You may have to wait a while as benjamina is considered to be bad candidates for bonsai compared to other Ficus varieties, but if you go to the gallery of this forum you can find lots I'm sure going back years.

I can't remember what species this is, but here is one of my Ficus that I ari layered to get:

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I plan on turning it into a mame one day.

Ryan

Larke...most ficus make nice Bonsai material, ficus b. is only one and from what I've seen favored by most in the Bonsai community. Those of us who grow tropicals anyway. I have several but mostly larger sized trees, my only Shohin is a small Purple Water Jasmine.

Bob

Bamboo Turtles,

To see pics of Benjamina XXXL go to BonsaiHunk.com In the
gallery there are many big, fat boys and girls. There is also info there about other tropical bonsai.

ShohinKen

That's a really promising plant you have there . I have about six Ficus benjamina ' ginseng ' that I bought about three or so years ago . I haven't been able to find any since .

Ughh this was a Ficus benjamina 'Ginseng' about a year ago. It had an ugly S bend. It was purchased from a Lowes and sold to me as a Christmas gift. I think I've got some before and after pictures somewhere here....

Ahh. Here's the only 1 that I found. Don't mind the wiring, I was a total beginner back then. It's no longer on the tree:

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That is some nice specimen's you all are sharing.
I am curious how much I should trim mine make on top? and what kind of pot? I would like for it to get larger. I have even thought of using a deeper pot. Ideas? Thoughts?

Thanks.

Tropicalfreak

Here is a photo of my oldest and largest ficus benjamania. It has made a great bonsai for me over these years.

Here is the link to the photos, I still have no idea how to paste a picture directly into a Garden Web post.

http://s1109.photobucket.com/albums/h427/9edward1/

Hey Simsedward,

Paste the HTML code here.

If that tree were mine, I would probably air layer it or chop off a branch or something. That bottom branch is very large, then the one up above it on the right is very small and does not fit with the bottom branch.

Thanks! I have been wondering about that for a long time!
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I have been thinking about doing something because the branches are not proportional - kinda chicken on this one. I think removing either branch might make the tree look worse? No?

If this tree were mine, here is what I would do:

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Air layer between the sections in red, then move the first branch on the right up, as shown by the yellow. That branch would be the new leader of the small shohin that would be left over. You could essentially have 3 trees from one. Of course, I would do just one layer at a time.

Ryan

Here's an article about one I've owned for over a dozen years but just started developing recently.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ficus microcarpa

Hmmmm, don't know how big that ficus is but it looks pretty good to me. I wouldn't worry so much about a drastic re-design; rooting branches, chopping etc. In my opinion (such as it is) I would suggest broadening the crown -- maybe even to almost overgrowing the pot some and allow more lower foliage to grow while reducing crown heigth. It will change it to look more like a traditional ficus...if that's what you want.

If not...chop/chop.

Bob

Thanks Bob, appreciate it. I think I am going to leave it. I have had it for a long time and I like the way it looks. Ryan's idea is good, and I thought about air layering it to get 3 trees out of one, but I am chicken. I know the one branch is out of proportion, but I am hoping that more foliage will cover that up a bit. Pot and all it is about 2 feet tall. How would you suggest broadening the crown aside from just letting it grow?