Cuttings Of Cluster Fig Tree / Ficus Racemosa Growing Roots In Water - Part 2

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Cuttings taken on : June 9, 2016

Part 1 of this article

UPDATE - July 17
 

To avoid algae growth on the roots and inside walls of the container, I decided to keep them covered with a loose newspaper roll, which can be easily slid off. To block light from the top, thermocol balls from my junk collection came in handy.

In case of algae growth on the roots, I gently brush them clean with an old toothbrush. If roots are too tender, wait a week. It won't go away completely but enough for you to grow some root density and repot into bonsai substrate. After getting tired of this, I finally decided to protect the roots from light. And continue changing water daily.

Cutting no. 7 - Potted on July 21, 2016

This cutting has been planted into a nylon net bag bcos I wanted a pot wider than the root spread, but shallow. Its edges have been folded down for that very purpose and it sits inside a traditional plastic pot. The bottom 1/3rd of the black pot is filled with a few large stones, to raise the net bag.

The net bag can easily be lifted out by grabbing the edges. The pot is merely to give it shape. The net bag gives perfect drainage, aeration and automatic air-pruning of roots. Ideally, the sides of the black pot should have large windows like this but it is ok even without it, as air still reaches the sides. 

 The stones help in keeping the roots spread out radially, instead 

of bunching up together in 2 directions, like a moustache.

Why didn't I simply plant it into the black pot ? Bcos it is a stupid thing to do. Read the science behind it -  Colander vs. Bonsai Pots - Part 1. Such plastic pots should be avoided. I already had them as a leftover of another person's gardening attempt, before I got started in bonsai. And my colander was too big to be used for this plant. 

If I had to buy a pot today to keep my net bag in, it would be a net pot or a cheap netted plastic trash can, meant for waste paper. 

On a comic note, after decades of research, I realized that you can use anything stick like which is easily available, to move and position the roots, without using chopsticks (pun intended) :D And one stick is enough, you do not need 2 ! I just use ONE bamboo stick. You can use an old pen if that is all you have. Here, I am talking to people in India, for whom a chopstick is a rare if not unseen tool. I don't have one. Don't buy a chopstick just bcos you see some expert use it. Maybe they get it easily with their food. The usefulness of the tool is not in the 'chop'stick but in the stick. Get it ? Yes, it drives me crazy when I see people blindly aping others, without using their own brains !

Cuttings taken on June 9 - Numbered for reference

Part 3 of this article