Something I Don't Usually Do

     I don't usually try to create jin, shari, or uro on tropical trees, for the simple reason that you rarely see those features on tropical trees in nature. In the rainforest, in particular, dead wood rots away quickly.

But I have one tropical tree that I acquired with the specific intent of turning it into a hollow-trunk bonsai. I saw it in Meehan's on-line catalog, and realized that a major flaw could make an interesting feature if my skills were up to it. When my lovely wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas that year, I was ready!

A Successful Willow-leaf Fig Root Cutting

I've spent a lot of time in the last six weeks on a major health issue of my father's. It's winter here, too, so my hardy and half-hardy trees are in their winter quarters. Thus the brief "dormancy" of this blog. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

But matters are now on an even keel with my dad. And even in winter, things are going on with the tropical trees in the Bonsai Crate.

The "gnarly turnip. What did I have to lose?

     Last summer, I used the flat-cut technique on a willow-leaf fig (Ficus salicaria) that needed a better nebari. (I described the process in this post.) The part of the root system that I removed resembled a gnarly turnip, about the size of a small woman's fist, and at first I saw no reason to keep it. But Mary C. Miller of Miami, FL, (a.k.a. "Bonsai Mary") pointed out to me that it could make a nice root cutting. So I dug it back out of the compost pile and potted it up, to see what would happen.

Within a few weeks new shoots began to appear around the perimeter of the cut, and as time passed more and more shoots appeared. This afternoon I went down to the Bonsai Crate to thin them out.