Hi, Tammy - I think I noted not far upthread, that one of the first signs of a root bound tree is the lack of branch extension and loss of interior foliage. The 'tufted' look is so characteristic, that I eliminated a tree the owner expected to win the 'expert class' in a bonsai show I judged this summer, because I could tell the roots were very constricted, just by looking at the tree. When the condition is allowed to get particularly severe, roots wrapped around other roots can completely cut off the flow of water and nutrients to the upper parts of the tree. Trees are somewhat different from species to species in how tightly they adhere to the arrangement that root A feeds branch A, root B feeds branch B, and so on, so that when root A dies, branch A dies. All trees follow this connection to some degree, so it's normal for individual branches originally fed by roots that were later compromised by tight conditions to be shed for lack of the tree's ability to move water and nutrients through the compromised conductive roots. Ideally, we would correct the root issues during a full repot. The problem with that scenario is your tree sounds severely stressed and unlikely to be able to recover from such a drastic procedure for two reasons, the stressed and weakened condition being one, and the the other being that the timing is bad with the tree just going into winter. If you can be patient, I'm not at all concerned about the trees being lopsided. We can build a tree from whatever remains viable for the long term. My focus would remain fixed on getting the tree to a state of vitality that will allow us to start serious work on the tree w/o killing it. Because you just acquired the trees, there is probably no way for you to determine how badly the soluble salts situation is - how much is in the soil. Safest is to assume the salt level is higher than it should be and the soil should be flushed. This is pretty much a standard suggestion for struggling trees. It sort of 'resets' the level of nutritional reserves in the soil, flushing out all the excess soluble that we can't even guess at the concentrations of, and replacing them with a low dose of fertilizer. This ensures that the nutrients are available at a low level that won't interfere with water uptake. Let me know if you're good with: * Flushing the soil very thoroughly. Flush 5-10 times with room or ambient temperature water, using at least the volume of the container for each flush. * Cutting off the bottom 2-3 inches of the root mass and making deep vertical slits in the root mass at 3-4" intervals with a utility knife. * Potting up, using a soil very similar to the one your plant is in now, for now. (We can work around this if you'd rather not invest in such large pots. Let me know.) * Inserting a wick through the drain hole before you pot up. Ideally, you would melt another hole through the bottom near the side and insert the wick there. * After you water, tilt the container at a 45* angle with the wick down. The wick should dangle 2-3" below the container, and not touch the effluent (drained water). This will remove MUCH more water from the soil, and allow you to water copiously and flush the soil each time you water. You'll be flushing the fertilizer out of the soil, along with any accumulating salts, so plan on fertilizing with a half strength dose of 24-8-16 or 12-4-8 (both 3:1:2 ratios) about every 3-4 times you water. Don't worry - there is no danger of over-fertilizing if you can follow this plan. It's a very healthy way to approach nutrition management. It assures a low concentration of nutrients in the right ratio at all times, which is actually a very admirable goal for your nutritional plan no matter where your plants are in their growth cycle. * Keep your watering under control. Only water on an 'as needed' basis. Wait until the wick feels dry, or the soil is dry when you test it at the drain hole, or a sharpened dowel or skewer comes out clean and dry after you insert it deep into the roots. * Keep the plants in the best light you can provide, and try to keep soil temperatures above 65*, up to 80. * Guard against sunburn. If you think/know the trees were in low light, acclimate them to high light levels gradually - over a period of a week or two. You can read through this thread & see if you spot anything I might have missed, based on similar advice to others. To be honest, I've been talking to so many people about their Ficus trees over the last month or so (not just those from GW) that it's hard to remember everything. Be sure to raise any questions or concerns, and ask for clarification where/if needed. Take good care. Al

You liking your plant is the important thing. The pruning tips are just something that, at some point, can help a grower correct the direction a plant that's losing eye appeal might be taking, or help the grower retain or maintain lighter branching in the top - just another tool in your skill set when/if ever you need it. Sometimes, our eye can look at a tree or shrub in the landscape or a pot and see that something doesn't look natural - like looking at a pine tree that splits into 2 trunks and co-dominant leaders about 6 ft above the ground. The eye sees the tree doesn't look natural with 2 heads, but the mind might not be able to define what's out of place until someone points out what's amiss - then we say, "Oh yeah". Another consideration is, it's hard at first to have the confidence to start whacking away at a plant that looks good to you now for what you hope to be a better looking plant in a year or two. I've been helping a young veteran a little with bonsai, explaining some of the techniques we use to make sure the tree is something special a few years down the road. He brought a cherry tree he was proud/fond of that was blooming, and wanted to cut it back if that was the right thing to do. I wouldn't do it. There's no rush. Enjoy the blooms - enjoy the plant - let it grow for a few years and enjoy its form. As he grows in the art, he'll learn to see the results of sacrificing today's appearance for tomorrows promise. That's a lot to ask of someone. Getting back to the 2 heads thing. Your jades will look better if you have a defined trunkline that starts at the base and ends up at the top as the tallest part of the plant, though it doesn't have to be tallest by a significant amount. All other branches should be subordinate to that leader, and a big cluster of thick branches at the top - all approximately the same diameter, is a condition worthy of the effort to avoid. Have a good growing season! Al

Believing how we time the manipulations we put our plants through doesn't matter, particularly hard pruning and repotting which includes root pruning, flies in the face of all reason. It matters when we water, it matters when we fertilize, it matters when we prune - even a single branch or root tip, it matters when we move our plant outdoors, it matters when we move our plant indoors, it matters when our plant is too hot, it matters when our plant is too cold, it matters when the pot is too large, it matters when the pot is too small, it matters what soil is in the pot, it matters if the plant receives too much light, too little light matters ........; but when you repot/root prune DOESN'T matter? To say there is not a better time to repot/ root prune than, say the dead of winter, is to put one's naiveté on display. That's not meant as an insult, it's simply stating a fact. "Not at all hard to refute, in that it has never happened to me that the plant even needed to recover" doesn't come close to being a refutation. Traffic accidents don't injure people because my sister has been in 10 of them and has never had to recover. Germs aren't real because I've never noticed one. ANY time you prune a root, there is a recovery period whether one is able to see it or not. Every person who has ever root pruned a plant KNOWS with certainty there is a recovery period during which the top doesn't grow until the volume of roots increases to the point the plant can sustain additional canopy volume. The logical error you make even has a name. It's called "Begging the Question" or "Circular Reasoning". Begging the Question is a logical fallacy in which the premise includes the claim that or assumes the conclusion is true. You claim it doesn't matter when you repot/root prune because you believe your plant doesn't have to recover from the work, which clearly illustrated your premise rests on a faulty assumption because no person who thinks clearly believes a plant needn't recover from having half of it's roots (or more) severed. As I said, I encourage M and S to continue whatever they think is fun, but I encourage others to give a little more consideration to working in harmony with their plants' ever changing periods of strength and weakness, instead of against them. It makes soo much more sense than the "at will" approach to tending plants, and it even leaves you feeling more fulfilled. I just feel much closer to plants when I know I'm acting in ways that minimize the amount and duration of stress they must endure. Al

Krista - I've added some of my thoughts below. It's kind of long and repeats much of what is said above, but hopefully it helps you at least a little. Even indoors, the concept of seasonality still applies. We typically change our thermostats to the seasons and there are daily fluctuations that correspond to the weather outside. Here are my average indoor growing temperatures from last July to this February: Right now I am purposely keeping my home cooler in order to get better growth from my plants. The graph above is compressed so unfortunately you don't see the day/night temperature differential (17C night, 20-30C day under lights currently). Throughout the seasons, I try to keep similar photoperiod as the actual seasons here but keep a minimum of about 10 hours. That's because I want to give my succulents as much light/energy for growing as possible. Probably could spend all night long posting different graphs of my growing data, haha. I do