of for $20. Since then it has developed in size and shape quite nicely. Its current size is height: 65cm, trunk circumference: 32cm, trunk diameter 15cm. Its been partly defoliated from time to time but I decided its time to go hard on the defoliation to really boost its ramification.

Over the past few weeks I have really pushed its feeding. Weekly liquid fertilizers as a mixture of Superthrive, Aminogrow and Nitrosole. It has responded nicely with a flush of new lush growth. I have just been waiting for the night air temperature to climb a little.

So today I completed a full defoliation including tip prune. This technique is similar to that used by Leong Kwong. It’s aggressive but can achieve impressive results. We will see.

I will keep you posted with the results.

Matt

Same Ficus bonsai in 2006