Plant no. 1 in my bonsai collection - a Fig tree

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Collected on : July 29, 2015

After watching YouTube videos on bonsai for 2 weeks, I finally decided to take the plunge. My Bonsai Ver 2.0 begins, at age 41. The last time I touched soil & pots was 2 decades ago, during academic life. At that time, I probably had 3-4 plants for growing as bonsai, with very basic exposure to bonsai art. They died after a year or two, once i got busy and that was the end of my bonsai hobby, until now.

My son Kevin next to this Fig tree. 

Since digging was out of question, I grabbed the twin stems and pulled it out with brute force. Luckily I didn't scrape my hand against the wall and the plant came out easily. Plants growing like this are treated as weeds by the garden crew and are periodically killed. So, I rescued this from certain death.

 Closer inspection revealed 3 trunks, 2 main ones joined at root level.

 

Potted in ordinary garden soil.

Wrapped in a plastic packet to retain humidity & kept in shade, for around 
10 days. I opened them 1-2 times a day for misting and watered as needed.

Mistakes in hindsight - pot is too big, soil has poor drainage, not enough holes on pot base.  I haven't  changed the soil even 2 months later, for fear of breaking the tender roots. As of now the plant is thriving. So, will revisit this later.

It survived my ignorance purely because its a ficus ! I didn't even know until later that Fig tree belongs to the ficus class. As my knowledge grew, I shielded the young plant from direct sunlight using a plastic sheet for diffused lighting. It was kept on my kitchen balcony to get morning sun & misted at least twice a day, with a spraying bottle.

Back to its original vigor, as I found it, before collecting.

A mug of water per day is the current quota, considering the leaf numbers & sunny days. Figs have a tendency to sprout way too many leaves. So I removed some leaves on each branch base, leaving only 3-4 at the tip. This also helps the branch grow longer and thicker. It will be later cut short, once the desired branch thickness is achieved.

Perforated straws for deep root aeration and watering. 

Mistake : large pot & pure soil only. Water wasn't draining out from pot bottom.

The branches have grown longer now & excess leaves have 
been removed so each branch tip gets enough sunlight.

After wiring 3 branches & some tying.

I removed the wiring after a month since it was now too tight for the fast growing plant and left scars.

 

Dec 16, 2015  

It has now reached its original height when it was collected 4½ months ago. The newspaper compensates for the problems of the black pot.

My target size for this bonsai : Half of the current stem height, 1/3rd of current pot height & slightly smaller diameter of pot ; basically 7 inch shallow pot, with stem height of around 13 inches. Branches will be pruned back drastically after some more thickness is attained. The final canopy has to be within a dinner plate area.

Living in an apartment, I am now consciously choosing small to mini-sized bonsai material (shohin, mame & shito bonsai).  The current above size is way too much for me.

Part 2 - Double Air Layering On Same Trunk