Hi, Kim. I think you're being a little too hard on yourself. Your plant looks healthy, so you get gold stars for that. Where most of the plants seen here would be designated as 'of the species', your is actually a cultivar - 'Bambino', probably, and was selected for it's growth habit. It varies from the species plant in that it exhibits a very compact growth habit - very short internodes relative to the species plant, with smaller/thicker uniformly green leaves with lighter veins, the leaves oriented more nearly upright on very short petioles (leaf stems). I'm sure the cultural wants of your plant are the same as those of the species plant. Should I cut it way down to encourage branches lower? Sometimes a grower gets a message a plant is sending with only a casual glance. Your plant looks reluctant to back-bud, which is the first step in forming new branches. You can wait to see what the plant does on its own; put the plant outdoors in brighter light (when temps are above 55*), where the light and air movement bight stimulate back-budding; or you can cut the plant back to about 2/3 of the ht you want to maintain it at, which will force back-budding, but to what degree is still a question. I'd do it around the 4th of July if I lived in SF. I've read posts about better soil so I will try that also. I just want a fuller plant. Also I live in San Francisco if that matters in terms of light. Not the sunniest spot in CA, it it? ;-) Is the pot big enough? Is that a trick question? It's more than big enough, but that comment needs to be qualified if it's to have any meaningful value. If the roots have reached a degree of congestion where the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, it needs repotting. Repotting doesn't mean 'moved to a larger pot', that's potting up. In fact, it may well turn out that a much smaller pot would be a more realistic choice after a repot, which includes root pruning, but that decision would be made based on your choice of soils. The better your soil drains and the less excess water your soil holds, the less important pot size becomes in terms of the plant being over-potted. The reverse is true as well. The more water retentive your soil is, the more critical pot size is and the more important it becomes to avoid an over-potted plant. Al

I haven't repotted, no. It's still in the pot from the nursery, which has drain holes. The surrounding grey pot in the picture is just a pot cover.

The best place is to use the House Plants forum on this site as yours is a house plant. This forum is for edible figs. They are very good folks over there and I am sure they can help. Good luck.

Your tree is considered apically dominant. What this means is, the natural growth pattern of your tree is to favor elongation of branches instead of producing branches in the axil (crotch formed by the leaf stem and the branch it's attached to). There is a growing tip at the end of every branch that produces a hormone that suppresses side shoots. If you remove that tip, you reduce the amount of the chemical hormone flowing toward the roots, and new branches form in leaves nearest the tip of the cut branch.This is a cutting from which the tip was removed. Notice the new branches forming in the leaf axils. This occurs reliably, as long as your plant is growing, and that's what happened to your tree when the main trunk was severed. You shouldn't be dismayed that you should use restraint and wait to act until late spring or early summer to prune your tree or repot it (repotting is much more extensive than potting up). "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" Ecc 3:1 Your plant has natural rhythms. It's strong and robust in the late spring, summer, and early fall; tired and lazy in the winter and early spring. Understanding that rhythm exists and planning your heavy work (hard pruning and repotting) so you're taking advantage of the plants strengths and not asking much of the plant when it's sort of coasting is an important part of the growing puzzle. A plant repotted in winter or early spring might take 3-4 months to recover fully from the work; whereas, a plant repotted or pruned hard on Father's Day might take 2-3 weeks to regain its footing and it's natural defenses. Plus, knowing you're being a better nurturer for making those allowances is bound to increase the satisfaction you get from nurturing ...... which is why most of us grow plants. Generally speaking, the nurturers are better growers than those that think of plants as decorations, for obvious reasons. Too, getting in the habit of pruning in June to remove all long/lanky winter growth and pinching until fall ensures you never have to do any really major pruning. Please see if you find this to be of any value. Al