propagate some of the growth points.. and when you i know they have rooted.. then structure prune this one back hard.. and let it regrow in a better form ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fiddle+leaf+propagation&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos

I’m in Montreal , Quebec so its pretty cold right now!

that corner is pretty much the only spot that my fiddle can fit into right now. do you think I should rotate it back so that the new leaves are back to the light? ( but risk it getting more lopsided? )

its funny because I transplanted it last spring and it quickly seems to have grown from this new pot too!

should I tie that branch up even though that longer branch you're seeing isnt even the main trunk?

Best plan: Do no pruning now unless it's essential the tree is brought back in bounds. Reason: Any new growth will have long internodes and you want the short internodes that occur from Early June through the last week of August. If you get in the habit and rhythm of pruning off all lanky winter growth in early June, it will make a marked difference in how compact your tree will become and in the the enthusiasm with which your tree responds to the pruning (talking about the back-budding response.

Lopping off 1/3 to 1/2 of the long branch won't cause any harm if you can't stand to look at it as it is now. if you follow my suggestions, you'll be pruning it again, hard, next June.

How to rein the tree in is easy. Your objective is going to be bringing the tree back to a form you can build on and at the same time correct the conspicuous visual lopsidedness it presents now. To do that, you only need to make 3 pruning cuts if I'm right in thinking the tree consists of a trunk/ main stem with 2 branches growing from it. Let me set the stage by saying you can tell which direction new branches will tend to grow before they appear by looking at where the leaves are attached.

The leaf in the axil (crotch) of the top leaf is the beginning of a branch, and it WANTS to grow in the direction the leaf faces. Had the pruning cut been higher, above the leaf facing away, the branch would grow away from the view and any branch that occurs in the axil of the lowest leaf will grow left. This is the basis of 'directional pruning'.

The main trunk should be pruned back fairly close to the top branch. Maybe leave 2-3 leaves on the trunk above the top branch. The leaf you cut back to should face upward, because you want to train it to grow back toward the center of the composition, which would be a directly above the point where the trunk exits the grow medium. The other 2 branches should be cut back, leaving only 2 healthy leaves on each branch.

After you remove the crowing tips of the stem and both branches, the tree will back-bud and grow additional branches from the axils of leaves on the stem and both branches. As these branches elongate and produce more leaves, you should 'pinch' them back. To 'pinch' wait until the 3rd leaf is starting to unfurl on any branch, then prune it back to just beyond the second leaf.

You can see this actually occurring here:

This ^^^ is Ficus microcarpa, a rooted cutting. By the stub, you can see the branch was pinched, causing new branches to grow in leaf axils. So, 1 branch becomes 2, 2 becomes 4, 4-8, 8-16, 16-32. This is the strategy by which bonsai practitioners increase the ramification (number of leaves and branches) on their trees. It works just as well for all potted trees.

The healthier your tree is and the more stored energy it has, the more cooperative it will be when it comes to back-budding. I don't know how dedicated you are to putting together a top notch care regimen, but you'll have plenty of time between now and then to put a plan together. If you like, I can help you do that.

This is a 1-day transformation of one of my Ficus benjaminas:

Purposely defoliated ^^^ so I can see to prune and wire

Al