where I tied it...

the multiple branches...

my goal for my tree :)

I can imagine the multiple trunks fusing together over time after a hard chop to knock it back by a few feet. I see lots of wonderful cuttings in your future too! :)

Although I have broken this rule countless times myself(I get bored in the wintertime),I should probably mention that a better time to do this would be in the next growing season...like early summer even.

Of course if you want a single trunk,it will mean dividing a favorite one from the rest and repotting it alone.

Thank you!

Does it matter if I live in San Diego (regarding the seasons...we don't have any?) :)

Also, what do I "chop", the entire top?

Again,..others may pop by to warn you not to do this 'til next year,but if,like me,you can't help yourself,you could lop them all at once or take off one,wait to see it put on new growth,and once satisfied with that,lop another...and so on.

Active growth calls for temps of 70 or warmer,and this will be needed when you are doing this. I Just checked your weather and it's 61 degrees out at the time of this posting. Of course that's the temp outside and your ficus is indoors...anyway point is not to let the room it's in get below 70 while you are executing this.

Also you can root the cut pieces to make more plants if you like. I would. :)

your trunks are very thin for a 20yr old ficus. i have one with 5 trunks 22yrs old, but the trunks are all over 1.5" in diameter and one even thicker. i braided them together for support about 7 years ago (like braided standards) - they seem to like it a lot and even fattened up noticeably. you don't have to make it very tight, just to steady enough so it stops swaying. and in sev places up and down.
but it can be hard to do it with large crowns. the trunks need to be quite snug next to each other (and not as high as you tied them, but starting from the bottom). but any tying in my view is better then no tying.
it's best to prune down to sev leaves ( i usually leave 3-4) on the branch. if you cut off all leaves, the branch might die. if the main trunk is weak (and yours are), it could die off too, if you prune all the leaves on it (at the least it will need good conditions to regrow).
looks like some of your trunks have more leaves then others. i would start on those first - just 1 or 2 in one year, just before the good growth starts. you'll learn on 1st prune and then can do more. it's also better looking while growing out just 1-2 judiciously pruned brunches.
if yours is producing leaves thru winter (nov-mar), you can do it even now. but if not, it's best to wait until it starts 'the main growth cycle'.
can you post some close-ups of branches to see the structure/leaves better?
here's a pic of my trunks just held with a wire, a few years back.
i bound them much tighter since to merge them. on old trunks it takes a couple of years.

this is now (i bound 2 trunks at a time, binding different 2 trunks higher up, etc) - to create a bound structure or sculpture, if you will.

and this is a very fuzzy pic of the same plant 18 years back - just so you can see how spindly and far apart the trunks were then.

and an overall pic of the plant this July (i pruned 2 branches since and planning to do two more next year, as my plant is getting too close to the ceiling).
i think that binding multi-trunks makes for a much better over-all plant then a standard with 1 trunk. but it's a matter of taste, of course.

Sweet of you to pop by and grace us with your experience,Petrushka!

Was really hoping you would. :)

Great info as always!

Cut off all but a promising looking one or start with a different specimen that already has one trunk. If you reduce your existing clump to a single stem that stem may need staking afterward.

if you want to learn .... you start by finding the latin name ... because when you get to a search engine .. the latin is the key to hone in on specific information ...

next.. i would ask ... when is the last time you repotted it.. potting media wears out ... if never.. then put that in the back of your mind ...

next.. if it were mine... i would look into how to propagate it by cuttings ... see link ... i found such using the latin as noted ...

and then i would propagate a few ... odds for success ... and then i would research.. and see if you cant cut the aged old man down to about 4 inches ... and resurrect it after repotting ...

though it is a 20 year old treasure.. it is a very old man ... if i was successful in propagating.. THE SAME PLANT... i would transfer my love to the new.. KNOWING I STILL HAVE THE SAME PLANT... but in a new.. healthy.. vigorous form ... well grown... the new one ought to become your dream plant in a few years ... in the alternative.. you might spend 5 to 10 years.. trying to make the old man into a new studly plant ...

sometimes its easier to start afresh.. rather than try to make an old plant.. into something it will never be ...

just wanted you to know.. you have many options ... other than hope and prayer ...

good luck ... learning is fun ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

oh, i popped out, but already want to go back in hiding ;).
i disagree on giving up: there's a lot of leaves on the plant.
with good pruning (and pruned branches grouped to start a new multi-trunk plant, of course) this tree can be revived and good looking within 2 years. it needs a good repot/root trimming, new soil,etc.
but trunks being spindly as they are it's not a good candidate for starting a standard.
standard needs to be grown in very good culture from the start to assure proper branching and trunk development. it's harder then maintaining a multi trunk pot.
but... if you still want to try to grow a standard i would use one of the pruned healthiest branches that has already sev branchings on it (IF you have any like that). and air-layer that to maintain the leaf-mass.
starting a standard from a single not-branched main will take many years otherwise.

Do at least lurk.

Would suck if you hid deep enough not to get reeled back in. ;)

you can reel me back next time by posting a pic of your rubber tree, tied up or not/pruned whatever...gotta be progress!
i am tempted by an idea of a standard ficus Lyrata (here's latin for you, no need to go search); but when i see them in shops - i just do not like how they are shaped. i don't care much for popsicle look.
so i had this huge (my best well shaped) branch - the leader, 6" from the ceiling and i lopped it off (air-layering to preserve as many leaves as i can) and here it is doing well. and i am still hesitating whether to leave it as is or merge on 1-2 branches onto it to fatten the trunk: sort of re-enforced trunk look ;)!
it has 4 y-branchings (the very bottom one is small and i will most likely remove it in a few years, but leaving it on helps to thicken the trunk for now.
it was a 30" branch - my record so far (last year without air-layering, just rooting a 29" branch resulted in 3/4 of leaves dropping off while it was rooting). it held onto all leaves and started new growth already, although i got yellowing on 2 bottom leaves, they'll be falling off shortly.

Here's a shot from a little ways back.
Sorry but it's hard to get around that glare at this time of day.

A look at the bottom...

A little further up...

This shot has a little rooted cutting of a different(collected from another source)elastica in it...

And here's the tippy top! :)

goody-good! i see side shoots going and tape in position! now you need to either put a zip tie in the middle of the tape or any kind of thickish wire (even from a soft plastic coated hanger will work), just pliable enough to really twist and tighten it around 2 trunks but not so hard as to bruise them. and then wait. they'll grow slowly and thicken and then when you see a little bulging around the wire you can check inside the tape for fusion. it might take 6mo or more.
and the top shoot? asking to be air-layered.....then you can repot the big one with sep cutting and air-layered one - and THEN you'll have a nice pot! or put 2 together and keep pruning!
are those coral chunks? in the big pot?

The pot is a nursery gallon with rocks that had interesting surfaces that I'd picked up while doing a bit of landscaping work this passed summer.

I've been iffy about the wire so far...I mean I know it will be necessary to promote the fusion but tightening it that much...won't that prevent movement withing the cambium layer where it's pinched?

Sorry so skeptical,..just curious.

the key is not very tight, but tight enough so there is no free space under wire. there should be no bruising (if rubber tree bruises you'll now: sap will flow; f.lyrata saps very easily too).
soft copper or aluminum wire is best for that - electric plastic coated wire is fine too and easy to get. even telephone wire, sev strands will do, unless you have a very thick trunk. constriction is necessary though, there's no way out!
if you don't use the wire it might take a few years to merge. the tape will act as a very slow binding constriction.
it's pretty much a std practise in bonsai (ficus is very often used for bonsai) - so tried and true. but google, if in doubt.
al actually recommends tightening with zip ties a year ahead of pruning : the roots will develop UNDER tape (they will develop on ficus underr tape even without tightening: did on mine). these are aerial roots that develop with just a little moisture under tape.
so you can use tape as 'pre-layering' to have roots already there when you air-layer. it's a diff thing from merging though. when you tape 2 trunks with tapes you won't be needing those roots since you won't be cutting at the junction.
i'll try to get some links for you about wiring from 'pros'.

This post was edited by petrushka on Thu, Nov 13, 14 at 20:26

Now I wish I'd wired it back when I first taped it...woulda been like 2 month's head start.

Oh well.

Hey thanks! :)

*toodles off to find wire*

Did this ever turn out, asleep?

How are you feeling today?