Purple, you wrote: If I know how to graft, I'd have air-layered, 'instead of chopping' various stems. After rooting, they'd be grafted on root stock. This way each Ficus would grow as a standard. I am not sure if I have it right, but air-layering produces roots so you could plant air-layered piece into the soil & get new plant. Grafting does not require air-layering - I hope I understand it correctly - you just take piece of plant you want to "convert" into standard (or graft weaker (?) tree onto a sturdy rootstock-they do it with roses a lot-I don't grow roses), and graft it onto rootstock & I think there is at least a couple of different methods of grafting. When you graft, there is sometimes a 'bulge' visible where grafting was done, with roses, it is usually very close to soil. With standard, the tree will be as tall as rootstock was - I think - , then you will have the actual plant. I air-layered a palm tree that was growing terribly tall & was hitting the ceiling; after the roots were visible, I just cut it off below & replanted. So now I have a 4feet tall palm instead over 8feet, bending because of ceiling. Air layering took about 3-4 month (I think that is very fast). I hope someone knowledgable will post, I know Al (tapla) mentioned air-layering too. I hope I am not misleading anyone... Rina

with hand shears and a pruning saw ... you can make anything into whatever your little heart desires ... its not an issue of the genetics of the plant. ... its a function of the retentive abilities of the owner ... go for it ... now.. that said.. two years in the ground.. is when you start THINKING about pruning ... think of all leaves.. as food making machines.. to grow the roots to get your new tree fully established ... and once established.. then we start messing with cutting off the food making machines ... trees.. can live decades.. they have a different time spectrum than annuals and perennials.. give it time.. to get its act together.. before you start trying to force it to do things ... clear??? ... or should i try again ??? ken

My mother in law had one which had grown up through her arbor by about two feet. After her death I pruned the bottle brush way down to replace the damage to the arbor. The plant became fuller and much better behaved. We have one here that was planted about 30 years before the killing frost of 1990 that killed it to the ground. It took two years to reappear but quickly grew back to its former size. I have not noticed anything delicate about Callistemon. Al

Hi cynsha, A lot of it depends on what you want. The flowering will cause it to branch (usually 3 branches, in my experience, but sometimes more or less). So, you should have more branches after the bloom. If you really want flowers, it is best to leave it alone for a while and not prune. This is my preference. For me, it seems to take longer for them to bloom if I take a cutting and root it. So, for quicker flowers, it is probably best to leave it alone. However, if you want more trees/bushier trees, you can take a cutting once the branches get several inches long. Just cut the original trunk below the branches, so that you have several inches of the original trunk in order to root it. Leave the cutting somewhere that it doesn't get full sun for a few days to let it callous, and then try to root it. The original plant will grow more branches, but it will take them longer to bloom again. It would probably be best to take the cutting and try to root it in spring or summer once the weather has warmed up (if that is what you choose to do). Rooting inside is more difficult. If you are concerned about the way it is growing, it should be fine. These trees do crazy things. Hope all my ramblings help.