My Medium Golden Gate Ficus Cutting Collection: How to Care and Grow

This post will get you familiar with my medium Golden Gate Ficus cutting collection and how to care for them. This collection consists of three medium-sized cuttings that all originated from my large Golden Gate Ficus. These cuttings are in different stages of development and require various care techniques.

Summary of Care

Medium Golden Gate Ficus cuttings are extremely easy to care for. They do not require much attention until they grow larger. Two of these cuttings were taken directly off the large Golden Gate Ficus. The remaining cutting was taken off another one of the cuttings. All three cuttings were propagated the same way using rooting hormone and lots of water. Since originally planting them, they have all developed a nice root ball and have all shown signs of new growth. Thus far, I have not needed to do much pruning, training, or fertilizing to these trees. These cuttings are still very new and don’t require much work yet.

---

The Collection

First Cutting

Propagation

I took my very first cutting about ten months ago. It was a thin branch with two small offshoots of growth near the base of the trunk along with a few small leaves at the top. If you study the cutting very closely, you can see another two very small offshoots of growth starting to form on the front and back of the tree. After I cut the branch off of the main tree, I used a pocket knife to scrape off a think layer of bark at the base of its trunk. I then dipped this freshly scraped branch into my rooting hormone. After ensuring a nice coat of powder was on the branch, I poked a hole in the soil and placed the branch inside the hole.

---

Root Development

When trying to propagate Golden Gate Ficus cuttings it is important to keep the soil very moist until the cutting starts to develop roots. The damp soil interacts with the rooting hormone to provide the best chance of success for the tree. Once the cutting has rooted, you can water it like normally. An easy way to check if your cutting has grown roots is to gently pull the cutting upwards. If it stays in place and doesn’t budge, it has started to grow roots. If you pull up and the cutting raises up too, it has not developed roots yet and needs more time.

---

Pruning

It only took a few weeks for this cutting to develop roots. While waiting for the roots to develop, I pruned off some of the large dark green leaves that were oddly shaped. I decided to leave all the other leaves alone and let them develop. Shortly after the roots started to develop, the four offshoots of growth began to grow. A few new leaves have appeared at the top of the tree while almost no new leaves have popped up along the branches.

---

Re-potting

Originally, I had planted this cutting in a really small plastic pot. It didn’t take long for the roots to outgrow this little pot. I selected a new pot and began the re-potting process. Re-potting this cutting was extremely easy. I filled the new pot with all the current soil and extra soil to fill up the pot. I patted down the new soil mixture to ensure no air pockets and watered the cutting thoroughly.

• 

• 

• 

• 

This cutting has been growing steadily and has shown no signs of any issues so far. I plan to allow all the branches to grow out and hopefully fill in with leaves. I am deciding between using this cutting in a forest grouping or developing it into a proper specimen. Depending on how it continues to grow might make that decision for me. For now, I am just satisfied that I have been able to successfully propagate my very first cutting.

---

Second Cutting

Eyeing the Branch

I took the second cutting from the large Golden Gate Ficus a little over three months ago. Before I took this cutting, it was a very awkward branch on my large tree. It was sticking straight upwards and was extremely thick compared to the branch it was connected to. I let the branch grow for a few months before I decided to cut it off. Once the branch was at a nice size, I decided to cut it off. The branch was so thick compared to other cuttings I had taken so I was very nervous about the success of this propagation.

• 

• 

---

Proper Tools and Supplies

I used my concave cutter to remove this branch from the large Golden Gate Ficus. A concave cutter is the optimal tool for the job because it leaves an indented cut line on the tree. You can see a picture of what this looks like below. Trees of all species heal the best when left with an indention where the cut was taken. The sap of the tree collects in the indentation creating a natural scab. Underneath this scab, the tree can heal very quickly with minimal scarring. When doing small cuts on your bonsai’s branches it doesn’t really matter what tool you use, a concave cutter, or a flat blade cutter. However, when performing large cuts on your bonsai, it is wise to use a concave cutter to allow your bonsai the best chances of healing.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

You can also use cutting paste to cover the wound on your trees. I used this on my large Golden Gate Ficus after I removed this cutting. This stuff is extremely sticky so I suggest you wet your fingers before touching this stuff. To use it, you ball up a small amount and place it on the wound area. Firmly press it down over the wound and leave in place until the wound heals. This stuff works fairly well and has helped my tree heal this large cut wound.

