It is a lovely plant!!

The question is over my head though.

Thanks!

I have a feeling it will start to look more unsightly if I don't intervene now.

I've added more photos marked up to clarify the current branch structure. First photo is whole plant, second is close-up of the foliage, third is top view of the plant with the trunk indicated by the red circle.

Blue (1) is the tallest branch. It has started to branch off near it's top. Green (2) is the second tallest branch. Purple (3) was the intended leader. There's some damage on this branch (last photo) which I wonder if I should just trim on off now and try to establish a new leader.

Al guided me though my first ever chop of this plant, hoping to get some input again!

.... this past winter, 2 branches really took off, but the one that I intended to be the leader did not grow at all. How can/should I correct this now? Looks like you forgot to pinch as branches elongated after the chop. I would chop all the main branches back to two leaves, then pinch new branches when the 3rd leaf on the each branch is beginning to form. This will force new branches above every leaf on the pruned branches. Those should be pinched, too as the 3rd leaf is forming. Regular pinching eliminates most heavy pruning so little growth potential is lost. Pruning regularly pinched trees will eliminate the need for hard pruning. Most of the pruning of appropriately pinched trees will be limited to thinning out branches and maintaining the tree's outline/shape.

The reason for pruning the two short branches (#3, I think) is to force new budding closer to the tree's center axis. The closer to the trunk you can force new branching, the less conspicuous the jog or offset in the trunk will be. If you pinch back to two leaves, you'll have your choice of four branches to train as your new leader.

If you want to, you can skip pruning the shorter of the two branches (at the top of the original trunk). Secure a stiff support/stake or stiff dowel rod to the existing trunk and use it to pull the to a more vertical attitude. Use a strip of rag and. The branch will bend easier if the tree is thirsty when you bend it. ..... maybe make the bend in two or three sessions with a couple of days between sessions.

Al

Hi Al!

Yea I often forget to pinch throughout the summer. Last year especially, as I moved and had a baby mid-July, so my plants goal was really just to ensure that they would survive. Thankfully I was able to repot most that needed it before all that.

Some more questions:

1. a few months ago, say in February, I noticed these two branches going way out of bounds. Should I have pinched then at that time, Or cut them back hard, or what would have been the best course of action at that time?

2. do I need to worry about the injury on branch #3? I've attached the photo again here. Is it possible that part of the branch will not be able to thicken due to the injury?

3. if I do an air layer, will the tree react as if I had removed the branch above the air layer? I.e. will it backbud below the layer?

4. another question about air layers... Should I let the girdle dry out or callous before wrapping it in moist potting mix?

5. any advice for what I can do when I prune thick branches to ensure they heal nicely? I tried waterproof wood glue a few times but didn't think it made a difference. Maybe I applied it incorrectly?
   
   

Al, any thoughts on my (five) questions in my previous comment? Your help is much appreciated as always!!

Are you not able to see the comments I left yesterday AM? It has answers and the reasoning behind the answers for all 5 questions, plus other info I thought you might be interested in.

Al

Al, no I don't see a reply from yesterday :(

Can you see it?

I hope you can see it now.

Unfortunately I still don't see it. I even checked on the web version as well as the phone app and don't see it. Not sure what happened. If you can see it, I would say to just copy/paste and re-comment. 

I know it's extremely frustrating when you take the time to write a thoughtful post or comment and it's somehow lost. Sorry for this, Al.

It's a glitch of some sort. I can see both posts and the uploaded images. If you send your email addy in a message I'll mail it to you.

Al

Thanks Al, I sent you a private message.

Just sent it. I'll watch for your comments here.

Take care.

Al

Alright here is Al's reply here for the benefit of anyone looking (I couldn't get the images to work):

1) a few months ago, say in February, I noticed these two branches going way out of bounds. Should I have pinched then at that time, Or cut them back hard, or what would have been the best course of action at that time? It would have been best to pinch back to 2 leaves as soon as the 3rd leaf was forming on any given branch. Had you pinched, all the growth you will be pruning off now would have been channeled to new branches and more leaves that contribute to the composition, so only a bare minimum of wasted energy. "Wasted" might be a bit harsh as the tree's vitality level benefited from the fast growing branches, and they will have thickened the trunk considerably.

