Advice on pruning my ficus

[FiggieSmalls]

Hey folks!

This is kind of a styling question and basic care/pruning question in one.

I know this is not exactly the best time for pruning tropicals, but my ficus lives inside under some grow lights so he should be okay (I hope). Anyway, most of the damage has already been done because I did prune quite hard, mainly to help fight off an uprise of brown scale (before it became a real problem). Despite the scale, the tree seems quite healthy and is pushing lots of new shoots after a little over a week since pruning.

I was hoping to stimulate some new branching lower on the tree, but so far all the buds are closer to branch tips, as you'd expect. I was sort of planning to watch the tree closely and remove any new buds that aren't forming on the trunk where I want them, but now that I see new buds all clustering on branch tips, I don't really think that's going to do the trick... So I'm wondering, is it too aggressive to prune back even more at this point? Do I need to let the tree recover before doing more?

Here's a few pics of the tree now:








Hopefully those angles are not terrible...

NOW, my plan for this tree moving forward is to continue training for a good while, developing the root base and a thicker trunk. I think I like the current height because I like the proportions relative to the aerial root coming off the trunk. The main issue I see is with the top of the tree, where there's swelling around all those branches that is ugly from certain angle and got some inverse taper going on. I think eventually I'm going to just chop it below that mess, I just haven't taken that leap yet...

I am starting to think I need to cut the lower branch back to the trunk, because the trunk is starting to swell there and eventually would get inverse tapery. So I'm thinking of doing a quick amputation where I have the blue line on the picture below. That would be taking off a lot of the remaining leaves though after I just did a hard prune. Should I wait? And the red line in the picture is where I think I will do a chop eventually. If anyone has thoughts/suggestions about my plans for this tree let me know!




Thanks!
Figgie

 

[luvinthemountains]

I was hoping to stimulate some new branching lower on the tree, but so far all the buds are closer to branch tips, as you'd expect. I was sort of planning to watch the tree closely and remove any new buds that aren't forming on the trunk where I want them, but now that I see new buds all clustering on branch tips, I don't really think that's going to do the trick... So I'm wondering, is it too aggressive to prune back even more at this point? Do I need to let the tree recover before doing more?

Hello, Figgie!

First off, congratulations on saving the tree! Black scale can be mean AF and I hate them with a passion.

No, do not prune this tree. That thing should get to grow into a big bushy shrub before you touch it with pruners. Trim it now and it will probably struggle along for another year before slowly picking up steam. Or it might eventually collapse and die. I have done it both ways, and trust me, letting it thrive before working it again is your best bet.

Good luck! It looks like a fun tree to work with. There is a stumpy "branch" towards the top right of the tree. Once the tree is happy and healthy, that is the first cut that I would make. Chop that off, but leave a stub by the trunk and it will sprout another, smaller branch. Good place for a branch, bad place for a big honking branch like that.

 

[FiggieSmalls]

Hello, Figgie!

First off, congratulations on saving the tree! Black scale can be mean AF and I hate them with a passion.

No, do not prune this tree. That thing should get to grow into a big bushy shrub before you touch it with pruners. Trim it now and it will probably struggle along for another year before slowly picking up steam. Or it might eventually collapse and die. I have done it both ways, and trust me, letting it thrive before working it again is your best bet.

Good luck! It looks like a fun tree to work with. There is a stumpy "branch" towards the top right of the tree. Once the tree is happy and healthy, that is the first cut that I would make. Chop that off, but leave a stub by the trunk and it will sprout another, smaller branch. Good place for a branch, bad place for a big honking branch like that.

Thanks for the advice! I will just let him recover then!

As far as the pruning advice... I still wonder if I should just chop off the whole top at some point so I can get a better taper. I really like the taper from the base (though it's not so easy to see in the pictures because he's buried a bit deep). But the taper kind of just stops and even reverses at the lowest branch. It is a scary prospect though, to do a chop like that... But I figure I would then just let it grow to be like 5 ft tall after that, and then chop it back to around its current height. No big deal right?

 

[luvinthemountains]

Thanks for the advice! I will just let him recover then!

As far as the pruning advice... I still wonder if I should just chop off the whole top at some point so I can get a better taper. I really like the taper from the base (though it's not so easy to see in the pictures because he's buried a bit deep). But the taper kind of just stops and even reverses at the lowest branch. It is a scary prospect though, to do a chop like that... But I figure I would then just let it grow to be like 5 ft tall after that, and then chop it back to around its current height. No big deal right?

It will take a lot of energy to grow a new shoot like that, and to close what will be a good sized wound after you chop. My 2 cents is that it would be better to do that growing/healing with a full tank of gas, after having had the chance to grow it out for a while.