Tips for thickening my Ficus canopy

[Girlactus]

Hey, I have an 7 year old Ficus that has great roots and shape but I can't seem to get the canopy to thicken and I'm afraid to over defoliate and kill it. I fertilize once a month and repot every 2 years. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Shibui]

2 things are needed to ramify ficus canopy - pruning and time.
Defoliation alone won't do much if you leave the tips intact. Ficus growth habit is for the tip to grow longer with as little wasted on branching as possible until the tree reaches the rainforest canopy. They only produce side shoots as an emergency response if the growing tips are damaged.
For our purposes we don't want tall so we need to induce that emergency response by pruning.
feed your ficus well to make it strong and healthy. Prune all branches way back leaving only 2 or 3 nodes in spring and summer. Generally the harder you prune the more shoots will sprout from that stem.
Allow the new shoots to grow, feed and care well then prune again to induce more new buds and shoots. The better you look after the tree the faster it will grow. The faster it grows the more often you can prune and the quicker you will end up with a full canopy.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[Girlactus]

Thank you so much for your response! I will wait till next spring and trim the branches way back instead of just the tips. Muchly appreciated!

 

[DonovanC]

To illustrate, this branch was grown until it had about 6-7 pairs of leaves then cut back (circles in red). Then it split into 3. The nodes closest to the cutpoint will trigger, and often you’ll get random new shoots lower on the canopy or trunk.

I often only trim the tip leaving as many leaves as possible as to not weaken the tree. But, this is just to add vigor and branch thickness. So ramification near the trunk isn’t yet so important - I want the tree to grow big and bushy.

If you’re going for ramification as part of the final design you’ll want to cut them back like mentioned before.

Lastly, the sun is your friend when developing ramification, so the more light you can get your tree the more ramification you’ll get. If you can (and it’s not already,) set the tree outside. But if not, your brightest window should be it’s home.

 

[Forsoothe!]

If you want a dense canopy, tip prune every tip when the tip internode exceeds whatever your acceptable limit is when the tree is in the active growth phase. There are one to several active growth phases thru out the year. In the interim rest phases many active primary buds will present. When the first one begins to extend, trim them all. These two processes will develop a smaller, tighter canopy of leaves.

 

[penumbra]

It looks like Ficus wiandi and it looks like not enough light.

 

[John P.]

By your pictures this seems like an indoor-only plant. If so, it needs to be outside at least during summer (I haven’t looked to see where you’re located). You’ll never have enough light inside unless you start a grow room.

 

[Potawatomi13]

To illustrate, this branch was grown until it had about 6-7 pairs of leaves then cut back (circles in red). Then it split into 3. The nodes closest to the cutpoint will trigger, and often you’ll get random new shoots lower on the canopy or trunk.
View attachment 327974
I often only trim the tip leaving as many leaves as possible as to not weaken the tree. But, this is just to add vigor and branch thickness. So ramification near the trunk isn’t yet so important - I want the tree to grow big and bushy.
View attachment 327976
If you’re going for ramification as part of the final design you’ll want to cut them back like mentioned before.

Lastly, the sun is your friend when developing ramification, so the more light you can get your tree the more ramification you’ll get. If you can (and it’s not already,) set the tree outside. But if not, your brightest window should be it’s home.

Nice colorful wire/not bad wiring either.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Hey, I have an 7 year old Ficus that has great roots and shape but I can't seem to get the canopy to thicken and I'm afraid to over defoliate and kill it. I fertilize once a month and repot every 2 years. Thanks for any advice!

Also need to see tree gets plenty sunlight without burning. On other hand help much needed with wiring technique.

 

[Girlactus]

By your pictures this seems like an indoor-only plant. If so, it needs to be outside at least during summer (I haven’t looked to see where you’re located). You’ll never have enough light inside unless you start a grow room.

Great to know thank you! Ill start putting it out in late spring to early fall.

 

[Girlactus]

Also need to see tree gets plenty sunlight without burning. On other hand help much needed with wiring technique.

Haha I didn't think it was so bad... When I was doing it tighter the wire was starting to dig into the bark after a few months. Maybe I am using the wrong kind of wire?

 

[DonovanC]

Also you have a Ficus microcarpa - I’m quite positive.
If you’re able to get it outside next year, it’ll do much better - you’ll see a huge difference. Some root work is also in order, but I would leave that for next year also. You have some inverse taper, but that’s easily fixed on F. microcarpa.

 

[sorce]

I was hoping the "move it outside" people would begin to ask those questions.

You're not going to be able to do much without slightly better conditions.

Almost none of the good advice above will help without more overall gusto.

One move to outside at 50F and one move back in @ 50F is best IMO. I fully defoliate at these times to keep bugs from coming in, and because indoor leaves die outdoors.

Do you also keep Cacti?

(Can't find this, "What's in a Name" thread)

Sorce

 

[JonW]

It looks like Ficus wiandi and it looks like not enough light.

This is what I thought as well. Without enough light:

• Growth is etiolated, or stretched out with long internodes to try to reach sun, which is the opposite of compact, ramified growth
• Growth is weak, and won't ramify even if you prune the apical buds (tips) of each shoot.

Let the tree grow strongly to build up energy, then prune back hard when you still have plenty of time in the growing season (either outdoor or indoor under good grow lights). I got a tree with branches like that. I let it grow untouched for a year. The next spring, I cut all the branches down to about 1-2cm from the trunk. The next spring, I cut back to 2 leaves, etc. After several years, the growth is compact and bush with lots of movement and taper, but still a number of years until its fully developed the pads I want.

Looks like microcarpa to me.

 

[Girlactus]

I was hoping the "move it outside" people would begin to ask those questions.

You're not going to be able to do much without slightly better conditions.

Almost none of the good advice above will help without more overall gusto.

One move to outside at 50F and one move back in @ 50F is best IMO. I fully defoliate at these times to keep bugs from coming in, and because indoor leaves die outdoors.

Do you also keep Cacti?

(Can't find this, "What's in a Name" thread)

Sorce

I do keep some succulents and cacti as well yes.