"Is it ok to both prune and repot at the same time?" Yes. If your plant is healthy and your first root reduction requires removing a significant volume of roots, removing a commensurate volume of foliage can help keep the plant from indiscriminately shedding the leaves and branches IT will "decide" to shed. Many growers are very quick to repeat the current/conventional mantra that foliage shouldn't be reduced at transplant time; but w/o taking into consideration the fact that you're also going to remove a significant volume of roots, repeating the singsong mantra is rather meaningless. Your tree is an organism that receives chemical messengers that will tell it to shed foliage if the roots are significantly reduced, and roots if the canopy is significantly reduced. It's better to make the reductions yourself so you have the choice in the matter. It might not be all that significant for your tree, which only has the central stem; but it could be disastrous if you had a well-developed branch structure and the tree shed branches critical to the tree's eye appeal after you repotted. Typically, the first couple of repots end up being the most stressful because more work needs doing to get the root mass straightened out. Too, my repots are usually pretty severe; severe to the degree than I wouldn't suggest you try to emulate what I do. Because of that, I regularly prune quite hard when I repot or very soon after - as in as soon as I see new growth appearing. This really does little to slow development or growth of the tree. Root pruning represents a short-term setback, but that setback is more than repaid in the form of growth much more robust than your plant would have realized had you NOT repotted it. "Should I look to sort out the roots and then move onto the pruning?" That's typically what I would do if the repot wasn't one of those epochal sessions where a very large fraction of the roots were removed (75-90%). "I would also like to propagate the off cut stem into another tree, as the cutting will be approx. 1m. I thought spring would be the best time for this, is that correct? The best time for propagating cuttings would be just before Christmas for you. That's when the plant will have the most stored energy. Any advice and/or tips would be appreciated." If you like, you can increase the probability of your cutting striking (growing roots) and the speed with which it will strike by doing this: Purchase some IBA rooting powder. Cut 2 pieces of electrical tape long enough to make at least 2 wraps around the stem. Sprinkle one end of each piece of tape with the powder, making sure it sticks to the tape, then wrap the tape where you want roots to grow on the stem so the powder is against the bark and secure the tape. The tape will create darkness, so you'll be 'blanching' the stem. It will also trap moisture against the trunk. These cultural conditions will help stimulate root initials to form. The IBA hormone will work in concert to help stem cells in the vascular cambium decide they want to be roots, rather than whatever other organ cultural conditions would push the plant toward developing. In mid-Dec, you can sever the cutting just below the lowest tape, remove the tape, cut off leaves at the node immediately above the tape, and stick the cutting in a highly aerated, damp (but never wet or soggy) medium in open shade and out of wind. You'll want 2 nodes buried and 2 healthy leaves left on the cutting. If you want a single-stemmed plant, make a tip cutting. If you want a multi-stemmed bushy plant, take an internodal cutting. It's helpful to cut the leaves left on the plant in half across venation to reduce the likelihood of the plant shedding the leaves as a drought response. You can always start an air layer now if you like. It should be ready to separate around Christmas or just before when you do your repotting. I apologize for the tardy reply. I only got to your message asking me to look at your post tonight. I get at least 10-20 plant-related messages from Houzz members every day, and it's taken me this long to catch up after being away for a week's vacation around mid-Aug. I hope I've provided you with some insight you can put to work for you and your plant. Give a lot of thought to the medium you'll ultimately provide as a home for roots. The need to fight your soil for control of your plant's vitality takes much of the fun and reward from growing, so soil choice is a key factor that influences how rewarding your growing experience CAN be. Your turn for questions or added input. I hope I'm not too late to have provided anything useful. Al