2) do I need to worry about the injury on branch #3? I've attached the photo again here. Is it possible that part of the branch will not be able to thicken due to the injury? It looks like it might have been damaged by the pruning tool when you cut the top back. No need to worry. While trees are incapable of healing in that they are unable to repair or replace damaged or dead cells in their same spatial position (as animals do), they do have a mechanisms for dealing with wounds.

Alex Shigo PhD discovered that trees compartmentalize wounds by walling off the rest of the tree from damaged tissue. [for more, search words Alex Shigo CODIT. CODIT = compartmentalization of decay in trees.

As the wound is/was compartmentalized, callus tissue forms from the cambial layer and will roll over the wound. See sequence of an intentionally wounded maple tree covering the wound:

Tree in middle with the very large white wound represents the beginning of a bonsai tree, cut down to what you see after growing to 9 ft tall.

Below, note the callus tissue forming at the perimeter of the wound.

Here, the wound is almost closed

I still have the tree and the wound is entirely closed now.

This represents the future tree's major branches, and you can see other wounds closing:

First styling:

Summer of '21, almost ready for a bonsai pot. The tree below was thinned to allow more light and air movement to the inner canopy. Opening the tree by thinning and luxury fertility levels encourage back-budding.

3) if I do an air layer, will the tree react as if I had removed the branch above the air layer? I.e. will it backbud below the layer? The entire tree will continue to receive resources moving upward from the roots through xylem tissues, including the part you intend to layer. The primary resources are water, nutrients, and sugar (the plant's true food). The downward flow of auxin and photosynthate will be stopped by the layer (assuming it's a ring cut layer), and will accumulate in tissues immediately above the layer, which encourages formation of adventitious roots.

Even though the polar flow (downward only) of auxin is blocked by the layer, that doesn't necessarily mean the reduction in auxin flow will be enough to ensure activation of dormant/latent buds below the layer. The reason is due to the fact that auxin's flow is much like a river's flow. The small branches are creeks that flow into next lower order branches to form streams which flow into still lower order branches or trunk to form a river, so auxin will continue to suppress bud activity on the rest of the tree unless you prune.

"Audrey" is a prolific back-budder. What this means to you is, you can usually count on a healthy F benghalensis to activate at least the first 4 buds proximal to the pruning cut if you prune around the summer solstice. Trees not as healthy as yours might not be as cooperative.

4) another question about air layers... Should I let the girdle dry out or callous before wrapping it in moist potting mix? No. Make sure the top cut is clean, i.e. no crushed tissues or rough edges. I use disposable scalpels for air layers (#11 is the best for most hort apps). Treat the top of the wound with a rooting gel or liquid and establish the layer immediately after the prep work. The ht of the layer cut should be about 1.5X the thickness of the branch.

5) any advice for what I can do when I prune thick branches to ensure they heal nicely? I tried waterproof wood glue a few times but didn't think it made a difference. Maybe I applied it incorrectly? The glue should cover the entire wound, including any exposed cambial tissues, but not be applied to beyond the would as the callus tissue will then need to roll over the glue which will make a bumb/lump/thickened area.

If you prefer, you can leave about a 1" stub when you remove an entire branch. The stub will die back to the branch/trunk it's attached to. After a while (a year maybe) and as the living part of the branch thickens, you'll notice a ring forming around the base of the stub. You can then prune flush to the ring. At that point, the glue wouldn't provide any benefit. It's job is to prevent viable tissue surrounding the wound site from drying out and making the wound larger and more difficult for the tree to grow over.

Prune at an angle IF you're pruning tight to a node. DO use glue or even Vaseline. Some bonsai practitioners use Preparation-H to cover the wound. You can also buy commercially prepared cut paste.

Buy here.

Al

Now for my response:

Thanks Al for taking so much time to reply! Some follow up questions:

1) I know it is best to prune judiciously as the 3rd leaf unfurls :). But as that didn't happen, and I am sure I will let some plants get away from me again because, frankly, I have a LOT of plants and a lot on my plate so some things are bound to slip. So for the future, I guess I am wondering what to do if I find myself in a similar spot: middle of winter, and my ficus has one or two branches that have taken off and are totally throwing off the look of my tree. What do I do then, in the middle of the winter? If I prune back to 2 leafs, do I risk minimal backbudding?

