Shorten or Don't Shorten?

[The Ficus Guy]

Hi from the states!


I've posted this on a couple of other forums, just thought I'd see what you all have to say. I've got a Willow Leaf with a pretty sweet base, but the upper part of it is a mess. A little bit of reverse taper has formed up top, where clusters of branches all formed from the previous owners care. Now, I could either shorten the tree, or I could use foliage to hide that upper area. There are also bar branches up top that just add to the mess. Any comments/advice??

[alpineart]

Hi The Ficus Guy , nice trunk nice movement . I would remove the right side bar branch and congestion above it {pic 3} by removing the swollen area completely but keeping a shoot just above a scar section that will be produced from the chop . Then remove some of the congestion above the right bar branch that remains .This should heal over and eliminate the reverse taper .You would retain the movement and by removing some of the congested apex work on a new leader or selectively use a couple of staggered shoots to form the new apex .

Failing that , layer the section off as indicated and have 2 trainers to work on .

Cheers Alpineart

[The Ficus Guy]

Hi The Ficus Guy , nice trunk nice movement . I would remove the right side bar branch and congestion above it {pic 3} by removing the swollen area completely but keeping a shoot just above a scar section that will be produced from the chop . Then remove some of the congestion above the right bar branch that remains .This should heal over and eliminate the reverse taper .You would retain the movement and by removing some of the congested apex work on a new leader or selectively use a couple of staggered shoots to form the new apex .

Failing that , layer the section off as indicated and have 2 trainers to work on .

Cheers Alpineart

Good thinking, thanks! I do need to clear that out up there, so I'll do that and come back with more pictures.

[The Ficus Guy]

I did end up removing the right bar branch. I think I will be able to pull down a branch from the upper portion and everything should work out just fine.

[kcpoole]

Lovely trunk TFG
I am glad you did not chop where you first thought, as I reckon you should chop above the little left branch if at all.
leaving the height as it is, can you carve the outside of the knob where the reverse taper is to reduce it?

You could bring a branch from above down to hid the scar, or just do that anyway and the taper issue gone anyway

Ken

[The Ficus Guy]

Lovely trunk TFG
I am glad you did not chop where you first thought, as I reckon you should chop above the little left branch if at all.
leaving the height as it is, can you carve the outside of the knob where the reverse taper is to reduce it?

You could bring a branch from above down to hid the scar, or just do that anyway and the taper issue gone anyway

Ken

Thanks Ken!

So, are you talking about chopping in this area? If so, that is something I considered...

If I were to leave it the height it is, I'm sure I could carve the knob, or just leave it, depending on how many people notice it

[karraway2]

have you considered repotting this and lean it over to the left? i am on my ipad so cant mod the image but i think it would balance this tree wonderfully. Stick a wedge under the right side of the pot and test this before you chopping anything.

[karraway2]

Here is just a rough tinker to adjust the trunk angle in the pot.

[The Ficus Guy]

Here is just a rough tinker to adjust the trunk angle in the pot.

Thank you! That is a very interesting idea, but I like it. I'll play around with it a bit and see what I can do, thanks!