Root Detailing My Ficus microcarpa, Part 2, The Bonsai Zone, June 2021

My Ficus bonsai gets a detailed root pruning and a new Tokoname pot!
To see part one click here....
• Root Detailing My Ficu...
To see previous videos of my Ficus microcarpa "Fancy" bonsai, click on the playlist here....
• The Ficus Sisters, two...
To see more videos about bonsai pots, click on the playlist here....
• Bonsai Pots
To see more videos about growing bonsai from seeds, click on the playlist here....
• Growing Bonsai from Seeds
#TheBonsaiZone

[@RosarioCostanzo]

That cute little duck in a pot made my day!! Your ficus really had a big improvement and this pot is perfect for it! Splitting root was an awesome move

[@patsfreund9164]

Truly enjoyed this two part series on repotting this ficus. Your explanations on the root detail are priceless. You really make me think more about the root structure in my own trees. Well done! (And I love seeing the ducks and other animals.)

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Pat, glad you enjoyed it!

[@koholohan3478]

My life is complete after viewing the tiny duckling.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I wish you could hold it in your hand!

[@jhumpamukherjee6588]

Oooo

[@miqueaardwolf7761]

I love the videos. I always feel like I'm a neighbor walking by with my gsd dog Harry Potter and I notice Nigel and stop by to visit , he's working and explaining as he does things. He probably thinks I'm a pain in the you know what, but he does chat so I keep stopping by and learning.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Nice Mique, and you are welcome to stop by with your dog anytime!

[@elisabethserrano8264]

the little duckling was the top of the cake ,Nigel the Tree is looking great in it"s new nice pot Hi Five

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Elisabeth, the little duck is doing well and is still very cute!

[@mikeemmons1079]

Anther 5 years and it wont matter which way it is facing, it will be all front. Nice work, Nigel.

[@farmert9679]

Great tutorial on the roots. You are the master of developing the root system.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Tom, I really enjoy the root work!

[@beardedbonsai]

The tree is really looking good in the new pot. The base is developing nicely very impressive.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Hudson Bonsai!!!!

[@Bonsaifly]

Thank you for all your content Nigel. I’ve been watching your videos ever since I started Bonsai 2 years ago and you’ve really helped me out a bunch of times :)

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Bonsaifly, I hope you and your trees are doing well!

[@Bonsaifly]

@@TheBonsaiZone me and the trees are both fine, thank you Nigel :)

[@alicer3423]

It looks beautiful in that pot.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Alice!!!

[@sophiaangelini4368]

The baby Duck makes our day as does Ficus Fancy's graduation to a glazed Tokoname pot.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Sophia, the duck is very cute and loves being petted. It falls asleep in your arms! Yes, it's exciting to see the Ficus enter the next stage in it's life!!!

[@uhaneokalanijames8029]

look again at the sequoias i believe there is one maybe two sprouting? and thank you for sharing your trees, they are beautiful.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I checked them today, but I think they are just weeds, sadly.

[@IzonHow]

Really nice set of videos Nigel. The roots on this tree look so much better! Great job :D

[@Whitepalace24]

I would love to see the Ficus Fancy go down to just three trunks or so ❤️. That fat one on the far right has the best movement on the whole tree!

[@jessevdmeer]

Just an amazing tree. Very nice video Nigel 👍🏼

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks J, I wish my hand wasn't in the way all the time. I was concentrating on the tree and not so much on the video!

[@josiefiksman144]

Love watching your videos! Informative and relaxing. 👍

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thank you very much Josie!

[@OddBonsai]

There''s so much happening at the base of this tree that you don't know where to look first. :) I think I'm beginning to like the tangled roots more. For example right in the middle of the tree front there are 3 roots next to eachother running almost in parallel where I think I liked it better with the sideways going root that you removed. No crituque here, just a matter of prefference. It's a great looking tree!

[@sampritikar254]

I also thaught the same. The tangled roots gave the tree nice character.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I think you will see more aerial rots forming on the tree in the future, I'm hoping to get the basic flowing structure in place first and then I can be more free with the aerial roots that wrap around the trunk. Aerial roots have a habit of becoming thick really quickly, I think that's why they rarely keep them in Taiwan and other tropical climates. I'll keep striving for realism with the tree, it has a way to go!