I have to admit I continue to be unsure what I should be doing in the winter as far as pruning... and while I know plants slow down, many of my plants exhibit something similar to this ficus, i.e., will get one or two branches that grow extremely quickly through the winter.

5) referring to the photo that shows the damaged branch... you can see the area where I did the pruning cut does not look great. Will callus tissue ever roll over that area, as your did?

".... what to do if I find myself in a similar spot: middle of winter, and my ficus has one or two branches that have taken off and are totally throwing off the look of my tree. What do I do then, in the middle of the winter? If I prune back to 2 leafs, do I risk minimal backbudding?" The object of pruning in late spring/ early summer/ the solstice is to ensure your plant will grow as full as possible. You'll be removing all the leggy growth that occurred during winter and cutting back to the part of the branch that has short internodes. When your plant is forced to back-bud, the back-budding will occur from nodes that are summer grown and close together as opposed to winter grown nodes which will normally be at least twice as long as those occurring in summer.

If you have a branch that starts to elongate quickly during winter, don't cut it back to 2 leaves; this because the new branches that form will have long internodes. Instead, terminate/prune the branch back a bit to stop it's extension/elongation, leaving 5-6 leaves and/or leaf scars on the branch stub. Then, prune again in June, cutting back to 2 leaves.,

Keep in mind that once you get into the rhythm of pruning in June, pinching throughout the summer, and allowing the plant grow unencumbered by pruning (except for terminating any fast growing branches by tip-pruning), you won't need to do any really heavy pruning. Your pruning will be largely limited to removing winter growth, pinching, and eventually thinning to allow light/air movement into the center of the tree.

As noted, your tree is a reliable back-budder. The concern shouldn't be whether or not the tree will back-bud from both leaf axils if you cut a bran ch back to 2 leaves in winter. The main concern is how long the internodes will be on the two branches that start growing in winter, which is why you would only shorten "runaway" branches in winter and wait until June to prune back to 2 leaves. Then, you can be sure the internodes on the new branches will be short.

You can always tip prune in winter to stop elongation, then hard prune the same branch again in June, back to two leaves.

".... referring to the photo that shows the damaged branch... you can see the area where I did the pruning cut does not look great. Will callus tissue ever roll over that area, as your did? Yes. how fast that occurs is directly related to how many leaves there are on not only the damaged branch, but all branches attached to the damaged branch distal to the wound. Foliage attached to branches proximal to the damaged branch will do nothing to generate callus tissue to cover the wound. In all honesty, a wound that size is nothing to be concerned about. If there was need to worry about the wound closing, you could allow a sacrifice branch or two to grow immediately above the wound w/o being pruned until the wound closes, then prune off the branches, but that would isn't large enough that you should be concerned about it seriously affecting the tree's health. Too, pruning the 2 vigorous branches to stop elongation will force more food/energy to flow to other branches. Bonsai growers use branch thinning and partial to full defoliation in the top 1/3 of the tree to balance the flow of energy. If you don't work to restrain the top 1/3 of the tree, branches on the bottom 2/3 of the tree will suffer; this, because apically dominate trees are programmed to spend about 2/3 of their energy in the top 1/3 of the tree.

Al

thanks, Al.

maybe the last question, regarding the pruning methods you describe here and on many other posts: if every branch is consistently pruned back to 2 nodes and there's eventually tons of branches, doesn't the plant end up looking like a pompom? or topiary as i've seen you call it?

if every branch is consistently pruned back to 2 nodes and there's eventually tons of branches, doesn't the plant end up looking like a pompom? or topiary as i've seen you call it? There are several plants, mostly junipers, that are sheared (not pruned) into topiary plants which are often referred to as pompoms or pompon junipers. Boxwood and other evergreen plants are also often used in topiary compositions. Typically, topiary plants are sheared to an outline which might be a round ball, a squared off hedge, a pyramidal shape, or even the shape of an animal or recognizable shape of an object. Some examples of topiary in my own garden:

The trunk is a Juniperous communis (common juniper) that popped up in the garden as a volunteer. When it was about 1/2" in caliper, I grafted Juniperus horizontalis "Blue Rug" to the trunk. When the grafts took, I cut off the top of the understock above the grafts. It gradually took on rough shape of a comma, so I encouraged that outline by shearing it regularly to maintain the shape.

