That is a tragic story, indeed! I have done this very procedure many times, so have courage. You can go about this two primary ways: the first is simply to repot the entire tree; the second is to cut off the healthy top and root it, and also repot and hope the trunk and rootmass survive. I think it is imperative that you use a free-draining potting mix. I use bark, perlite, lava rock, and just a little potting mix as a binder/moisture retentive ingredient. And when I say "a little potting mix," I mean less than 10% of the overall mix. If you can't mix your own, I recommend a fine-grade Orchid Mix, to which you will probably add some coarse Perlite. Repot keeping the roots moist at all times, thoroughly water and saturate the new mix when done, and place the tree in outdoor shade if available - no direct sun. Keep the mix uniformly moist with light waterings for at least a week after repotting. You can either repot the tree first, and the cut the top off....or you can cut the top off and repot the tree all at once. It's a bit of a gamble, as I don't know the vitality of the tree, but I have confidence from repeated experience that the top will root (if it is healthy as you describe). I place the cut top in a vase/jar of water, and I wait for white root primordia to appear. As soon as they appear, I transfer the cutting into a container of the same moist, free-draining mix, and I keep it moist while the cutting continues to root. I use #1 nursery containers.

Here is the CA state Champion Afrocarpus gracilior tree, in Alameda Park, Santa Barbara, CA. I took this picture in 2019. It is about 87ft tall with a canopy diameter of about 68ft. The trunk is over 4ft in diameter at breast height. It is about 100 years old. It is neither a "monster" nor a "nightmare". It is a happy, healthy, beautiful, drought-tolerant, disease-resistant shade tree that just happens to require more space at maturity than most residential yards have. If you plant a row of 1-gallon Afrocarpus container stock to make a hedge in a narrow space then they will oblige you handily in just a few years. But it will be on you to prune them every year from now until forever and keep them in the allowable space, because this is what they will try to become if allowed to grow unchecked. You might do well to remove every other tree after a few years to give the remaining ones more room to fill in. Removing the whole hedge and starting over every 25 years or so might be a reasonable thing to plan for. If you want a hedge that will remain bush-sized then plant bushes, not baby trees with leafy dreams of being a glorious 100 foot tall urban forest. And don't call them "monsters" if you break the pact and drop the ball on maintenance. If you have room to let one grow for several decades and begin to fulfill its genetic destiny then you will have a gorgeous big specimen tree while you are still young enough to enjoy the shade. I have a 75 year old male tree growing 3 feet from my house (yes, that is closer than I would recommend) and it has not caused any appreciable damage to my foundation. In fact, it has helped keep my house from slipping downhill like most of the other houses on my street are doing. Thanks, big tree!

Tree 1 These are (I believe) beech trees that are 25-50 feet from the house). Can you tell me if these trunks worry you? They are currently taller than our two story house. Tree 2: Tree 1 close up: Tree#3(yes, those two trunks are fused together!): Thanks!

I grabbed a few Ficus Benjamina plants from the store, and I am curious if there are options with what I can do with it, or if I'm just limited to either 1 or 2 options. I'm also curious if I should repot it or just let it grow for awhile. I realize that the trunk thickening happens best in ground and before repotting into bonsai pots, but the soil here is terrible in ground, so I'd either need to prep a big area or just let it grow in a bigger container with the original soil and bonsai soil to fill the rest of the pot. The first tree is the one with the most potential to do many things trunk-wise in my opinion, could either fuse them together, multi trunk as a bonsai, but I'm not sure how the root system works as much to know if I would be able to split it into a few different single trunk ficus. The last tree I have a feeling that none of the trunks stick out as the main trunk and I would either fuse these trunks or try to split it if at all possible. I'm also not sure if I can just trim all of the trunks and have it clump up or if that is just a super dumb idea (beginner here...haha) Second Tree: Last Tree: