Leaning Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree / Ficus Lyrata

8 years ago

Hi there,

hoping for some advice. I have a tall 2m + fiddle leaf fig tree that is starting to lean due to the height of its trunks. I've been rotating it regularly to try and keep it from bending and have a few support bamboo sticks in place, however the stems have far outgrown them. I could look for taller support but am worried about damaging the plants roots. Anybody out there have some good pointers ?

Many thanks

Featured Answer

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

If you must stake it, don't worry about the roots. Better than staking it is to cut it back to an appropriate point, which would be a leaf growing in the direction you want a branch to grow (directional pruning).

The pruning cut above yields a branch that will grow to the right of the central axis. If the branch had been pruned to just above the leaf below, a branch would sprout growing to the left of central axis.

It's only an opinion, but I think it's much better to regularly prune a tree back to a point you can be sure it's self-supporting than to let it get to the point where it's beginning to lay over. It does absolutely no harm to the tree, and yours is easily healthy enough that it will tolerate the ht reduction w/o complaint. Cutting it back will also force it to branch out, so you'll end up with a fuller rather than a taller plant.

If you have 4 trunks, I'd prune them all at different hts with the thickest trunk being the tallest and the thinnest being the shortest - about 1/2 the ht of the tallest. The other two would be staggered hts between tallest and shortest.

Comments (7)

lj_b
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you so much! This is very helpful advice. I just need the courage to be able to cut! We are in the middle of summer now so I think now is the best time right? Thanks again!!
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
Yes - ideal.

Al
tropicbreezent
8 years ago
They are a tree, and like most trees they like their light from above. So keeping it indoors means pruning will be a recurrent need.
User
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Hi there! Not sure how you fared with this tree, I realize this was posted quite a while ago. I currently have three flf trees. One that's grown around three feet this summer! I've potted up twice, and have noticed that it perks up tremendously once it's in a larger pot. It seems to support the growth much better than a smaller pot. I noticed that your pot is quite small for the size of your plant. Mine was about 1 meter in a 12 inch terra cotta pot and was leaning quite a bit. It's now almost 2 meters in a 16 or 18 inch tc pot and has straightened out with a bit of a naturally beautiful lean without the use of stakes. I'd try a larger pot if you haven't already!
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
7 years ago
Hi, S. When you pot up instead of repot, the improvement in vitality that is usually described as a growth spurt is actually an illustration of the limitations root congestion imposes on plants. IOW, the plant could have been growing as well (actually better than) as it did after the up-pot all along, if it had been repotted when the roots got to the point where congestion was limiting growth.

Plants can only grow as well as their genes allow them to grow. IOW, vigor is a genetic trait, and it's up to the grower to help the plant realize as much of it's potential vigor as possible by eliminating limitations. Potting up only partially eliminates some of the limitation imposed by root congestion. That it only partially removes a limitation ensures the limitation will always be affecting the plant - forever, unless the root congestion in the original root mass is corrected by the hands of the grower. A full repot, which includes root pruning, completely eliminates the limitations imposed by root congestion and allows the plant to grow much closer to its genetic potential.

If I wanted to maximize vitality and allow a plant its best opportunity to realize it's genetic potential, I'd pot it in a very large pot (like you suggested) and make sure I used a soil that supports no perched water ...... or utilize a plan that removes all or most of the perched water the soil is capable of holding.

..... hope you're having a good weekend.

Al
User
7 years ago
Hi Al, your insights are always welcome! I should have been more clear in my first post- the first time I did a full repot with root pruning. The second time was just potting up. I wasn't repotting or potting up due to any issues with the plant, other than that the wind was actually blowing it over (I've been keeping them outside for the summer months here in New England) and it needed a wider base in comparison to the height of the plant to keep it from falling over. My realization that it seemed to stand up straighter was just a byproduct of switching to bigger sized pots, and I thought I'd throw that out there as a suggestion. The tree I'm speaking of has been growing three leaves at a time weekly this growing season regardless of which pot it is in. It loves the medium it has and the terra cotta pots that it's been in. It's not a definitive solution to the op's issue, and I know the conditions my plants are growing in aren't the same as op's. All speculation. But I thought it was worth noting just in case!

Hope you're enjoying Labor Day weekend as well!