---

Special Steps

Once the branch was removed from the large tree, I used a pocket knife to scrape a thin layer of bark off the base of the branch. Removing this thin layer of bark exposes a sensitive area of the branch. Right under the bark, there is a thin layer of, essentially, plant STEM cells. When these cells are exposed to root hormone or damp soil, they are automatically programmed to form roots. This aids in the development of your cuttings root growth. This is an optional step and is by no means required to successfully propagate a cutting.

I have done this step on every cutting I have ever taken, and I have yet to have a cutting not root. Anyways, after four weeks, roots started to appear just under the soil. This took a little longer than my first cutting but I suspect this is because it was a much larger branch.

• 

• 

---

New Growth

Since the development of the roots, the tree’s growth above ground has been astounding! The trunk has thickened up, all the branches have started to grow more leaves, and some of the branches have started to sprout new branches. I have not had to re-pot, fertilize, or wire this tree yet. Currently, I have this tree planted in a very nice pot I bought in Hong Kong during my recent travels. This is by far my favorite pot and I cannot wait for this tree to grow into the pot and flourish.

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Fertilizer

Although I have not used any fertilizer on this tree yet, the time is nearing. I have been waiting for the root ball to develop into a decent size before I introduce fertilizer. I am allowing the tree this grace period to avoid burning its roots. If you try to fertilize a tree while its roots are still brand new and developing, you can cause root burn. This is caused by an overabundance of chemicals coming into contact with the tree’s roots. You can spot this if you recently applied fertilizer to your bonsai tree and you start to notice discoloration in your tree’s leaves. The leaves may turn yellow or brown and the roots may become scorched. If this is the case, remove any remaining fertilizer and try to repot your tree into new soil.

---

Training

Once the branches start to grow a little more it will be time to wire this tree. I am not sure what direction I was to go yet. I am waiting for some inspiration before I decide to bust out the wire and shape this tree. There are such a wide variety of options, I am in no rush to decide on anything at the moment. This is part of the fun of bonsai for me. You can think about all the different possibilities before you fully commit to something. And the beauty of growing bonsai trees is that it takes forever and you can always change your mind before the tree fully grows in.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Taking care of this medium Golden Gate Ficus cutting has been really easy and a lot of fun. Stay tuned for more updates about this tree! There will be a lot of upcoming developments as this tree continues to grow.

---

Third Cutting

The third, and final, medium-sized cutting was taken off the previously mentioned cutting three months ago. There was an awkward branch poking off the side of the cutting that I removed, planted, and developed. Now I have yet, another tree.

---

Summary of Care

I propagated this cutting exactly the same way as the previous two. Within three weeks, roots started to develop. While the root growth has been fairly slow, the canopy growth has been extensive. This tree features a very nice, dense, canopy for its size with multiple branches growing throughout the center of the tree. The only downside of this tree is that all the leaves point in the same direction. When you look at this tree from behind it is completely bare, showing no leaves.

---

Future Considerations

It is still too early in the development of this tree to know how I will shape it. For now, I will let it grow freely and leave the decision making for later. Additionally, I have not introduced any fertilizer to this cutting either. The root ball has just not developed enough yet to safely use fertilizer.

• 

• 

---

This has been an in-depth guide to my medium-sized Golden Gate Ficus cutting collection and how to care for them. Hopefully, this will help you in your quest to raise bonsai trees.

As always, stay tuned for more posts about these and all the rest of my trees. Check out the initial post about my Golden Gate Ficus collection and the posts about my large and small cuttings! Also, you can find all these pictures and more in the Gallery.