Willow Leaf Ficus

[The Ficus Guy]

Hey everyone,


I received this Willow Leaf Ficus today from nice warm and sunny Florida, way down south of me. It's got a 3 inch (7.62 cm) base, with 2 branches that shoot up from that base. Each branch is a little over 1 inch (2.54 cm) thick. I'm wondering now which branch to keep and which to chop off. Personally I want to chop at the red lines, which would remove the branch on the right and chop the branch on the left way back, making a sumo shohin. So, your thoughts?

[The Ficus Guy]

Something like this ROUGH sketch?

[bodhidharma]

Because Willow leaf figs reduce nicely in leaf size with constant defoliation i would be going for the smallest option possible. They, of course, are much more difficult to create but therein lies the challenge.

[The Ficus Guy]

Because Willow leaf figs reduce nicely in leaf size with constant defoliation i would be going for the smallest option possible. They, of course, are much more difficult to create but therein lies the challenge.

I agree, the leaves on these guys reduce so nicely. Would you approve of my very rough sketch??

[The Ficus Guy]

Cut back to what is shown, removing the right branch. Red outlines the new trunkline, UNLESS I get buds where I expect them to pop, in the orange area. Then, I'll take one and grow it up where the blue arrow is, creating a new leader and removing the branch on the left. I just feel like if I were to make the branch on the left the new leader it wouldn't look right to me since the new leader wouldn't be centered in the middle of the base, it would be on the left of the base. That's probably just personal preference though....

[bodhidharma]

I have done that exactly 18 months ago and mine is coming back hard. Good plan.

[The Ficus Guy]

Chopped and repotted. The left branch will come back more in a few months. I took the branch on the left and split the base on it to try to flare it.

[The Ficus Guy]

I cut that other branch off and here are the before and after shots:

[The Ficus Guy]

For anyone interested, here is this tree as of today. It's been suggested that I re-wire that bottom right branch so that it isn't at such a right angle with the leader. Any thoughts on a new position? Downward, perhaps?

[The Ficus Guy]

Maybe a downward angle would work better?