My FLF is about 2.5 feet now, and has a single trunk. I was thinking of notching it to get it to branch, but would I be doing it prematurely? What is a good height to notch your tree at? Ideally I want it to get to 6+ feet, with a nice bushy leaves at the top. Is branching too early a bad thing?

Hi Heather, don’t worry your fiddle leaf fig looks fine. Many people would prune their FLF in just this manner to encourage it to branch from the top. Sometimes it takes awhile for new branches to start to grow from the top and plenty of bright light will help it do so quicker. (More often then not you should probably get 2 new branches from the top). Pruning would usually be done in Spring/Summer while the plant is showing active growth. If you’re growing season is coming to an end you may not see new growth/branching from this area until next Spring. Sometimes fiddle leaf figs are stubborn....just like children. Lol Don’t worry too much as your FLF looks nice and healthy. I actually love the way yours looks right now. Happy growing :)

Yikes! I only put them out side for the photos!!!!! Do you guys know how I can revive this little guy?!? (Inside plant only) He went through a though time early spring and lost all the leaves throughout the main stem. As you can see in these first few photos there has been no leaf growth in that area. I believe there has only been 1 new leaf that has sprouted from the top bunch all spring/summer, and from the size of the leaves it was awhile ago. I’m not sure if it’s actively sprouting at the top anymore? As for the bottom portion, you can see in the last photo that’s it’s incredibly healthy lots of new growth, even new branches forming! Not sure what to do about that problem area? Please help if you can!

To fix it, you'll need to let go of the idea that just because a tree has paid for the growth it's put on, there must be a law somewhere that says the growth is forever sacred, and therefore you commit a sacrilege if you even entertain the thought of removing a stick of it. Millions of growers willingly sacrifice the appearance of their indoor trees on the altar of growth, then fret because the trees have grown way out of bounds. It can't be had both ways. If you give your trees their head and allow them to grow as they will, you'll need to settle for ugly trees. If, on the other hand you take control over how your trees grow, you might end up tossing a fair share of growth, but end up with something special. A Ficus benjamina story in pictures:Ugly, yes, but there was a plan .....Several years later ^^^Same tree, same year, after defoliation ^^^Same tree, same year, ^^^ about 2-3 weeks after pruning/styling, 90% of the branches gone, leaves cut in half to slow growth. Another Ficus, this one a retusa:Pruned hard in June ^^^.... had grown back to this by August ^^^ Pruned a second time in same year and styled ^^^ You can see by the images that I simply use wild growth as a way to keep a tree extremely healthy so it has the stored energy to tolerate extreme work. If you can't stand cutting the long branches back hard to correct the lean (I can tell you how to do that), or removing the smaller trunk and changing the planting angle in the pot so the long side is about vertical, you might want to start a couple of air layers now. An air layer isn't "serious work" which should be undertaken in June where you live. I'll watch for your reply - no sense in getting too far ahead of myself. Al