A Detailed Guide to Pruning the Ginseng Ficus Bonsai
Ginseng ficus is often grown as a ficus stump bonsai. Its root system is very well developed, with prominent gnarled roots and strangely shaped root tubers. More and more people are especially fond of it and cherish it dearly, and it is a beautiful sight decorating the home environment! But the beauty of a ginseng ficus bonsai is not entirely innate; it is mostly achieved through later care and management to reach a higher ornamental value and artistic level.
Scientific and reasonable management methods are an important means of growing a ginseng ficus bonsai well, but among the many management methods, pruning is the most critical. So, how do you prune a ginseng ficus bonsai? Below, the editor will share with you the pruning methods for ginseng ficus.
I. Pinching Treatment
When a tree bonsai grows to a certain stage, it is often necessary to control the height of the entire plant shape through pinching. But pinching also has a more important role: prompting the bonsai to sprout more side branches to enrich the tree shape. The same is true for ginseng ficus. Through pinching, on the one hand, its growth height is controlled to avoid the plant growing too tall and affecting the beauty of the plant shape; on the other hand, it is prompted to sprout more side branches.
II. Bud Removal Treatment
During the growth of ginseng ficus, many adventitious buds will grow on the base trunk or branches. If we do not deal with them, these adventitious buds will easily grow into forked branches, thereby changing the plant shape effect and seriously affecting the beauty of the bonsai. Therefore, once adventitious buds grow on the base trunk and branches of the ginseng ficus, we should promptly wipe or pick them off.
III. Root and Leaf Treatment
Ginseng ficus is a plant suitable for viewing leaves and roots, and its leaves are generally viewed during the stage when new leaves sprout. At this stage, the ginseng ficus will sprout many emerald-green tender leaves, which are very beautiful. To achieve the effect of more tender leaves sprouting, we can use leaf picking to prompt it to sprout new leaves multiple times a year, improving the ornamental effect. The roots of the ginseng ficus also have very high ornamental value. To make its root system more sculptural, after picking the leaves we can use wiring to prompt its roots to present a more beautiful effect.
IV. Branch Pruning Treatment
During the growth of ginseng ficus, measures such as pinching and bud removal will cause a large number of new branches to sprout, but not all new branches help make the shape more beautiful. Therefore, for those new branches that affect the beauty, we should properly prune them off. How to prune branches often needs to be decided according to the tree shape. For example, if pruning into a cloud-layer-like sculptural structure, we need to prune the branches into a flat state. In addition, we also need to promptly prune off dead branches, parallel branches, crossing branches and other branches on the tree that are not conducive to the shape.
Scientific and reasonable pruning is one of the key steps in keeping a ginseng ficus in good shape. Only when a ginseng ficus has a good artistic shape and beauty can it be called an excellent bonsai work and have artistic ornamental value. Therefore, when growing a ginseng ficus bonsai, we should do a good job of pruning. (Author: Xiaoshu 2017-08-14 17:35)