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How To Grow a Fiddle Leaf Fig from Bush to Tree

6 years ago

Hi,

I bought this beautiful Fiddle leaf fig tree today. As much as I love it, I'm hoping to grow it into a tree. Anyone did it with a bush shape one? If you look at the pictures, you can see there's 3 branches on trunk. I think I should wait and prune it later, but I want to know if it'll be possible to have the look I want (see last pic)?

Thank you!

Eve

Featured Answer

robin98

6 years ago

I think the last picture is just of the "look" eve is after. The first two are the actual plant. Which is gorgeous!

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Comments (6)

litterbuggy (z7b, Utah)
6 years ago
I see two stems coming out of the soil, but I can't see any branches growing from either stems. Maybe some better pictures?
evechabot
Original Author
6 years ago

Hi @litterbuggy,

thank you for your reply. Here's a better picture. I said 2 branches, but it's actually 3 attached on the main trunk.
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If it's a new purchase, I'd return it. If it's not, you can stick it out with the neem oil, maybe alternating with a 50/50 spritz of rubbing alcohol at alternating 1 week intervals (neem 1 week, 50/50 the next. You can also go this route: Neem Oil Insecticide 1 pint very hot water 1 pint rubbing alcohol or ethanol 1 tsp pure, cold-pressed neem oil 1/2 tsp Castile Peppermint Soap, Murphy’s Oil Soap, or insecticidal soap In a 1 qt spritzer, mix the neem with the soap & hot water. Shake well. Add the alcohol & shake again. Shake regularly to keep the mixture emulsified as you spritz the plant, making sure as you spritz that you’re covering all the vegetative surfaces, especially the underside of leaves and leaf/branch crotches. Use all the mix same day or discard. Use only pure, cold-pressed neem oil, such as that packaged by Dyna-Gro. Other methods of oil extraction limit the effectiveness of the active ingredient in neem oil – azadiractin. Al
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The best place to put your plant is in front of a large floor-to-ceiling window with an overhang outside to protect it from the hottest direct sun. Fiddle Leaf Figs love sunlight. The post below has a great explanation for you. How Much Light does a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree Need?
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robin98
6 years ago
Eve, have you tried searching this forum for pruning advice? There's a lot of information already written, so people here may not want to repeat all of it from scratch. If you do your research then have specific questions you might get more of a response. I would say yes, you can turn it into a tree, but mine is under two feet tall so I'm not speaking from experience!
litterbuggy (z7b, Utah)
6 years ago
If I were Eve I'd start pruning that tree to be even more bushy! I've never been inspired by an F. lyrata before, but now I know that it's the tree-like like look that puts me off, because it looks more natural and healthy to me as a bush.

But enough about me! Here's a great example of a thread with lots of advice on shaping F. lyratas into trees, and I'm sure you'll find some very helpful info if you spend some time browsing through the posts.

Pruning ficus lyrata to branch
evechabot
Original Author
6 years ago
HI @litterbuggy, I agree with you! I fell in love with it and just want to keep it this way after all. It feels wrong to shape it into a tree. I've decided to buy another one in a tree shape instead and I still love this one better after all. Thank you all for your help!!

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