MEGA Updates On My Bonsai Collection

A quick update on several of my bonsai trees.

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Root Over Rock Bonsai Progression - Part 3

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
 
This is a 4 month progression of my root over rock mini bonsai project using 1 year old cuttings of ficus religiosa / peepal tree.

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See Part 1 & Part 2

Emergency Root Rescue On My Mini Slab Bonsai

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
 
My mini slab bonsai had 2 setbacks sometime ago and now a 3rd one ! So, this time I dived right in, for a heroic rescue :-) Enough is enough !

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Root Over Rock Bonsai Progression - Part 2

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
 
This is a 3 month progression of my root over rock mini bonsai project using 1 year old cuttings of ficus religiosa / peepal tree. Fantastic trunk thickening happened due to regular feeding of liquid NPK and the wires brutally cut into the trunk. So I removed the wiring, did some pruning of roots & leaves, got rid of insects & their eggs. They should be fine in another 3 months.

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See Part 1 and Part 3

Penjing Bonsai - Root Over Rock Style

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)

Part 1 video features a hybrid-ponic setup (roots in soil & water) , while part 2 features hydroponic setup.

Part 1 - Dec 2016

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Part 2 - Nov 2017

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Root Over Rock Bonsai - Hybridponic Ficus Religiosa / Peepal Tree

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Cutting Taken In : May 2016

This is a 1 year progression of my Root Over Rock Mini Bonsai, started from water rooted cuttings. It also covers the making of the rock formation, my hybrid-ponic setup (roots in sand & water), trunk thickening, pruning, moss revival & self watering benefits. My hybrid-ponic setup is an adaptation of Kratky Hydroponics technique.

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Root Escape Technique For Mini Bonsai Of Ficus Religiosa Cuttings

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
 
One easy way to grow mini bonsai in tiny containers is to allow the roots to escape from the main pot to another bigger pot or ground or water. The roots outside the main pot are sacrificial and need periodic pruning.

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This video shows how I developed 3 ficus specimens, pruned their roots & trunk, created a root-over-rock setup, wired the trunks and planted into a bigger container.

See Part 2 and Part 3

Pomegranate Bonsai From Cuttings In Air Pruning Pots

Tree species :  Pomegranate tree

Collected on : Nov 21, 2015

UPDATE - March 19, 2017

 

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Also check out the links given in the video description which show more examples of Pomegranate bonsai in air pruning pots.

Read Part 1 of this story

Banyan Tree Cuttings - Water Rooted To Cocopeat

Tree species : Banyan Tree (Ficus Benghalensis)

Collected on : July 8 (2 big ones) & Aug 18 (3 small ones), 2016

These water rooted cuttings were moved to cocopeat almost 3 months ago and are now ready to be repotted. A soil mix and a bigger pots are needed soon. 

Water Bonsai From Cuttings Of Cluster Fig Tree / Ficus Racemosa

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

This post is part 3 of this story.

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 Read Part 1 & Part 2 here.

How To : Rooting a leaf cutting of Ficus Racemosa

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Leaf taken on : Sept 1, 2016

I took this leaf from a big tree, to compare & show the leaf size reduction I achieved in my bonsai plants of the same species. Then, instead of throwing it away, I thought - why not root it in water and see ! Just plain water, changed twice a week, no rooting hormones.

Sept 18

Sept 21

Large / Truncheon Cuttings - By Bonsai Iligan Of Philippines

This is the largest cutting I have ever seen being rooted. Amazing !

Part 1

Part 2

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Rooting In Water For Mini Bonsai - Ficus Religiosa

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Cutting Taken On : Aug 4, 2016

The tiniest rooted cutting of a 
ficus religiosa you will ever see ! 

Rooted in just 10 days, in plain tap water. In this case, I didn't have to change the water, unlike my other cuttings in water. Here, the water would dry up to a thin layer and I simply refilled it everyday.

Aug 14, 2016

Rooting cuttings in water - Ficus Religiosa / Peepal tree - Part 3

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Collected On : April 23, 2016

Part 3 

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Root on rock - After getting a bunch of dense & shallow water roots, I planted the ficus cutting no. 6 on a rock cavity, covered it with moss & put it back in water, allowing the roots to grow down from the rock in to the water. 

Part 1 & 2

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
 

Cuttings Of Cluster Fig Tree / Ficus Racemosa Growing Roots In Water - Part 1

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

I recently spotted a cluster fig tree sapling, growing on the roadside pavement and decided to prune it first and collect it a month or 2 later. I reduced its height from almost 3 feet to half a feet and got some cuttings in the process.

Rooting cuttings in water - Ficus Religiosa / Peepal tree - Part 1 & 2

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Collected On : April 2, 2016

Softwood cuttings of Ficus Religiosa roots easily in water, specially green branch tips with leaf buds. You will never need their seed again !

If sand, cocopeat or soil was my rooting medium, then I would have had to cut away most of the leaves, which is a setback that you can avoid totally, by rooting in water. Besides, I would expect only 2-3 specimens to survive. I did not remove any leaves, after collecting this rootless sapling.

Ficus Religiosa (Peepal Tree) No. 1

Tree Species : Ficus Religiosa (Peepal tree)
Collected On : Aug 11, 2015

This tree was growing at the base of a compound wall touching the road and I cut it with a hacksaw blade. Managed to get few roots.

Fig Tree Cuttings For Mini Bonsai

Tree species : Cluster Fig Tree (Ficus Racemosa, Indian Fig Tree, Goolar Fig)
Collected on : Dec 30, 2015
Season : Peak winter, 15-18°C min temperature 

 

Soaked them in water first, then cleaned the trunks with an old toothbrush, as the parent tree was heavily infected with scale insects.

Henna Cutting For Mini Bonsai

Tree species : Henna Tree (Lawsonia Inermis / Egyptian Privet)
Collected on : Jan 4, 2016
Season : Peak winter, 15-18°C min temperature