Hello, l need some help please. I recieved my fig a bit over 14 years ago. God love its heart it has been through 3 moves and one repotting. It has 11 trunks and is approximately 6 and a half feet tall. All the trunks are skinny and I have most of them bound to a stake, and it is still leaning. I would like to straighten it up. I had this weird idea of pulling all the trunks together and using gardening tape and starting at the bottom taping them all together to create one trunk. Please dont be horrfied, I dont have many plants and reallyhave no training. This one is special to me and would really appreciate some help to make it a healthy and attractive house plant. I live in north Alabama and it currently sitting on the back porch. Thank you in advance.

Hi, Gina - thank you for the kind words. I now have it in a south facing window, that is mostly covered by a light filtering shade, 4 feet from a west facing window in a fairly bright room, and next to a humidifier. So it's sort of between a S and W window? I wondered if I did a full repot and root trim if I could possibly put it in a slightly smaller pot? I plan to use a mixture of 1:1:1 potting soil, perlite, and repti-bark, and possible put some empty bottles in the bottom as ballast. Yes, you'll be able to put it in a smaller pot after the root reduction, but do make sure you don't cut yourself short insofar as space for roots to run, given you'll be adding ballast. I also hoped to turn it into a standard or “mother/daughter”. It has 6 stems that all seem to be from the same plant and I wonder what the best way to convert it would be? A mother/daughter arrangement would look like the larger tree hovers protectively over the daughter tree. When you select the two trees, be sure the larger doesn't dirsctly overhang the smaller and shade it out. The two should be offset a bit. This can usually be accomplished best by allowing the two trunk lines to be directly above each other for a distance before the daughter's trunk turns toward you. This arrangement has a front and a back for viewing purposes, but it should be rotated regularly so all sides get their share of light. Remove the surplus stems.branches unnecessary to the composition by pruning them back to the trunk. Start them as cuttings if you like. I read about removing stems to accomplish this but also about leaving stems, because those leaves have value to the plant, while you focus on strengthening one stem or binding a few together? Honestly, I just read so much information at once in the past couple days that I am a little overwhelmed :) Not pertinent at this point - save that for later. I would like to give it the correct soil and conditions for it to thrive. I think you can expect good results with what you proposed above, and the ballast will definitely work in your favor. Is it too late for a repot and root pruning in zone 7b? If there was no pressure to get the plant out of the pot/soil it's in now, I'd probably wait. If you think the combination has potential to dump a serious problem before next spring, go ahead and repot. It would be best if, after the repot, the plant could be sited outdoors in dappled or open shade and out of wind while it recovers. You have a longer growing season than I do and I set Aug 1 as my last repot date for Ficus ..... but all my trees are outdoors, which makes a very significant difference. Start fertilizing when you're seeing new growth. Make sure you keep the roots WET for the entire duration of the repotting session. Have everything ready to go before you start. Add a wick to the pot too, if you like. Questions? Al

Can you give us a side-on view of the pot itself please? Did it come in a plastic pot and have you put that now into a ceramic pot? Anyway, pic please. Plants go into shops and nurseries at peak condition after being (often) coddled with supreme conditions of heat and moisture. They may have been hardened off but perhaps not enough to meet the ability of Joe gardener to care for them after that. Underwatering and overwatering are the major probs in early days as well as position. In terms of watering, you've gone from one extreme to another. What direction is that window facing? and I guess I should ask what city are you in? Ficus are almost unkillable so if we can resolve what's making it unhappy it should recover.

North facing Windows usually aren't a good choice for ficus. Direct sun is sunlight that is outdoors. Even sun shining through a window isn't direct, it would be filtered sun. Ficus like as much light as you can give them. I personally grow all of mine outside in direct sun all summer. That said, you can keep it where it is, but it probably won't be getting enough light. a window that recieves full sunlight all day will be your best bet. Ambient outdoor light through a window just isn't much.