Ficus Bonsai from a Cutting

I repot and prune my Ficus microcarpa bonsai, which I created from what is commonly sold as a 'Ginseng' ficus in grocery stores and the like. I cut off the bulbous base about 21 months ago to create a large cutting. It has since rooted and grown well, and needed a repot and a trim. I create some ficus cuttings, which are very easy to root.

[@n8tyler]

Well done...Such bold choices with the root pruning and defoliation...Results look great...As a novice I'm not sure I have the confidence to make those choices but seeing your results shows it works...Thanks for sharing...

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thank you! You are right that it was kind of bold. The safer thing would have been to stagger the work, which is generally true for all bonsai work - one insult at a time, with breaks in between to allow the tree to recover. I guess I wasn't too concerned since I didn't take too many roots off; also, I've seen others repot and defoliate ficus with success.

[@BackyardBonsai-v2w]

It's amazing to see how much that buded out after u defoliated it

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Yeah, it seemed to have worked out well. It's been a few days since that concluding footage and the leaves are now doubled or more in size, so it's looking really nice.

[@TJ-kc8vr]

Where you cut it off makes it look like a nice mature nebari. A great way to handle a ginseng ficus. I too like the grafted microcapa over those grafted with ficus benjamina for the same reasons you mentioned, shorter internodes etc. So glad you posted the update after defoliating, I was wondering how it would do. Looking forward to seeing its progression.

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thank you! Yeah, I was about to post the video without the concluding footage but tacked it on at the last second. It's been a fun project - gets a little better each season.

[@mikec3820]

i did the same thing to my first ficus "ginseng" chop the top off then rooted as a big cutting. yours here i think is green mound or green island. tho they are still considered a microcarpa type i believe. nice work tho for 2 years

[@BonsaiNorthwest]

Thanks! Yeah, the 'ginseng' ficus bulbous roots don't appeal to me, but I liked the foliage on this one - the internodes were particularly tight and I immediately saw a small tree in the top. Yes, I think you are correct that it's a Ficus microcarpa 'Green Mound', as the leaves are longer than they are wide and look like those of 'B' in this article: bonsaipenjing.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/confusions-in-green-island-and-green-mound-ficus-names/. They aren't round like the leaves of Ficus microcarpa 'Green Island' ('A' in the article.)