To help you figure things out ...... if you're watering when you can still detect moisture in the soil with a finger, you can't be under-watering. If you can eliminate under-watering based on the above, it pretty much leaves you with over-watering or a high level of dissolved solids in the soil from the fertilizer you applied. What did you use for fertilizer, how much did you use, and how did you apply it? Was the plant dry at application time? I don't know if I mentioned this, but it's easy to monitor soil moisture levels with a 'tell'. A wood dowel (from any hardware or home improvement store) about 5/16" in diameter works best. They come 48" long. Cut it in half & sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener. Push it deep into the soil and don't water until the first day it comes out clean/dry. Did you read the thread I linked to upthread - the one that focuses on how to deal with unwanted water retention? The best advice I offered was to concentrate on making sure your plants are in a soil you can water to beyond the point of saturation w/o having to worry the soil remain soggy so long it limits root health/function. That means you either start with an appropriate soil of find ways to limit water retention, which brings us back around to the link that takes you to the thread about dealing with water retentive soils. It's hard to tell you precisely what to do w/o you having a basic understanding of what plants require to remain healthy. Particularly important and a prerequisite to a healthy plant is a healthy root system. All of the information you need to be an accomplished container grower fits together like a jigsaw puzzle under assembly. Each piece is connected to the other pieces - either directly or extraneously, but they ARE all connected. You probably remember that it’s easier to assemble a puzzle when you work toward getting the outer 'frame' together first. The outer frame is analogous to an understanding of the basic bits knowledge required for your success. Of the basic knowledge, most important is an understanding of how the soil/water relationship works & how the individual soil components interact relative to the whole. Basically we need to understand that a healthy root system is a requirement if the plant is to be healthy. Then, and easier to understand are a very few additional issues like the importance of light to your growing experience, how fertilizers work and what fertilizer is most appropriate ……. We also need at least a very basic understanding of how some of the other cultural conditions might affect plant growth/performance. Once this basic but essential understanding is part of your skill set, that is to say the framework of the growing puzzle completed, assembling the rest of the pieces will occur at a rate exponentially faster than the rate at which you progressed at the outset of your growing experience. Unless this basic framework is complete, you’re essentially relying on trial & error, which is probably never going to gain favor as a short cut to success. Al

Your plant seems to be doing well, Madeleine. Strong work! Thanks for the kindness in your words, Leslie. There are ways to put some simple science to work that can help you cope with soils that are too water retentive. Try reading this, http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0914024623640.html?37, then ask any questions you might have. When you say to 'stop the pruning cuts just beyond where a smaller root branches towards the outside of the root you are pruning'.. are there images of this somewhere that may help me understand? I hope that helps. You want to concentrate on removing large roots that aren't really necessary for anchorage so there is room for a much larger volume of fine roots. Of course, it's unlikely your tree's roots will be as well ordered as those of the guy who dreamed up the image, but you should get the gist. Recovery is much faster if you prune just distal (beyond) a fine root pointed away from an imaginary line straight down from the trunk's center. When the pruning of the roots is completed (keeping them moist during the process) and we are ready to place the tree back into the pot, does the soil need to be damp or moist? I bare-root, then root prune and let the roots soak in a tub while I prepare the pot and partially fill with dry soil (if it's gritty mix). I lift the plant with wet roots from the tub and set it on the soil and fill in around the roots with dry soil and work it into all the pockets between roots with a wooden dowel that's sharp on the end but not extremely so - like a very dull pencil. If I'm repotting with the 5:1:1 mix, I make sure it's damp enough so as not to be hydrophobic. I dampen the soil by starting with dry. Before I start the root work, I take about 1/4 of the volume pof soil I'll need and put it in a pot or bucket and add enough water to completely saturate it - so it's mucky - and let it soak for a few minutes. Then I mix it well into the dry soil and allow it to rest while I'm doing the root work. By the time it's ready to use, it's no longer hydrophobic. Do we need to water the tree as soon as we are done repotting it? Yes - whether using the 5:1:1 or gritty, water well. Water the gritty until the drainage water is perfectly clear. The only exception might be various succulents and/or cacti. Edited to say: I'm not sure why the formatting came out weird when I copy/pasted your questions. Sorry Al

As plants grow, they produce a regular pattern of meriSTEMatic areas (think of STEM cells, which are cells that can differentiate into specialized tissues to form an organ [leaves, roots, stems]). In order for a propagule to become a plant with all of it's organs, the propagule must be able to form adventitious roots, and there is very wide variation plants' ability to do that, both genetically and physiologically. Second, the propagule must have a bud or be able to form adventitious buds, which would be buds that are not the terminal bud, buds that occur at nodes, or dormant buds in leaf axils. Adventitious buds are formed spontaneously (de novo, or anew) in random locations on the propagule's stem. So, when a propagule doesn't HAVE a bud, it must be able to form an adventitious bud, which requires developed cells to dedifferentiate, then redifferentiate into a meristematic growing area, from which any of the plant's organs can be formed, based on cultural (light/ moisture/ temperature ...... levels) and chemical (growth regulators/ hormones) stimuli. In the case of Ficus, propagules without buds are capable of forming adventitious roots, but not adventitious buds; so, while leaf cuttings with the leaf stem (petiole) attached can form roots, it cannot form that 3rd organ necessary to make it a complete plant - the stem. When it comes to leaf cuttings, some plants have preformed primary meristems on the leaves, often referred to as 'foliar embryos' - like Bryophyllum pinnatum. Other plants, like Begonia, produce wound-induced secondary meristems that arise from the process of dedifferentiation of groups of cells and their redifferentiation into a meristematic region which can then give rise to any of the plant organs, something Ficus is incapable of. I hope that wasn't too complicated ........ and was helpful. Al