We must first gain some understanding of how a tree’s roots function.
Contrary to most common belief, the roots that go the deepest into the soil are not the ones that absorb the most nutrients.
These act more as feeders than as anchors to the ground. The tiniest peripheral roots are what draw the most nutrients from the soil, therefore cutting them will surely cause root shock in your plant.
Fiddle leaf figs’ aversion to change is their cardinal rule, therefore to prepare your plant for the impending shock of separating the root systems, we advise root pruning at least six weeks after purchasing the plant and roughly eight to ten weeks beforehand.
This technique, which has been around for a while, involves cutting the roots without displacing them.
A fiddle leaf fig can it be split?
Of course, if you’d prefer a different appearance, it’s totally acceptable to separate your instrument! There are no difficulties. To ensure that your smaller fiddles recover fast and thrive following the split, just make sure to take the necessary precautions.
In the spring or early summer, when your fiddle is probably going through a growth spurt, is the greatest time to separate (or prune, or repot) a fiddle leaf fig because that’s when it will recover most easily.
How are a fiddle leaf fig and a root bound separated?
Repotting is the only way to cure a root-bound violin. Make sure this is part of your routine because fiddles need to be repotted every one to two years to give the roots room to expand.
Step 1: Pick your pot.
Choose a pot for your fiddle that is about 2-3 inches larger than the pot it is currently in. You don’t want to risk transferring old infections or fungi to your fiddle, so make sure this pot has drainage and is clean.
Step 2: Unpot your fiddle and loosen the roots.
Then, gently pry the plant out of the pot on your fiddle. NEVER uproot a plant by pulling it upward!
The root ball is probably compressed and hard if your instrument is severely root-bound. If it applies to your fiddle, gently massage the root ball to make it more pliable. If required, run it under water to loosen some of the soil (just be sure the water isn’t ice-cold; lukewarm is better!).
Step 3: Repot the fiddle.
Add a few inches of Fiddle Leaf Fig Soil or cactus mix to the bottom of the new container once the root ball has relaxed. When the plant can stand straight, place your fiddle in the center of the pot and sprinkle more dirt around the perimeter. Remember to leave a few inches of headroom so you can water the plants.
What happens if the top of a fiddle leaf fig is chopped off?
Your fiddle leaf fig probably has no other branches that will allow it to transition from a fiddle leaf shrub to a fiddle leaf tree. In addition, bear the following in mind before proceeding:
The amount of regrowth that results from pruning depends on how severe it was. The reason for this is that the plant is trying to grow again in an effort to balance the root system below with the shoot system above, which is now designed to support the plant at its bigger size before trimming.
Usually, the most active shoot growth takes place 6 to 8 inches after the pruning cut.
Make the cut on your fiddle leaf fig
Make a decision regarding the size of the Ficus lyrata cut. Once more, the branching will be more noticeable the longer a part is clipped. (And the less the plant will grow in height, at least for that shoot.)
Your fiddle leaf fig won’t be encouraged to generate as many lateral branches off of the main trunk if you simply pinch out the fresh buds at the top with your fingers.
If you want to encourage a little lateral development to make your plant appear fuller near the top, pinching is more helpful.
On the other hand, you’ll see a lot more branching if you remove 12 of the top shoots.
Choose the node that you want to cut above. The spots on stems known as nodes are where leaves, buds, or branches can grow. However, not every node has leaves or branches; some nodes may only have a mark and a little thickening of the stem. Internodes are the parts of the stem that lie between the nodes.
3. Make use of a clean pair of pruners. Just above the top of your node, make the cut. Cut just above the node rather than into it, which would harm it.
Any plant in the fig family, including your fiddle leaf fig, will exude an oozing, milky, white sap when cut. Simply avoid eating it, getting it in your eyes, or letting it land on the carpet because it can be annoying.
4. As a final piece of advice, wait to remove leaves from the trunk of your fiddle leaf until the new branches have begun to grow. Your plant should be as robust as possible because those leaves aid in the development of the new lateral buds.
(Are you wondering what to do with the plant pieces you pruned? Why not cultivate a second fiddle leaf fig?
I’m done now! Now, give your new lateral buds, which will eventually grow into branches, a few weeks. While the exact length of time varies on a number of variables, your chances of success are higher if you attempt this in the spring, when fiddle leaves are actively growing, as opposed to the winter, when they are largely dormant. In comparison to winter, when the plant will need more time to heal the cut and form new buds, springtime will see rapid new development.
How can branching be promoted?
One of the finest strategies to promote a tree branch’s growth is pruning. A branch can grow more quickly if upper-story plants are pruned and thinned to provide room for more light to reach a struggling understory tree or bush.
Should I remove my fiddle leaf fig’s bottom leaves?
