Pruning Ficus Audrey
I can't say enough good things about Ficus Audrey. Here's a picture of the plant when I first got it in November 2020.
And today.
It still has two separate trees in one pot. I repotted it last summer and did cut the tip off the taller tree and it branched nicely. But now I see that the side branch is getting taller than the center and I think it may be time to consider some additional pruning. At some point, I may separate that smaller tree but for now, my main focus is the taller one. The goal would be for it not to get much taller but to create more of a canopy just above the support stake that I have in there. Here are a couple of close up pics of the leader and the branching.
Looking for advice on where to cut or how to manage this. Thanks in advance!
Comments (16)
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last year
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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Ficus benghalensis "Audrey" - Pruning Question
Comments (12)You have 2 options. You can cut the top back to a leaf that is growing back toward an imaginary line straight up from the center of the pot, or you can cut back harder so you take the crook out of the picture and make the top straight. The grower cut the trunk back and that's how the branch that became the new leader grew. What the grower should have done and you can still do is this: Imagine this as your tree and the leaves are branches. ^^^ When the grower cut the top back ^^^, he cut it back to about where the knot is, and the branch that turned into the new leader (that would be the one just below the knot) grew at the same angle as the leaf stem. What he SHOULD have done is, cut the top back only part way so there was a stub left, then tie the new branch to the stub so it grows straight: **************************************************************************************************** Your idea to prune back to the leaf growing back toward the center is what I described above. It's ok to do that if the distance from the soil line to the first crook in the trunk is longer than the distance from the crook in the trunk to the branch growing back toward the middle. IOW, as your tree zig-zags, the distance between the direction changes has to grow increasingly smaller as your eye moves from bottom to top. This is because (in nature), branches get much closer together near the top of trees, and that's what your eye expects to see. If you DON'T see the sections between turns getting shorter toward the top, it will look odd, even if you can't put your finger on the precise reason why. If the distances are transposed, I'd cut the crook out and do what I illustrated above. Al...See MoreSuccessful Audrey Ficus Rooting
Comments (10)Mine needs more shaping but I am not totally unhappy. You can try cutting a plastic bottle and wrap it around the base like a collar. This will trap some humidity near the base of the stem and encourage it to grow more aerial roots. Pruning wise, I cut back hard in June. I also keep mine outside in summer and that encourages rapid growth. If you want more branching cut back each branch to one or two leaf. New bud will appear from the base of the remaining leaves. So cut it back so the new branch will generally face outwards. Cut off inner criss-crossing branches. These are just some basic rules. Look for "Ficus tree in Containers" in container forum I believe. Our resident guru, Al, describes in detail everything about Ficus....See MoreHELP! what are these marks on my ficus Audrey
Comments (9)Austin - Copper is a micronutrient essential to normal plant growth, but being a micro-nutrient, it takes only a tiny amount more than a sufficient amount to create a toxicity. While I can't say with great certainty that the cause lies somewhere in the fact you're treating plants with horticultural oil (?) and a cupric fungicide, I can say it's likely there is more harm than benefit with that regimen. A plant's best defense against insects and pathogens is a high level of vitality, since the level of chemicals that ward off insects and diseases will be produced in direct relationship with the plant's metabolic rate. If the chemicals/treatments you're using are limiting the plant's vitality and metabolic rate, you'd sort of be shooting yourself in the foot. When it comes to IPM (integrated pest management), which includes treatment of insects and diseases, the first step is to identify the problem and decide if it's something you feel you and the plant can tolerate or if it's something that needs addressing. If it actually needs your attention, the next step is to use the least noxious but still effective measures to eliminate or reduce the problem to an acceptable level. Have you identified the pests/diseases? Have you considered the possibility that you might not even have a pest or disease infestation? that you might be treating a physiological disorder caused by adverse cultural conditions, and that identifying the cultural conditions causing the stress and improving those conditions might gain you more traction? Al...See MoreFicus Audrey tree - help!
Comments (1)It's sort of hard to imagine this was a case of serendipity, for the planting, so I don't think it was broken on purpose or by chance. Initially, there were 2 plants, each with it's own trunk and root system. Where the trunks fused is an example of a process called inosculation. When done purposely, it would be called an approach graft. Here's an example of an approach graft used where a trident maple tree needed a branch where there was none, so I put one there. I allowed a branch on the tree you see to grow long, and removed most of the leaves along the branch so it would be thin and flexible. I cut a groove in the tree to expose the cambium, then removed bark from the scion so the cambiums lined up. I then stapled the branch in place and covered it with grafting tape. The following spring, the stub was cut flush to the trunk. This is a Ficus benjamina I started approach grafting about 20 years ago. Ain't she purty? Actually, I know it's very ugly and it's still a work in progress, but here it is after defoliating and wiring it last weekend: No way to be sure w/o asking the grower, but I'm thinking the root system of one of the trees in your planting became infected with one of the fungi commonly grouped under the umbrella of damping off diseases. When it became evident one of the trees was infected, the grower noted the inosculation and reasoned rightly that the living trunk would support the part of the infected tree distal to (beyond) the point of inosculation, and severed the trunk. It's not unusual for adventitious roots to form on trunks of Ficus when it's humid. Also, the flow of the growth regulator that stimulates rooting (auxin) is polar, meaning it only flows downward. When it gets to the bottom of the stub, it collects there and becomes a built-in rooting aid. Though you can't tell, this ^^^ is a root-over-rock schefflera on which one of the mature roots died. The mass you see is what resulted - same thing you're seeing on your tree. This ^^^ is the view from the opposite side. You already know the living trunk is fully supporting what is essentially the approach graft or scion. The adventitious roots hanging in the air supply no resources to the graft at all. If your tree was my tree, I'd use a fine bladed saw (hack saw) and cut through the stub at the lowest point of fused tissue. I would then spritz the wound with cold water to stop the latex from oozing, clean up the wound with a razor knife so there are no fine threads of bark or sapwood tissue hanging from the wound site, dry it with paper towels, then paint over the wound with waterproof wood glue, being careful to cover the wound and any exposed cambium at the edge of the bark, but try not yo get any glue on the undamaged bark. I use the snipped off end of a zip tie as a glue spreader and it works like a charm. Painting over the wound decreases the size of the wound by eliminating desiccation and dieback of the bark at the wound site, and promotes rapid healing. BTW - it would be best for the plant if you were to rid it of the support and the ties that are biting into the bark. They will soon be restricting flow of photosynthate (food) and other bio-compounds to the roots. While I see no visual evidence that the missing trunk was killed by a constriction, you might look things over and see if you think that could have been the cause. Al...See Morepopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yeartapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearlast modified: last yearLittle branch moving left: Pinch it - remove the growing tip of the branch (the apex/ apical meristem) only.
