Depends on what you want.

If it were mine, I’d remedy the lack of drain holes first, then I’d completely remove the secondary branch and bend the leader straight and tie it to support.

Then, I would give it a lot more light then it’s been getting. Lack of light is the reason it’s growing that way.

Right up in front of a south facing window with no curtains would be best.

Heres a cutting I took less than two years ago from my large Ficus below. The cutting was smaller than your tree and it’s over 3’ now.

6” cutting from almost two years ago, shaped into a small tree:

My large Ficus the cutting came from which was only just a bit bigger than the cutting above when I got it 3 years ago:

read through this: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/1476078/ficus-trees-in-containers-iv?n=223

Honestly, you can remove either and bend the one you like best into shape.

once the tree takes off, it won’t matter much.

Number 1 might bend a little easer right away though.

Can we hit the pause button just long enough to consider an alternate plan (or two) that take(s) advantage of a sacrificial branch?

Plan A) I wouldn't prune anything yet. I'd leave the right side as a sacrifice branch. It serves to thicken the trunk and provides more food for the plant as a whole. Instead, focus on managing the left side of the tree and let the right side grow unencumbered by pruning. You can remove the right side whenever you want - like 10 minutes before the company you want to impress next New Years Eve arrives - or 2 years from now.

What I would do is tie the left side to the right side, so the left side is upright, or nearly so. When you do that, I already see several potential new leaders just itching to take over, already growing on the left side.

Plan B) I wouldn't prune anything yet. It's a sure bet that you're going to get new branching from the tallest part of the bare trunk on the right side. When you do, the more horizontal part of the right side will serve as the lowest branch on the tree. At some point in the future the entire left side would be removed. To envision what I'm describing, imagine that the trunk isn't flopped over, that it continues to grow upward and the right side is the branch. That WILL occur if you keep the tree healthy. To me, that makes the most sense; you just need to have faith that my prediction of a new branch in that area will bear fruit ..... er, um, foliage.

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Dave - why not start a whole bunch of cuttings from prunings of your plaited tree next time you repot. Once they strike and become established, you could approach-graft them to the trunk so they serve as prop roots. The wounds you'd need to make on the trunk of the existing tree when you set the grafts would be so small they would represent no risk at all to the parent tree.

Al

Al,

I completely agree and think that’s a wonderful idea.

However, if I started a whole bunch of cuttings my girlfriend would kill me. :)