Newcomers may shudder at the way we attack figs in October, cutting back hard and defoliating. The process actually traumatised one visitor some years ago but it is the way figs are treated.
I was visiting a friend and saw a fig in a pot growing into the ground. It was about 1.5 metres high with a long slender, naked apical branch and a clump of big leaves on the top… but the trunk was interesting. It was easy to claim it, as my friend has poor vision and too many trees, and he was prepared to toss it in the bin.
I stumped it, bare rooted it and brought it home. To me the trunk said cascade or semi cascade so I altered the planted angle, named it DD [use your imagination], potted it in good bonsai soil and put it in a sunny spot on the bench at home. This was mid August when you aren’t supposed to work figs. But it could only rejoice in good care and all the things figs like.
For several weeks it was a bare trunk and then shoots started to poke through. Several weeks later and it has produced shoots in all the right places plus a lot extra that have to be culled. But for the moment it can grow on and continue to get robust.
I’m not suggesting a wholesale repotting at the wrong time of year but with good care it has not set this apprentice bonsai back at all. Once the shoots develop into branches the aspect of the fig will change and the DD label will no longer be appropriate but it tickles my sense of humour now.
This fig represents what I tend to preach, when looking for a potential bonsai the trunk is the most important part. You can develop the upper structure but starting with an interesting and aged trunk makes the work far more fun and interesting