Large branch moving right: Notice how the length of the internodes changed at the end of last summer, producing only long internodes after that. To maximize fullness and compactness of the canopy, the branch should be pruned back at least to where the internodes are short.
How to choose where to prune it: Notice that the little branch and the branch growing to the right are both growing in the axil (crotch) of a leaf, and the branch grew at roughly the same angle as the leaf. This means that by selecting a leaf growing in the direction you want a branch to grow, you can predetermine the direction the branch, not withstanding the effects of phototropism (tendency to grow toward the brightest light source). Since you have 3 branches to consider (main leader, left branch, right branch) the ideal direction for the large branch moving right would be growing outward exactly halfway between the little branch and the main leader. Another way of saying it would be, when you choose the leaf to prune back to, the branch that will occur in the axil of that leaf should bisect the angle formed by the main leader and the small branch. I can't tell which is appropriate from a 2D image.
The central leader should be pruned back into the area with short internodes as well. Simply choose the leaf that will produce a branch growing in the most favorable direction. This is called directional pruning, and I utilize it constantly as I pinch and prune my trees. It is a very good skill to have in your bag of tricks.
Now, let's go back to the 2 leaves which have branches growing in their axils. Those leaves should be removed. The reasons are A) it tidies up the plant, and B) it slows growth of the branch such that internodes will be shorter and leaves smaller. Then, as soon as your tree starts to push new branches in existing leaf axils, remove the leaf that supports an axillary branch.
This ^^^ is about the stage at which the 2 mature leaves should be removed from established trees. If this wasn't a newly rooted cutting, I would have removed them already. I regularly go through my ficus trees and remove all leaves with branches in their axils to slow growth. You have probably seen many images I've posted that show complete or partial defoliation of branches used as a tool to promote compact growth or to manage the tree's energy flow. As long as you're going to learn how to manipulate your trees and bend them to your will, you might as well know all the methods and advantages.Finally, it's much easier to start pinching and pruning regularly right out of the gate, as it's much more heart rending to have to cut a tree back extremely hard after it's become way to far out of bounds.
Questions?
Al
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yeartapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearI don't see this "2 leaves which have branches growing in their axils" at all. So that part I am not grasping. Examine the small branch moving left, the large branch moving right, and ignore the main leader for now. Follow those branches back to where they attach to the main stem. You'll find a leaf growing there at the attachment point.
What looks like a leaf growing in the axil (crotch) of the middle leaf is actually a branch. Using the image as an example, the mature leaf with a branch growing in its axil (the middle one) should be removed; not for health reasons, but because it makes the plant tidier AND it slows the branch down (the one growing in its axil). Slowing the branch's growth rate down means leaves along the new branch will have shorter internodes and smaller leaves, highly desirable when you're aiming for a full and compact plant.
After you do the pruning, you'll start to see many new branches growing in leaf axils. Once you see a bud is activated and the first leaf on the branch is starting to form, remove the mature leaf. Example:
If this ^^^ was a branch on a tree and not a cutting, and because I can see the first leaf is forming on the branches growing in both leaf axils, I would remove the mature leaf growing from the point where the branch attaches. That treatment doesn't serve a cutting well, but your tree is much further along and you are trying to increase leaf and branch density (ramification), and removing those leaves, where they occur, is helpful to that end.
See before/ after images showing where I actually went through a tree and removed these mature leaves.
You can see several leaves with branches growing in their axils ^^^
Same branch but with the leaves supporting axillary branches removed ^^^. As the tree matures, this practice also increases the amount of light and air movement reaching the inner branches, which promotes more prolific back-budding and shorter internodes. The stubs usually fall off on their own within a week or two; or, you can cut through the leaf stem (petiole) with scissors closer to the leaf's attachment point. I left the stubs long to make it easier to see what I actually did. Never pull the leaves off as it can damage the row of dormant buds in the leaf axil. Always snip them off.
Al
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yeartapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearpopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yearOk, so I was thinking the opposite of what should be done! Good thing I am getting more clarification. So in your example, these leaves would be removed?
I think I found the two you were referring to here and here:
Should I wait for that bud to do more before removing the leaf next to it?
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearpopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yeartapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
last yearpopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yearpopmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last yearJust wanted to give an update. Last week, I worked up the courage to make two chops.
And now we wait to see what Miss Audrey decides to do with my pruning. I probably want to pinch that bud there on the end of that branch but will "wait until the 3rd leaf on any given branch is starting to open, then pinch the branch back to 2 leaves."Thanks, Al!
popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)
last year
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)