Hi there, FLFs are renowned for their thin trunks and are therefore prone to leaning! I use this method as some moisture meters can be unreliable. I would say unless there’s signs that the plant is suffering from it, it isn’t necessary to repot. There both 2-3ft tall and put out leaves constantly. Notching is best done on more mature, ‘woody’ stems. You can measure this by making sure the top of your fig’s root ball isn’t jutting out over the top of the pot. Emily. Pruning is the easiest way to encourage branching – you don’t need to cut a lot off if you don’t want. ARE YOU STARVING YOUR FIDDLE LEAF FIG? I would always let the lower leaves stay on as long as possible, regardless! I don’t recommend watering little by little as all the roots need to be watered, and watering until the excess drains allows the soil to be flushed of any chemical or salt buildup that can be present in the water you use. I do think it’s root bound – because when I water it seems like the water goes straight through. Thanks for your comments, hope the info helps . I know this is lengthy but hoping you can help. Thanks, Hey Doug, I would say it would be fine to prune your FLF back to about 8′. Just gotta have patience for these ones to grow.

If your home is on the dryer side, make sure to invest in a small humidifier to keep your plant in a space that mimics its natural environment as closely as possible.For fiddle-leaf figs, you can water the soil one of two ways: 1) A lot of water less often, or 2) less water more often. The answer is yes! For more general tips, see my post on growing and pruning your Fiddle Leaf Fig. But Im not really good in planting and no green thumb as well, just trying my plants to stay long. All the best! Types of Pruning. notching fiddle leaf figs. Lastly, I found some white dusting on the soil… I cleared it off but soul seems wet. Pruning will encourage branching and stop your FLF from being so top-heavy. There should be a link to a great FLF one in this post if you need. 0. Remember its always best to prune with the tree’s natural shape in mind! The repotting system you’ve used in the past (cactus soil, perlite & terracotta pot) I would say would be very well draining and the soil would dry out quickly, as terracotta sucks moisture out of the soil. Several species of fig trees can be used as indoor plants. Thanks for the tips, very helpful! Is this a lack of humidity or maybe misting with hard water from the hose? Pruning activates branches, so you should start to see some buds forming on the stem below where it was pruned . My fiddleleaf has branched out too much. What I am wondering… with my lack of care and knowledge within the first couple of years the leaves on the lower became scraggly… I pulled them (now I know I should have left and cared)… with the transplanting they both are doing amazing… but they are doing amazing at the top 1/3. It even grew a side shoot about two thirds up its main trunk. Grow Guide: Pruning Oleander. The method for branching is the same no matter the variety, so I’m sure you will get branches on both plants. Plants that are staked or tied generally rely on that for their support. But FLFs do prefer to slightly dry out between waterings. This post of branching may have some tips if you’d like to try shape your plant into more of that tree shape! Keeping it in a consistent location should help too Hope that helps! Hey Ana, if the branches themselves appear to have died, you can prune back the branches to a spot where the inside is white/green and there’s sap. Can you please show me exactly what notching looks like. While the bush-form generally have the trunk covered in leaves, the internet is full of whimsical pictures of the tree-form FLF with a bare waif-like trunk. This should help guide you on if or where to prune, keeping in mind that pruning generally does encourage branching. My question is – in the interest of getting him to grow into the mighty tree I know he can be, what do I do with these two diverted stems? If the top inch is dry, its time to water again. I can see a root so may need to put more soil in it. But I would say that while this is happening, the plant probably wouldn’t respond well to notching. My question is can I transfer to larger pot? Hi, I’ve only had my plant for a few months but it’s healthy and has really grown! It may take a little trial and error to figure out. The plant is still in the 10 inch nursery pot that I got it in. Two of the branches have dropped all leaves and have shriveled now. If you look at the pictures, you can see there's 3 branches on trunk. I haven’t actually heard of this method of separating trees and am a little unsure of the reasoning behind cutting them in the pot and waiting. You can read it here. pruning fiddle leaf fig bush into tree. There is a mix of about 4 which are 3f tish high and some much smaller ones. There’s two branches growing down at the dirt level. A good way to know is if your FLF is regularly pushing out new leaves at the top or not. So what would you recommend me doing? In the case of your fiddle leaf fig, it’s probably the only branch available to take it from a fiddle leaf bush to a fiddle leaf tree. Jun 8, 2017 - Yes, you can grow a Fiddle Leaf Fig from bush to tree form! I’m guessing you’re thinking of repotting as the soil isn’t seeming to dry out in the middle? Totally unexpected for me! Let me know if you have any more questions . When multiple stems share the one root system, its riskier to separate them and may cause more harm to the plant if you do. If they are separate or even if you’re not quite sure, you should be able to separate them when repotting. Hi Thais, I think it will depend on the type of cutting you did. As your FLF sounds quite mature, I would say you’d have to cut the roots apart to do this, which can be a little risky. Find out how including tips on watering, pruning, branching & getting the bare trunk. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1465570/pruning-ficus-lyrata-to-branch It may take a little while to understand what your FLF needs. Do I need to wait until the spring to touch it? you can read it here. Firstly be patient – it takes time for a tree to grow! In this case, it would probably be necessary to adjust to watering the plant more often to compensate for this. My tree also needs repotted, can I do it all at the same time? The branches are all getting top heavy with all the new growth. Multiple trunks: If your FLF seems to have more than one trunk in its pot, it is possible that it is actually more than one plant! If you can, putting your FLF outdoors will help the trunk. © Dossier Blog. So lets look at each one individually: Fiddle Leaf Figs aren’t the fastest growing plants but you can speed up their growth by providing the right conditions for them. With proper care and attention, you can turn your new fiddle-leaf fig plant into a towering tree that fits your space perfectly. Or would that damage the plant? Hey Shianne, thanks for your feedback! 1 has 2 trunks and the other has 3. Pruning is definitely the best way to get branches, so I would consider pruning it back to a point where you’d like it to branch. Whatever you decide, try to imagine how you’d like the plant to look in the long run. You may want to dig into the soil a little bit to see how connected the trunks are before repotting, to see whether you’d be up for attempting it! All the best! Cheryl sums up the progress of growing her own tree over the course of a year, along with tips for caring, pruning, and propagating! Did I kill the branch when I pinched that top bud? ? Can I just lop off the longer branches? I’m SO SCARED to repot, since I’ve killed other plants by doing so and all the leaves fell off, even though I used terra cotta pots with cactus/succulent soil mixed with perlite. Do I cut them to save the tree? Can I grow my FLF bush into a tree? It’s fun and so rewarding to be able to do this process yourself! Should I just wait until it dries out? The three main components of a tree-form Fiddle Leaf Fig over a bush-form are height, the single bare trunk and the branches. There is a smaller variety called bambino, but the leaves are so teeny tiny you would know if that’s the variety you had ? I rotate it but it’s now leaving pretty heavily to one side. : water the plant probably wouldn ’ t be strong enough to carry tree... Pair of clean and sharp cutters, or should I cut it back inside leaves! Flf grew to 6 ’ – it takes time by providing the right conditions for them to and sometimes this... 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