It sounds like a good candidate for a trunk chop. Sever the trunks an inch or so above the second leaf from the bottom. Spritzing the wound with plain water a minute or so after pruning will stop the sap from oozing. Unpot and use a pruning saw to remove the bottom 1/3 of the root mass & then remove all the soil from the roots. A combination of a chopstick and a garden hose on 'fine spray' will help with the chore. If the roots are dense & tangled, remove an additional 1/3 of the remaining roots, concentrating on only the heaviest - leave the finer roots. Repot into the same container (if you choose), using a free-draining soil. Use the chopstick to work the soil into the root mass so there are no air pockets. Site the plant outdoors in bright shade & water only when the soil is dry a couple of inches below the surface. As the planting matures & roots colonize the entire container, water when the soil first feels dry at the drain hole, or a wick inserted in the drain hole is dry. A wick can be a useful tool - especially before the planting is well-established. If you are interested in knowing more - just ask. Fertilize at repot time with a 1/4 suggested strength solution of an all purpose fertilizer like MG 24-8-16 or 12-4-8 and repeat weekly (making sure that when you water, you saturate the soil and at least 10-15% of the water you apply runs through and exits the drain hole). Balanced blends like 20-20-20 or similar have much more P than the plant needs. I've already repotted 3/4 my 30+ Ficus bonsai & treated them in similar fashion - a hard pruning, a complete root-pruning, & a complete soil change - all had latent buds breaking all over the plant within a week. What I just described is an excellent way to rejuvenate a tropical tree. Al

Just FWIW, and not to perpetuate an argument, Eric, but the chop is very possible and commonly done - just not on plants severely weakened by stress and heading into winter. The proper time to consider a chop like that is in early summer when the plant has LOTS of energy reserves stored, to push a new flush of growth. Leaves and new branches will form quickly on trees bursting with energy, and the long day length with bright light ensures a quick recovery. It's very possible your tree is already suffering from a high concentration of soluble salts in the soil. You can pretty much determine how likely that is to be the case by the way you've been watering. If you've watered in small sips to avoid root rot, it would probably be a good idea to flush the soil before you fertilize, as fertilizer would just add to the accumulated salt levels. If you've been watering copiously each time you water, so a good % of the total volume of water applied runs through the soil, out the drain holes, and is then discarded, it's less likely there would be a soluble salts issue. Below, you see a mulberry tree I chopped a few inches from the soil line in early spring 09. In the picture, it looks sort of ugly because I'm still building branches on the tree, but in 2 years, the chop wound will have healed and it will be looking good in a nice bonsai pot. I'm showing you this particular tree because it clearly illustrates the tree has been chopped, and because mulberry is a very close relative of your rubber tree, as both are in the family Moraceae. Temperate trees can be chopped in early spring because they go dormant with their batteries fully charged, and wake up ready to rock in the spring. Tropicals and subtropicals normally have to endure a low-light induced steady drain on their energy reserves for the entire winter, so when spring comes, they are at the lowest energy level of the growth cycle, so need some time in the sun to recharge before significant work. Your tree will be hard pressed to make it through the winter w/o remedial action, even WITH all the foliage it now has. Your decision not to remove it was indeed a good one. I have little doubt it would have killed the tree. The normal treatment for houseplants is to build up their energy, then cut the top back to a low branch you can train to vertical as the new leader. Sometimes everything can be accomplished with judicious pruning, as you have no concern for things like taper and proportions, though it's always a good thing to consider eye appeal and prune appropriately once the tree is on the road to recovery. Take care - good luck. Al

Based on what I've observed, I can say that what Gudang said rings completely untrue. I've been charged with restoring the health of many rubber trees that have been pried out of dark corners, and haven't found their growth response to be anything like he describes. Nor have I found their response to be any different than smaller leafed varieties of the genus, except that they are slower to grow. I often prune top and roots of reasonably healthy rubber trees brought to me and site them in full sun on the same day, knowing the leaves will burn, drop off, and very quickly be replaced by a new flush of foliage perfectly adapted to whatever light conditions prevail where the tree has been sited. I'm not advocating that you follow suit, but I do this with other people's trees and don't worry about whether or not the tree will quickly recover. I can't remember the last time I lost a ficus that wasn't already trying to break down death's door. It's not that I don't worry about other folk's trees because I'm irresponsible; rather, I've repotted and revitalized so many rubber trees w/o loss that concern would pretty much be the equivalent of much ado about nothing. Al

From Pam: But Al, don't you agree that the red shoot looks like the sheathing that a new leaf would have?? Yes - absolutely. Does a branch always grow from a cut at the leaf axil? In the case of broadleaf trees like ficus, maple, ......., yes. If you make the cut through the axil itself, the bud and other latent buds lined up behind it (insurance - in case the first bud dies) are likely to succumb to desiccation. In the OP's case, we can see the axillary bud remains viable because the pruning cut was distal to the axil such that only the internode was severed. The internode, predictably, died back to the first leaf proximal to the cut. The new leaf will appear, protected by the leaf sheath, but it will have an apical meristem (where extension growth originates) immediately distal to all the leaf. All the latent buds already formed and lined up in leaf axils already have an area of meristematic activity immediately distal to the nascent leaf in each bud. Many species of broadleaf trees will continue to activate these axillary buds as the tree grows. Maple is a plant you're really familiar with, so I'll use that as an example. Let's say I buy a maple and find a favorable trunkline in it (for bonsai), but there's a problem. There is a branch near the top precisely where a branch is needed, but it's much too thick/heavy. I can remove the thick branch and rely on an axillary bud to erupt BELOW the branch I stubbed off. This seems odd, because the axillary buds erupt from ABOVE the leaf to form a branch. If we think for a moment, the branch was above the leaf axil, which means the rest of the latent axillary buds would be BELOW the branch. This is a very significant issue in trees like Ficus benjamina "Too Little" because these latent axillary buds are very prone to erupting below larger branches that are an important part of the composition. To feed branches, photosynthate moves downward in the phloem, then turns upward to feed branches from below. The branches formed by the second third fourth ....... axillary buds in the row, growing immediately below older branches, sap strength from old branches (obviously they get first crack at the flow of energy into the branch) and weaken them severely or kill them outright if not removed in a timely manner. So even after a branch is solidly in play, those latent axillary buds are still a consideration. ******************************************************************************** Keep an eye on it, Andrea, and let us know if there is extension growth beyond the first leaf already forming. Keep up the good work, Pam. You're one of the best we have! Keep an eye on ToC, too. He's no slouch. Al