July 2015

The development of a root over rock. Todd Hansen and Lydia Cruz 

Fig 1- Here’s a cutting taken of a larger Green Island Ficus that we stuck on a rock about 9 years ago.

We gave it a couple years to grasp and grow. 

Fig 2- Hard pruning at year 2 and notice the minimized form Lily created.

As you see the tree progress you will see that the right decisions were made early. 

Fig 3 - After 5 years of hard pruning, growing and development and start over again, this is the fluffy tree before pruning and wiring.

Fig 3 - After 5 years of hard pruning, growing and development and start over again, this is the fluffy tree before pruning and wiring.

Fig 4 - Pruning and wiring produced this result. Clearly on a good path, but also a direct result of the early good decisions made. 

Notice that everything revolves around the initial 3 branch selec-tions. 

Fig 5 - The last rewiring and minimization pruning. Lily sold this tree for a significant amount of money earlier this year.

The new owner is thrilled. 

If you favor tropical trees we recommend Green Island Ficus. They grow aggressively even here in New England and are very disease and pest resistant. They propagate from cuttings or air-layering well. They also produce nice small fruits when fertilized.