[@OddBonsai]

@@TheBonsaiZone Judging by how well aerial roots seem to develop in your greenhouse, by the end of this season there will probably be a new layer of finer roots forming over what we see now. I noticed how thick some of the roots had become already but I didn't give it too much thought. Now that you mentioned it I can see why this could be a problem. I never thought of why we don't see more bonsai with aerial roots from growers in tropical areas. Thanks for enlightening me! 👍

[@davidcraik4662]

if you take a little piece of the hard shell down till you see the white inside the baobab then soak overnight peel thhe skin of next day and within two days you will see the roots starting to grow, i have good success doing it that way

[@joelalves4658]

Great job !! This Ficus is just amazing! I can't wait for Avatar Grove ! I made a forest bonsai inspired by it.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Cool Joel and thanks!

[@urouroniwa]

I just realised that Tokoname is not that far away from where I live. I could probably get there for a day trip by car pretty easily. I think I'll have to wander over and have a look at their bonsai pots :-)

[@TobyJin]

This Ficus is looking really good. I started a Ficus clump this season and I’m hoping it will look like this tree one day. Amazing how it is only one tree.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

You can build a fantastic Ficus by fusing cuttings together or in a clump style! Thanks Toby!

[@TobyJin]

@@TheBonsaiZone They don’t have to be cuttings off the same plant for them to fuse right?

[@TheBonsaiZone]

@@TobyJin Ideally, you want cuttings from the same tree, that way they grow at the same rate and stay fused together nicely. I'm not sure what would happen with different Ficus fused together?

[@TobyJin]

@@TheBonsaiZone Thanks, I am pretty sure I used the same species but not sure if they are genetically identical, fingers crossed that it will still fuse.

[@RayAzul7]

love the tree. nice job

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@dk2614]

Nigel, have you considered taking cuttings of this tree and seeing if you can replicate the parent tree?

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I have a few cuttings on the go already, I could make a mini version!

[@johnforth4896]

Nice tree that Nigel!!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thank you Bybe!

[@marysoldeeley2218]

That tree is amazing!

[@jmmvangoor]

Saw a bonsai duck for the first time in my live beatiful!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

It's a cutie!

[@PSPMHaestros]

Ah yes, the duck scale, even better than metric or imperial!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I have several duck sized trees!

[@andersnrregren9087]

And some big and small ducks

[@terrorofdeath3280]

What quack still uses Imperial or Metric? The Duck scale is being billed as the most accurate means of measurement. I'll see myself out for the fowl puns.

[@heavenboms8111]

Really looks good on all sides

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Heaven Boms!

[@TheFunkymunky22]

Very beautiful tree!

[@faizall118]

Root correctioning Good....

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Mohamad!!

[@coronnation8854]

Here is a trick my fellow bonsai vid watchers. I found that I can watch double the amount of videos like this if I watch on 2x speed. You don't lose anything. I watch Peter Chan at 1.75 because he starts getting hard to follow at 2x.

[@AnimeJKid]

A true artist!

[@BeTheCREATOR]

Wonderful! The bonsai and the pot both are promising. And I think your hairstyle could be better Nigel, it requires little trim.

[@hugolafond5545]

I love so mutch this tree sorry i fall as sleeping last night loll

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Hugo, I'm looking forward to more work on this tree in the future!

[@oleksandrsolonskyi2198]

Hi Nigel. Are you sure Ficus is Microcarpa, and not Retusa? The ones we call Tigerbark Ficus.

[@Andi_M.]

Microcarpa, Retusa and Ginseng is all the same!

[@oleksandrsolonskyi2198]

@@Andi_M. Then some of them have lines on the bark, "tigerbarks", and other don't. Some have pointy leaves with pretty thick twigs and other have almost circular leaves growing in a tight spiral manner. Just different varieties?

[@Andi_M.]

Yes, i think so. "Tigerbark" is not a official species, more like a varietie.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

This tree doesn't have the smaller pointy leaves of a Tiger bark. It also has a different bark than my Tiger bark variety. Thanks Oleksandr!!

