Hi, Gilbert. The best way to get branches to form is: make sure the roots are healthy - get the plant outdoors where light is very bright and there is plenty of air movement ...... but there are other ways, too like judiciously defoliating (more on that below) or notching. Dividing your Ficus isn't all that traumatic for the plant. In fact, you can actually "divide" large ficus with an axe if necessary, not that I'm recommending that practice; but, you can actually hack the plants apart so each half has an appropriate volume of roots attached, dividing them is no more dangerous than repotting. How about sharing a few pictures of your tree from different angles. Often, if there are ACTUALLY 2 or more individual plants in a pot, you can actually separate them by pulling them apart after removing most of the soil with little force. Your tree produces a growth regulator (hormone) called auxin in all it's dynamic tissues. One of its functions is suppression of lateral growth, which would be new branches. Most auxin is produced in apical meristems, which are the active growth regions near branch tips, but auxin is also produced in leaves. Removing leaves reduces the polar flow of auxin - "polar" because it only moves downward. This means there may not be enough auxin flowing downward to inhibit growth from latent (like dormant) buds, which allows another growth regulator (cytokinin) to activate buds proximal (closer to the roots) to the leaves removed. The result of the newly activated bud is a new branch. In many cases, the outcome is very predictable, in other cases, the result is quite predictable, but the pattern random. IOW, given any healthy ficus with a branch that has 100 leaves on it, all of which are removed in summer, you can bet as much as you like on the fact that significant back-budding will occur on that branch as it pushes a new flush of growth, and the number of leaves that emerge after defoliation will be much higher than the 100 you started with. It's also very likely there will be additional back-budding on other branches close to the trunk or off the trunk itself below the defoliated branch. I'm not sure where you live, but the month of June in the N hemisphere is a very good time to do any serious work on your trees. Potting up isn't serious work, but repotting is. Repotting (includes root pruning and a change of soil) ensures your plant will not be limited by root congestion until about the time the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. Potting up ensures the limitations imposed by root congestion and soil compaction will continue until the plant dies or the grower intervenes and eliminates the congestion by repotting. You might find value in the info this link will take you to. If you like that thread, I can link you to another that discusses caring for trees in containers for the long term. It goes into considerable detail about root work and other tips to keep trees happy in containers. There is no reason a well-tended tree in a container can't outlive both of us and be kept healthy and compact, with proper care. Trees in pots have far more potential to outlive their counterparts growing in situ (where they naturally occur). Al

It's getting late in the summer, but: cut the plant below the first cut, actually, above the leaf on the left side. Put the plant outdoors in light shade/EARLY morning sun. GRADUALLY, over a couple weeks at least, acclimate the plant to nearly full sun, this should cause back-budding at the leaves. Sudden exposure to full sun will burn those leaves to a crisp. Once this occurs, (budding) move the plant into shade, still outside, in preparation for much reduced light indoors over winter. Keep outside as long as night temps don't fall below 50F, then bring in. Give as much sun as possible indoors, a full sun south window, assuming northern hemisphere won't hurt anything. Allow soil to get fairly dry, then water till water drains out bottom of pot. Repeat as necessary.

The best way to encourage branching is to get your plant outdoors when temps allow. It should have plenty of sun and air movement. Air movement increases the rate of the nutrient stream's flow, which increases the amount of nutrients available to viable tissues. Root congestion discourages back-budding and encourages loss of older leaves and leaves close to the trunk on extending branches, so make sure you know how to repot and do it regularly. Every 3 years is about right for a plant your size, but it's growth rate and level of vitality plays into what an appropriate interval between repots might be. For a very healthy tree, every other year might be better. Low fertility also causes loss of older leaves and a reduction in enthusiasm about back-budding. so make sure you're fertilizing at luxury levels when the plant is growing strong. When you prune also has an impact on the level of lateral breaks (back-budding). You'll see best results if you prune a healthy tree in the summer when it's energy reserves are very high and its food-making ability (photosynthetic potential) is at or near its peak. Al

I've noticed two long growths coming from the middle of the trunk. Are these...new branches? Yes, they are potentially new branches. IOW, once they start growing, they will become new branches. Or maybe just part of the process of thickening its trunk? No. Trunk thickening occurs when the tree is turning more of the sun's energy into food than it needs to keep its systems orderly. Some of that excess energy goes into multiplicative growth (more leaves, branches, and branch extension) the rest goes into additive growth, which occurs when files of cells are laid down in the cambium Not sure if one tree that's branching could influence a neighbor tree, seems like a stretch just not sure what this new growth means. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Pinching/pruning tree A won't impact tree B unless tree A and B are the same plant, which means there would be no A and B, only a tree A. Your tree is responding to the increase in light, and the fertilizer (if you haven't been fertilizing regularly) surely didn't hurt. Al