Below is a Picea pungens 'Glauca Globoso Nana' (dwarf blue spruce), which I consider to be topiary but is the result of a combination of pruning to promote the interesting branch ramification (density and branching) and shearing to make the top thin and dense.

While the very young Juniper chinensis 'Shimpaku' below might be considered by some to be a topiary, it's not, because of the close attention to a) thinning of the canopy to allow light/air movement to the center of the plant, and b) to the careful attention paid to branching and branch placement. Had the plant been sheared instead of carefully pruned, the canopy would be a jungle of branches growing every which way and the foliage would appear to be a solid mass like you see on the juniper and blue spruce above.

Other J chinensis just after thinning:

So, what you should take away from what I said is that a sheared plant will always look sheared, especially when you take a look at the branch structure which is in very large part what makes your tree look natural and interesting, and a pruned plant will always look pruned, especially if a significant amount of care and planning is focused on branch development and placement.

Too, I generally refer to the 'pompom' or 'poodle' when discussing the result of cultural adversities that cause shedding of foliage close to the trunk such that the only foliage remaining on branches is concentrated near the apical meristem (where branch elongation occurs) at the tip of branches. The usual cause is root congestion or a deficiency of one or more of the mobile nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, but primarily nitrogen). I don't normally use the word (pompom) to refer to topiary, but I'm sure I have, here and there.

Pinching increases the number of leaves and branches on a plant, which gives the grower more flexibility after the plant fills in by affording the grower a larger number of choices when thinning and pruning. You can get to the point where all you are doing is pinching and thinning to maintain your tree's outline. Too, the more branches and leaves you have on a plant, the slower it extends, this, because the tree's energy allotment will need to be divided between a greater number of growing points. This contributes to shorter internodes and smaller leaves.

Al

I don't know if i've heard you say pompom, i saw this image: images (297×170) (gstatic.com) and thought of the word "pompom". i have to admit i really like it.

you said: Too, I generally refer to the 'pompom' or 'poodle' when discussing the result of cultural adversities that cause shedding of foliage close to the trunk such that the only foliage remaining on branches is concentrated near the apical meristem (where branch elongation occurs) at the tip of branches

I thought you typically advise to remove a leaf once a new branch starts growing in its axil. If so, is it not inevitable that the only leaves will be near the tips of branches?

I thought you typically advise to remove a leaf once a new branch starts growing in its axil. If so, is it not inevitable that the only leaves will be near the tips of branches? No, not inevitable at all.I do recommend removing leaves with developing branches in their axils for 2 reasons. These leaves make the tree look messy, and removing them reduces the amount of energy the tree creates during photosynthesis, which helps to maintain short internodes and smaller leaves which translates to a fuller and more compact tree.

Notice the sap dripping from the leaf I had just removed ^^^. There is a branch growing in the leaf axil with 3 leaves with a 4th about to open, and additional leaves would form for as the branch is capable of extending. Pinching it back to 2 leaves will ensure that you get 2 new branches from the axils of the new existing leaves, each producing their own leaves. After the two new future branches are ready to be pinched, I'll pinch those as well. As the pinching progress progresses, one branch will become 2. See image below:

Pinching 2 branches with 2 leaves on each will produce 4 new branches. From 4 branches you get 8 after pinching, then 16, 32, 64. If all you have is a stem, most ficus will produce first, second, and third order branches in a single summer if you pinch; whereas, most trees we see images of here might be 10 years old with nothing but first order branches. That is very easily remedied by pinching, which precludes the need to hard prune later, which is a waste of energy already spent.

There might be more, but all I could see is a single second order branch on your tree. For reference, a first order branch would be attached to the trunk. A second order branch is attached to a first order, etc.. You have one of the most cooperative trees in the genus when it comes to it's response to pruning and pinching, so have fun and take notice of what happens after you prune. It's highly unlikely your tree will balk at you ministrations. You could mark a branches with a number or a piece of colored cloth, then take notes of when you pruned and what the tree's response was. It won't take long for you to see results and gain an instinctive sense of what to do.

Al