[@Denkar11]

Hornbeam? Planning on eventually making a magic wand? You'll need some dragon heartstring for the the core!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Hard to come by!

[@martinadamczyk6628]

Hi Nigel, i tried to follow your ratios of soils but i cant figure it out. could you post the ratio of each material you used? im planning to trim my medium (~12" tall) microcarpa and use the cuttings to replant and make a ficus "forrest" i love the duckling, so cute and the wood pigeon in the background! thanks much, so glad i discovered your channel

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Hello Martin, I use 1/2 perlite and 1/2 SafetySorb (Fullers Earth) and then mix them together, then I throw in about 10 to 20 percent reptile bark. The perlite and the SafetySorb are screened to remove the fine particles to get a size of 3 to 4 mm or 1/8 inch.

[@johnpugh5867]

Hi Nigel my baobab seeds have shown root after picking of hard shell and I have opted and leaves are greening up sowed same time as you give a couple a try

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks John, that's awesome!!

[@littlefangel9243]

Hi Nigel I just want to ask you, is this ficus microcarpa fused together?

[@TheBonsaiZone]

No, it is one tree, the aerial roots drop down and fuse with the truck creating this look!

[@littlefangel9243]

Thank you for the reply Nigel, it look awesome!

[@paulcropper4568]

looking good

[@patrickfo967]

Hi Nigel! I really would like to recreate your ficus fancy... The material you started with was a ginseng like ficus right ?

[@markfisher2224]

Every time I watch 1 of your videos Nigel, I cant help but wonder if there will be a video titled "Nigel Prunes His Hair".

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Maybe some day!

[@michaelwhyte8529]

So, here i go....bzzzzz

[@markfisher2224]

@@michaelwhyte8529 What are we shootin'?

[@entyropy3262]

Watching hands and listening to stories what is happening behind the hands. You have definitely made better videos already. Still, it was quite entertaining. So thx for sharing.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I was concentrating too much on the tree and not enough on the video!!! I'll try and get that hand out of there in future!!

[@Rblock777]

I would plant that side with the longer roots closer to the edge of the pot so the other side of the roots can catch up

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I'm hoping to get a bit of asymmetry in the tree, I hope it will make the tree more interesting in the future!

[@jamestropicals2025]

I’m ready to be foist the next video!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

That's the spirit James!

[@mikeemmons1079]

I think I might have made an error. Can anyone tell me; Is akadama, heavy, like cat litter, or is it more like pearlite? If it is the latter I have seriously misjudged the price of the stuff.

[@Catnip2011]

Whatever happened to the Toronto Bonsai Society website? As a newbie, where can I get some bonsai classes or supply in T.O.?

[@TheBonsaiZone]

It looks like it's being worked on, here is the facebook page.... facebook.com/TorontoBonsaiSociety/ Welcome!!!!

[@smokyhillbonsai-gerrettmor6373]

Thanks for the video. I wanted to check on something, I can do this rootwork on my Ficus bonsai when the tree is actively growing and it's warm/hot outside? Thank you again!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Yes, the best time to work on the roots of a Ficus is when it hot and humid out! The will recover quickly in early to mid summer.

[@smokyhillbonsai-gerrettmor6373]

@@TheBonsaiZone thank you!

[@birgittej5895]

Yay!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Birgitte!

[@sophiaangelini4368]

uck for their inspiring Guest Appearances.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Your daily dose of cute!

[@brucedeacon28]

👍

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Bruce!

[@waseylibrahim2493]

Didn't know Einstein started doing bonsai

[@TheBonsaiZone]

A Zone head!

[@notbonsai671]

❤️

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Quinn!

[@asepsancang]

Good joob

[@austinmead5754]

Foist

[@austinmead5754]

Double foist!!!!

[@jamestropicals2025]

@@austinmead5754 come on bro…

[@chris_gaming6665]

Austin is too good!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Foist Foist for for Austin Austin Tonight Tonight!!

[@dk2614]

What?!!!

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Double Header tonight!

[@jimthebonsaiguy250]

👍

[@TheBonsaiZone]

Thanks Jim!