With the trunk permanently styled at this point I would just work the crown into a pleasing triangular shape going forward. You ain’t bending that trunk but you can bend those branches. This should back bud fairly easily so you can really work those branches into optimal positions and fairly quickly develop a pleasing shape. Option two would be to grow new branches but I don’t see the need as these branches are all sized well in proportion to each other. Good luck with this.
brenemer
fun trunk! I would do an angle change at the next repotting, giving the tree more verticality, although you could raft it instead (depending on the nebari). beyond that it’s standard secondary development for ficus: anytime the leaves have hardened off and branches aren’t actively elongating, you can trim it; on strong branches you’ll want to trim it back to 1-2 leaves, on weaker branches you can leave more; utilize directional pruning where possible, but these also backbud all over so it’s not that big a deal. for me (also in CA), fall pruning for my ficus is gonna happen in 3-6 weeks
ninja4151
Wrap the horizontal portion of the trunk in sphagnum Moss and Saran wrap to get aerial roots to grow down to the soil
3 Comments
With the trunk permanently styled at this point I would just work the crown into a pleasing triangular shape going forward. You ain’t bending that trunk but you can bend those branches. This should back bud fairly easily so you can really work those branches into optimal positions and fairly quickly develop a pleasing shape. Option two would be to grow new branches but I don’t see the need as these branches are all sized well in proportion to each other. Good luck with this.
fun trunk! I would do an angle change at the next repotting, giving the tree more verticality, although you could raft it instead (depending on the nebari). beyond that it’s standard secondary development for ficus: anytime the leaves have hardened off and branches aren’t actively elongating, you can trim it; on strong branches you’ll want to trim it back to 1-2 leaves, on weaker branches you can leave more; utilize directional pruning where possible, but these also backbud all over so it’s not that big a deal. for me (also in CA), fall pruning for my ficus is gonna happen in 3-6 weeks
Wrap the horizontal portion of the trunk in sphagnum Moss and Saran wrap to get aerial roots to grow down to the soil