Love to see what you do with it in future! Now go to www.bonsaihunk.us/cultural.html and learn everything else about tropicals and particularly Ficus from the reigning ficus expert out there.

I wish we had an expert here... : (

Josh

Well as i said above im a novice but what about windswept style?As you can see most branches lean towards left(or right if you see it the other way).perhaps i can wire the tree's upper half trunk so that it faces the same direction?an illustration:
{{gwi:22705}}
What do you think?

Helen, from the price tag it looks like you live somewhere in the UK? You have just made a major change in the environment of the ficus, let it adapt before going to town on it. Take some time to look the tree over and try to envision what would make a good design...try to find what should be the 'front' as it will be in the future.

Jerry has quite a few pics on his site and there are a wealth of ficus Bonsai pics on the web. It's a good resource.

You may also want to dig around the base a little and see what it has for surface roots, a few inches down you may find a surprise.

Have fun, Bob

Thanks for your reply Bob!I actually live in greece so it was a pleasant surprise for me to be this cheap(a few years ago i bought a regular benjamina which was was half the size of this one,but it was twice as expensive o.o).Anyway,yes ill let it adapt to my enviroment and i already saw jerry's ficus pics thats why im determined to make it a windswept style.But i also need your opinion on this :-D
ps:i totally forgot!!!HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!
cheers Helen

Take your time. Do a lot of looking at the tree and maybe make a few rough drawings to try and see it better.

The biggest fault I see with the tree is lack of taper to overall height, as far as looking like a tree. The easiest way to solve that problem is to move it into a bigger pot/container and let it go vertical for some years. A larger but more shallow pot will work well for that.

I have the advantage of being in the tropics and finding larger ficus (and others) which are already trunked-up. I did grow tropicals in a greenhouse in the states, this is way different!!

While allowing the leader to grow you can still work on styling the tree, it will just look 'different' until you finally cut the leader back to the new apex.
Once you figure out where the new apex will be just allow it to grow wild and work on everything else below that that you are keeping.

A windswept style can go either way as you've seen. What you're looking at doing, while not as spectacular, is still a windswept style.

Bob

If your tree is a wiandi ficus,which it looks to be,pruning to shape is about the only way to go.Ihad one and the limbs and new growth will snap break very very easy. tried to wire and broke several branches. be careful. john

One of the things you can do (but with care and only during the spring/summer)is (for major branches and the trunk) cut and guy-wire.
You use a very thin saw, like a hobby saw, make one or several cuts on the side in which you want the bend to go. The cuts need to be 1/2 to 2/3ds of the way through depending on how severe the bend will be. Then use the guy-wire to pull the branch/trunk until the cuts are closed. When you have it in the desired position don't mess with it for a few months and only then begin to release tension slowly.

I would recomend trying this on a branch that you will probably cut off in the future so if you break it there's no big loss. And, like wiring any tree, allow it to dry out for a few days before starting the work.

Happy bending.

Bob

thak you for your kind replies!the last suggestion scared me though bob....i'm already nervous about shaping it with wires and using a saw that way?the horror!!! o.o

I would like to suggest that you make a bunjin out of your nice little Ficus. The trunk already has some wonderful movement and with some careful pruning it could look extremely graceful in a pretty short time, say a year or two. Keep looking and thinking about that tree for at least six months before you do anything to it other than feed and water and a little thinning perhaps. Jack

Ha ha...don't be nervous, this will only hurt a little.

From what I understand the branches can be VERY brittle so wiring will be a problem. Unless you give up on changing the trunk line that's about the only way to do it. As suggested, clip and grow may be the best option.

Bob

Thank you Jack for your suggestion,not a bad idea at all! :-)
but i though literati style is best suited for conifers?
Bob,the tree is still shaken and dropping leaves;ill just leave it in its spot for a couple of months and thing about wiring later!even if i dont make it,ill still have a nice potted plant! :-D
cheers Helen

There are lots of styles for conifers, and each species has ones more suited to 'it' than others.

No Larke what i meant was literati imo looks better on conifers than other broad-leafed trees(my ficus f.e.)!
cheers Helen