Hi Gilbert,

Why do you want to divide your Ficus lyrata? They were grown together for a reason - to make a fuller plant. It is true that plants can be divided, but every time you start to mess with the roots your are engaging in a risky process. Separating intertwined roots is very risky! Unless you are experienced with potted plants, I would strongly advise against separating the two plants.

If you are concerned that they are crowding each other or competing with each other, they are not. Apparently they are doing very well so it would be a shame if you did damage by trying to fix what is not broken.

The new shoots are spontaneous and unpredictable. It is not caused by anything you have done or can do in the future. Continue to provide good care of your Ficus and don't change anything you have been doing.

The plants are just sharing the pot. They are maybe, 8 inches apart. We moved them to the larger pot when we first got them, with the plan to separate when they outgrew the pot. Now I see roots comin out of the drainage holes so I assumed it would be a good time to do it. Regrdless of this, if it is unwise I will likely just get a bigger pot to transfer them together. I have read that there are ways to encourage branches to form. Are there any methods that anybody would recommend?

Hi, Gilbert. The best way to get branches to form is: make sure the roots are healthy - get the plant outdoors where light is very bright and there is plenty of air movement ...... but there are other ways, too like judiciously defoliating (more on that below) or notching.

Dividing your Ficus isn't all that traumatic for the plant. In fact, you can actually "divide" large ficus with an axe if necessary, not that I'm recommending that practice; but, you can actually hack the plants apart so each half has an appropriate volume of roots attached, dividing them is no more dangerous than repotting.

How about sharing a few pictures of your tree from different angles. Often, if there are ACTUALLY 2 or more individual plants in a pot, you can actually separate them by pulling them apart after removing most of the soil with little force.

Your tree produces a growth regulator (hormone) called auxin in all it's dynamic tissues. One of its functions is suppression of lateral growth, which would be new branches. Most auxin is produced in apical meristems, which are the active growth regions near branch tips, but auxin is also produced in leaves. Removing leaves reduces the polar flow of auxin - "polar" because it only moves downward. This means there may not be enough auxin flowing downward to inhibit growth from latent (like dormant) buds, which allows another growth regulator (cytokinin) to activate buds proximal (closer to the roots) to the leaves removed. The result of the newly activated bud is a new branch. In many cases, the outcome is very predictable, in other cases, the result is quite predictable, but the pattern random. IOW, given any healthy ficus with a branch that has 100 leaves on it, all of which are removed in summer, you can bet as much as you like on the fact that significant back-budding will occur on that branch as it pushes a new flush of growth, and the number of leaves that emerge after defoliation will be much higher than the 100 you started with. It's also very likely there will be additional back-budding on other branches close to the trunk or off the trunk itself below the defoliated branch.

I'm not sure where you live, but the month of June in the N hemisphere is a very good time to do any serious work on your trees. Potting up isn't serious work, but repotting is. Repotting (includes root pruning and a change of soil) ensures your plant will not be limited by root congestion until about the time the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. Potting up ensures the limitations imposed by root congestion and soil compaction will continue until the plant dies or the grower intervenes and eliminates the congestion by repotting.

You might find value in the info this link will take you to. If you like that thread, I can link you to another that discusses caring for trees in containers for the long term. It goes into considerable detail about root work and other tips to keep trees happy in containers. There is no reason a well-tended tree in a container can't outlive both of us and be kept healthy and compact, with proper care. Trees in pots have far more potential to outlive their counterparts growing in situ (where they naturally occur).

Al

Very risky? I don't agree. I've repotted and separated all kinds of plants. Fiddle leaf figs are a very sturdy plant. If they are root bound it just takes a little more patience. I would repot it after it has been watered a day or two before. Gently squeeze the soil and roots and slowly pull apart. If the roots are intertwined, you will have to use your fingers to gently coax them apart.

Ficus benjamina - 2 years in this bulb pan:

The roots after a hard pruning

The tree tolerated the work well - hardly missed a beat. Was pushing new growth within 2 weeks. I do it to 100-150 trees annually - dozens of species, many of them in the Ficus genus.

Al

Hi Al, I was just wondering about the ficus above. Did you defoliate that at the same time you did the root work?

I remember reading about that, I guess it would let you choose which leaves and branches to keep right? When that much root is cut off there will always be some leaf drop?

Love this! It’s so educational. Thank you very much.