Hi there! Hi, Rachel. I'll sort through your discussion and make comments as I go. Long story short, I obtained 3 separate FLFs growing in one 14" pot and was advised to separate and repot them. The best time to repot is just before the summer solstice (21 Jun - think Father's Day). Repotting in fall sets you/the plant up for a recovery period measured in months rather than weeks, as would be the case if the plant was healthy and repotted in Jun. I hesitated for a while because they seemed happy and had new growth, but about 3 months ago I finally pulled the trigger because they were pushing each other to lean waaay out of the pot. A more appropriate response to a leaning plant is to get out ahead of the lean through directional pruning. The growth habit of Ficus is such that their leaves grow grow from the branch in sort of a spiral or helix. From above looking down, the first leaf would be at the 12 o'clock position, the next one at 3, then 6 then 9 (roughly) then repeat. By pruning just beyond a leaf facing the direction you want a new branch to grow, you can chance the direction any trunk/ branch is growing.

In the figure above, a cut above the top leaf would produce a branch that would grow to the left and back. The middle leaf, as you can see, has produced a new branch growing to the right and back. Had the stem been pruned above the lowest leaf, it would have produced a branch growing to the left and forward, and the unseen leaf below the lowest leaf is almost certainly growing right/ forward. By choosing where the branch is pruned, you can change it's direction.

Also, The best pruning response (most enthusiasm from the plant) occurs in summer. If you prune now, you get a winters worth of lanky growth that you really don't want to keep. It's best to prune in Jun. That way, you get a full summer of tight growth and short internodes, followed bt more lanky growth in winter. The fix for that is to remove the winter growth every year in Jun. That way you keep only the tightest growth, so you have a fuller and more compact tree. Questions?

I repotted the largest one in it's own pot (it's doing well!) and potted the other two together using a 65/35(ish) mix of Fox Farm potting soil and perlite. Initially all 3 FLFs lost a couple of leaves from the shock, but ultimately were doing well until their first watering about 2 weeks after repotting. A couple days after watering, all of the leaves on the upper half of the left tree in the photo began to droop dramatically and fell off one by one over the following week (all of the leaves were newer but of comparable size to the ones on the upper right tree). It was very upsetting, but I knew the damage was irreversible - although I still don't know exactly what happened - so I just left them alone and this is where we are now. Hard to say, given the info provided. Was the tree outdoors for the summer? Odds are heavy it was either a response to a decrease in light or over-watering. The tree on the right never reacted negatively, and the one on the left seems to be done with his tantrum.

The upper half of the trunk where the leaves dropped has shriveled up and seemingly died from what I can tell, along with a tiny little branch you can see on the bottom right. My question is: do I need to wait until the late spring to prune off the shriveled/dead parts, or can I cut off some of it now so it doesn't look quite so grim? Either is ok. Start cutting segments of the branch at its tip. Keep cutting segments until you find living/ green tissue or the entire branch has been removed.

I live in zone 7 and know not to prune or notch for new growth until next year, but since the upper part is (very likely) dead, I don't think pruning it in the winter will trigger any new growth? Right? Removing dead tissue can't and won't stimulate back-budding; and your tree(s) won't grow until the volume of the root system is able to support new growth. This, because the plant is programmed to spend energy on roots BEFORE it spends energy on shoots. That's why the first growth from a seed is the root radicle (taproot). It sounds like it might be a while before the root system is able to support more top growth; and, you have the short days and diminished light intensity working against you until spring.

Al

you did the best you could at the time ... but you arent going to fix it anytime fast

the base problem as i see it.. is you have it on display .. shove it behind the xmas tree.. near that window.. and forget about it until spring .. by which time.. it will have settled down .. and started its spring cycle ... the stress will be over.. and you can then react to what happens then ...

the hardest thing in this situation.. is doing nothing other than proper watering.. and leaving the plant alone.. until the new growth cycle starts ..

you cant fix everything as fast as you want.. and the trick is doing no further harm ...

so put it where you wont see it every time you are in the room ...

loosely stated.. dont be a helicopter mom.. lol

ken

Thank you both SO much for the detailed advice! I've been meaning to post an update and thank you guys, but I tend to forget that the internet exists haha. Long story short, I chopped the dead portion of the tree and put it back in its corner window spot and it seems much happier! It's actually started growing two new branches since January, which was a nice surprise ☺️

One of them is insanely low on the trunk so I figure I'll prune it off in the summer, but the other one is actually in a great spot - yay!

I'd leave those new branches grow for a few years unless you find the appearance of one or both too annoying to tolerate. They will provide additional food/energy and thicken/strengthen the trunk below their attachment point. They can also serve as fall-back branches you can prune back to as long as they remain attached. This is an example:

The tree with the 2.5" trunk and big white scar was about 8 ft tall before it was 'chopped' back to just above the small branch, but look what happens in time with some growth, healing, and judicious pruning:

Al

Wow, what an incredible transformation! I'll definitely leave the branches for a while then. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!