The Dominant Tree

One of the benefits of growing trees from cuttings is that they'll be genetically identical to the parent tree. This is particularly important if you're undertaking a fusion project and want all the trees you're fusing to have identical foliage and, if applicable, go dormant at the same time. Neither of these things are guaranteed if you're working with seedlings.

That's not to say that identical cuttings will behave in exactly the same way.

A couple of years ago I planted three almost identical Ficus Burtt-Davyi cuttings in one small pot. That pretty much guaranteed that their treatment would be identical - the same genes, identical watering and feeding. Only minimal light variation if one tree put another into shade.

None of them have ever been pruned.

Under the circumstances you'd think there would now be three very similar trees growing in their little pot. But somehow one tree has become dominant and is now more than twice the height of the other two, with branches as thick as the trunks of its two smaller siblings.

Three Ficus Burtt-Davyi cuttings in one pot

Yesterday, when I decided to separate them, I discovered that the two smaller ones had minimal roots while the big one had filled up the rest of the pot.

Large Ficus Burtt-Davyi aren't easy to come by where I live, so I'd like to see how much I can fatten up the dominant tree. I've moved it into a bigger pot, leaving the other two in small pots for now.

It will be interesting to see how the smaller ones develop now that they have room to grow.

Three Ficus Burtt-Davyi separated

Naturally Stunted

This tree has never been in a bigger pot than its current home.

October 2018

It hasn't been repotted since it was a seedling either.

That's not the way I usually do things, but when a tree is too vigorous, stunting its growth has its benefits.

The tree above is the smaller of two Coral trees (Erythrina lysistemon) which I grew from seed about 8 years ago.

It's never been to a workshop, unlike its big brother which has been to a couple.

When I took the bigger one to its first workshop a few years ago, I felt compelled to get it out of its small pot because it kept growing so tall and top heavy that the wind was continually blowing it over. I took two pots to the workshop and was advised to put it in the larger pot. That's a decision I've come to regret because it grows much too quickly for my liking.

In April (autumn) I gave it a hard pruning to get it short enough to fit under frost cloth for winter. No styling was attempted at that time.

April 2018 - after rough pruning

I hadn't touched it since then and by last week the new growth was totally out of control.

October 2018 - six months growth

I decided to take it to a workshop, primarily because I knew that someone there wanted the thick cuttings. But first I had to remove most of the new growth so that it would fit in my car.

Cut back to a manageable size

After proper pruning it looks like this.

October 2018 - after pruning

I'll shorten everything further when I get some back budding.

Now I need to see that I keep its growth under control.

The little one was shortened in April too, but had produced much finer growth over the last six months.

October 2018 - before pruning

It needed a lot less work.

October 2018 - after pruning

Note that the fatness of both trees at soil level is pretty similar though the larger tree has gentler taper. The smaller one has a large bulge at the base, but that has been there since it was a seedling, so I'm not sure a bigger pot would have changed that. It also has no visible nebari, something that will have to be taken care of when I finally decide to move it to a more suitable pot.

But I fear that will have to wait until next year because it's a bit late in the season to repot it now.