Tapla - Sorry for not responding sooner, but thank you for the information! So if I'm understanding you correctly, these current growth points just won't do anything, or will they and be spindly needing pruned later on? I do understand the point about what to do in June for proper branching.

Any future advice or help with this guy would be great! It was a decent investment at this size and really want it to do well.

..I am noticing a few dark spots on a couple of leaves I'm curious about. Maybe I'll try to get some photos and post them.

You'll find a good amount of information that will help you meet your plant's cultural needs in this thread about Long Term Care of Ficus in Containers, and you can always ask any questions which have you puzzled.

Most spoiled foliage is the result of following the directions to water when the top inch or two of soil feels dry. That works well if your pot is less than about 5" deep, but is terrible advice for deeper pots as it ensures 99% of hobby growers will be over-watering. When the top 2 inches of the grow medium feels dry to touch, the bottom 6" or more can be 100% saturated with excess water, so the oft repeated advice hardly seems reasonable as the benchmark by which watering intervals are determined. It's much more important to monitor what moisture levels are at the BOTTOM of the pot. Using a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water is more reliable and effective than using guesswork or your own personal digital device (a finger). More here:

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant.

Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water.

Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue.

Al

Hi Al! I'm a week or two late, but looking to prune this Altissima to encourage some fullness. The two "arms" have extended and put on a handful of leaves each. The top doesn't really look like it's growing much, but there is a "bud tip" up there.

If I'm understanding you correctly, if I prune the "tips" off, it will encourage it to branch below? Will it always be right below the prune? Ideally, I would like a few more "mid" branches, but assume that would require me to take a foot or more off the top?

If I prune the top tip off, it is likely to branch right there? If so, might look funny with a long "mid section? Maybe I tip off the side arms?

Please let me know what you would do for the best look!

It's very common for hobby growers to look at any growth a tree puts on as sacred. IOW, it's very difficult for them to do any major pruning. Sometimes that comes from not understanding what will happen when they prune, or if the pruning will be detrimental to the tree. Pruning is a tool that should be used regularly/ frequently to keep the tree in bounds and promote fullness as well as an attractive branch arrangement. Sometimes, when the tree is left to grow too long w/o 'supervision', the only way to bring it back in bounds is by pruning heavily.

It's best for ficus if you start pinching (removing the growing points [apical meristems] at the tips of branches as soon as the 3rd leaf on each branch starts to open. This changes the chemical balance in the branch because it removes the primary source of the chemical that suppresses lateral (side) branching. If you remove only the tips of the branches now, you will end up with several new branches forming at the tips of the existing still-too-long branches.

There is no question you would be setting the tree up for much greater potential in terms of eye appeal if you pruned the 2 branches back to somewhere around 4 leaves. Then, look at the leader and visualize how far back you would need to cut it so the top is within the bounds of an imaginary half-circle dome. That means the leader will be only slightly longer than the side branches. You can start new plants from the tip cuttings if you like, and I can help you with how to prepare the cuttings so your chance of success is enhanced.

After the hard pruning, you can start your pinching program, which consists pf allowing all new branches to grow until the 3rd leaf on each branch is opening. At that point, remove the 3rd leaf by pinching the branch immediately distal (away from the trunk) to the 2nd leaf. If you follow that pattern, you will soon need to start thinning branches because the canopy will be very compact and full. That's a good place to be.

For best results (most attractive tree) your pruning schedule would be: A) Each June, prune all the long winter growth (identifiable by the extra long internodes) back to last summer's tight growth. B) Pinch as described for the remainder of each summer C) Allow the tree to grow unimpeded by pruning for the entire late fall and winter D) Repeat the schedule beginning in June.

Let me know if you have questions or additional input.

Al

Thanks. Curious if you have found notching to be successful?

Almost 40 years practicing bonsai has provided the ability to ensure I have branches pretty much wherever I want them; this, by pruning the main stem/trunk just above a node from which I want a branch to grow, so I have no real or perceived need to utilize notching. I have done enough notching to know how to obtain the best results, but in all honesty, I would rather use a thread or approach graft than notching. If the notching is done correctly, you can expect a high % of success with Ficus - probably above 75% in my experience.

Al