not find a need to restrict or provide water to my plants to regulate their dormancy/activity. They take care of this themselves and all I do is respond to their needs. If they are growing then I just keep watering. Of course I am mindful of my Lithops/Gibbaeum/Lapidaria to ensure they don't grow too many pairs of leaves. If they are going dormant/semi-dormant then I water minimally to sustain them. In my conditions, if I stop watering completely most will die or suffer so much they will be damaged/setting back many months worth of growth. Most people would disagree with this, but if I miss the 'right' day to water by just two days then I can see the difference. It's like losing a week or two of progress. If neglected, my plants will surely survive but losing just a couple leaves on valuable plants can be very disappointing. Somewhere along the way I decided that 'growing something hard' is not necessarily meaning you barely water it because that's only one part of the equation. The rest is light/temperature/soil mix which can be similarly applied 'harshly'. Every fall, nearly all of my Mesembs flower indoors: Aloinopsis, Faucaria, Fenestraria, Gibbaeum, Lapidaria, Lithops, Neohenricia, Pleiospilos, Stomatium, Titanopsis. There are some stragglers, which are budding and I hope will flower late winter: Rabiea, Ihlenfeldtia, maybe Cheiridopsis. Also flowering in the fall/winter are many other succulent genus that I grow: Haworthia, Crassula, Gasteria, Aloe, Schlumbergera, Echeveria, Euphorbia, Dorstenia, Adromischus, Anacampseros. The only main difference in watering for me is the frequency. When it's cooler or shorter days, then the plants use less water and don't dry out as quickly. You could say in summer I water every 4 days and in the winter I water every 6 or 7 days. Absolutely everything is fertilized the same throughout the year. Contrary to popular advice, my succulents and Mesembs in particular are not gangly, unhealthy, or have hordes of extra leaves. What I found is the vast majority of succulent genus and species are opportunistic growers. For many, summer is a bad time for growing and not much happens. Fall and spring are the best season where virtually everything is growing. A great deal of my collection are traditionally classified as 'winter growers' and I enjoy that they are because it's fun growing indoors. Of course my 'summer growers' are growing too, but just not as fast as they were in the shoulder seasons around summer. As mentioned above, summer isn't the best time for growing under my conditions. It's very hot and stressful on my rooftop, even in zone 6a. Things get very colourful, but also slow down greatly. In the loft it gets hot too, but not as bad as outside. Indoor growing does have the benefit of being a little less extreme than outside and I can better control the conditions, leading to better growth. For sure I would have better results growing everything indoors year long but my 6xT5HO bank of lights are expensive to run and generate a LOT of unwanted heat in the summer. Plus it's just so comfortable for me to relax on the roof with my plants and enjoy the outdoors. Watering is a breeze and it's fun out there. However, the vast majority of my expensive Haworthia do stay indoors for the summer so they grow better and there is no chance of damage from squirrels, storms, scorch, or whatever nature throws at me. It's less stressful and more productive. The 4xT5HO are spread out much more so the heat isn't as bad and electricity cost is a little less. As for pests, I think indoors the conditions are just better/worse for different types from outside. We don't get aphids and ants inside, but you can still get mealies. Hot dry conditions are perfect things like mites and thrips. Or if more humid you may get fungus gnats, springtails, or molds. Outside pests are spread by wind, rain, and even other pests. Inside pests are spread similarly by air fans, watering splashing, and direct contact due to close proximity. If you have a very 'closed' system then you can stay pest free if you are clean and attentive. But if you buy new plants from anywhere then there is a risk you will bring something in. The important part is knowing how to identify them quickly, accurately, and know which action to take. Some pests are harder than others and I am relieved to say I have figured out how to eradicate them all (so far). After all the long-winded text above, I suppose my approach is trying to grow the way I know works best. There are so many resources online, but I have a great deal of skepticism on the advice given. Maybe I'm picky or stubborn or maybe I'm just trying to do better? Still, there are many expert growers and I'm picking up little tips here and there from them that are so incredibly helpful. At the least I try and adapt those parts into my own growing method. My goal is to get every species I grow to flower as well as have them grow as compact and colourful as possible. So far it's working fairly well - we'll see how this year fares for me. =)