As for it being too top heavy, I would place the pot inside a larger, heavier one for the time being.

I thought some people might think that's what I meant by it being too heavy-the pot itself is fine. I'm worried about the plant itself. The plant itself may lift out of the soil and topple over (leaving the pot standing) because it has so few roots (repotted it last year, still kind of unstable). I was thinking that I could maybe prune the branches off the plant so that the plant wouldn't be torn out of the soil during a windstorm. Could I maybe prune one branch back to reduce the weight on the plant? I still kind of want to put it outside-there's about a month or so left of summer during which I can leave my plants out.

I'd love to see your plant! :)

It sounds like like you need to do some work to get the root system back, but here are some photos I've collected that show ways to stabilize a plant in a pot. A few are mine but most are from more experienced growers. In my case I had plants that had lost most of their roots to overwatering; one had been repotted in 5:1:1 mix but had a branch that made it fall over unless I lashed it down. I cut a few holes in the rim of the light colored plastic pot and used twine or light cord to secure it, but others tied off to a ring of cord or wire wrapped around the pot under the rim, and Al found a creative use for little clamps for the bonsai in the red pot.

I'm just not sure about pruning a plant with a root system so small that it won't hold the plant up, because you'd be removing leaves that would provide energy to regrow the roots. Hopefully someone else has a better idea of whether and how to prune.

I was going to suggest that if goldstar135 was going to move it outside, that he could buy a cheap tree staking kit and just place the stakes in the ground around the pot. But your method keeps the pot mobile, in case you need to move it around or anything. Though his still looks top heavy, relative to the pot size. So he might have to worry about it getting knocked over during heavy winds or storms.

As for pruning it, I would still wait until next spring. Place it outside next spring and wait for emerging signs of new growth. That's when I would prune it, right before it starts growing again. Pruning it now would just set it back, as it would try regrowing the foliage it lost, especially with not that much time left in the growing season to do so. Leaving the foliage it has now will help to build up its energy reserves, rather than expend them, Especially if you plan on placing it outside for the rest of the season with greater access to sunlight.

I finally went outside and snapped a couple photos of my new "bonsai" money tree. It was grown to its normal size by the commercial nursery before it was hard pruned down to just a couple of stumps. These two stumps then sent out multiple new growths, which isn't much to looks at right now. Though, I think this will eventually give my new money tree a thicker, bushier appearance with multiple trunks, rather than just one, as it gets older. I repotted it into one of my own pots, which turned out much better than I expected. I love the way it looks. The one it came in was smaller, had no drainage, and had a top layer of rocks glued on to it, as well as some dead moss. I was fortunate enough to catch it in time as my local garden center had just gotten them in and didn't have time to kill them yet. I only placed it on this shelf to get better photos. Otherwise, it sits out in full, direct sunlight all day long. I slowly acclimated it to direct sunlight over the summer, so that it can soak up as much sunlight as possible before I have to move it back indoors for the winter.

Beautiful plant, Photo! I just love how small, compact, and how cute it looks.

I can't wait to prune mine back next year :)

litterbuggy-thanks for all the pics! I have a few large binder clips that I could try to use in a way similar to those pink clips.

I might place it outside with a couple more strings and clips securing the plant. Hopefully there won't be a freak wind blast knocking it over ;P

Thanks :)

As others have indicated, it's getting a bit long in the season to be making hard cuts....but it certainly could be done. After pruning, you want strong outdoor shade/bright shade to keep the new growth compact. If it hasn't been in direct light, certainly keep it out of direct sun or it will burn. But bright shade may help to activate those latent nodes, which has always been my personal goal with Pachira. They are quite difficult to encourage to branch, especially down low on the trunk.

Josh