You should be aware of what those bottom leaves do before selecting when to remove them.
Lower foliage has the same function as that fresh, vibrant growth up top: the leaves work to mix that green chlorophyll, commonly known as “the meat of the leaf,” with sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce sap, the plant’s own sweet food.
So let them alone if you want the trunk, roots, and new growth to continue receiving energy from the sun through the foliar producers and absorbing it.
Another advantage of the lower leaves is that this is typically where the most frequent watering issues show up. To put it another way, many owners of fiddles may detect overwatering and underwatering based on early warning indicators from these bottom leaves. You lose access to one of the plant’s early warning systems if you remove them.
Keep in mind that the lower leaves should be saved for the very last stage of shaping because they AID in giving the tree its characteristic shape.
Once more, deciding whether or not to remove these lower leaves depends on what they do for the plant.
How do you grow fiddle leaf figs that are bushier?
The quickest and safest approach to encourage your fiddle leaf fig to branch out is without a doubt pruning! It entails cutting your Fiddle Leaf Fig’s stem off at the height you want branches to emerge from. Remember that you may always propagate your Fiddle Leaf Fig and grow a brand-new plant from the clipped portion!
Pruning works by reawakening buds that are dormant beneath the incision. The growth hormone (auxin) is redirected to the buds that are typically closest to the cut because it can no longer move up the stem, which causes this to occur.
Usually, if you want your plant to branch, you want it to have at least a few branches, if not more. Pruning above a cluster of leaves will give you the highest chance of getting many branches. Or a cluster of closely spaced leaves.
Where the leaves and stem meet, dormant buds can be found. You should therefore aim for a region of your FLF that contains buds close together if you want to have the best chance of awakening several latent buds. Don’t panic if you can’t see them; sometimes they are tiny and difficult to see. They will be present!
The distance between the “nodes” is another item to watch out for. These locations can also produce buds. On your fiddle leaf fig, nodes—which resemble little rings around the stem—are frequently where the crunchy, browned leaf casings are located.
Within a week or two, you should start to notice buds getting bigger. Nevertheless, depending on the climate, it may take longer and even longer for the new leaves to bloom.
Since you’ll be removing a portion of stem, pruning is best done when the plant is taller than the height you’d like it to branch at. For instance, if you want your FLF to have branches that are around 3 feet high but it is 5 feet tall, you will need to prune the plant to make it only 3 feet tall.
See the section on notching if you don’t want to reduce the height of your plant.
Tips for Pruning:
- Use a set of cutters that are well-kept and razor-sharp.
- Make an angle cut in the stem.
- Remove any sap by using a fresh paper towel.
- Prune just above a leafdormant buds (nodes) sit at the point where a leaf meets the stem. At this point, you might be able to see a tiny brown (or occasionally green) bump.
A fig tree should have how many trunks, ideally?
Select one to three trunks to keep, then cut off the remaining trunks as low as you can. Then carefully pick out and cut any lower branches that are growing horizontally and won’t affect the tree’s canopy. Remove lower branches from your fig tree as necessary to keep it at the correct height and shape as it grows.
Can I chop my fig tree’s top off?
If a fig tree is left to grow on its own, it develops into a charming and romantic figure with a strong, twisted trunk that rises 50 feet in the air and thick, robust branches that span the same distance horizontally. You must begin training the tree as soon as possible if you want something more manageable and compact. A fruit tree is trained when it is young to develop a structure that produces copious amounts of fruit that is simple to harvest. Fig trees typically have an open center structure with no central branches, enabling more sunlight to enter. Cutting off the top of the young tree is the first step in the procedure.
Remove the newly planted fig tree’s top 24 inches or so from the ground. Act before the first buds emerge in the late winter or early spring. All remaining branches should be cut back to 6 inches.
Early in the summer, keep an eye out for quick new growth. Choose three healthy shoots from the new branches at the end of June to act as the main scaffolding branches. Select branches to be evenly spaced around the trunk, up to 8 inches vertically apart, with the lowest branch being 20 inches or so off the ground. Avoid branches that are attached to the trunk at tight angles; instead, go for angles of about 45 degrees. Use paint or ribbon to identify the scaffold branches so you won’t confuse them.
When the scaffold branches are longer than 30 inches, trim them back to 20 inches. On each scaffold branch, pick three or four auxiliary scaffold branches. Reduce all other shoots to a height of 6 inches.
Are fiddle leaf figs root-bound in preference?
Floppy Leaf Only when they are root-bound do figs require an increase in pot size. In their containers, these plants typically prefer to be tight. Therefore, you should only repot a plant after you observe roots encircling the pot’s outside edge, masses of roots visible on the surface, or roots protruding from the pot’s bottom.
Holding onto the plant’s base or trunk, you can confirm this by gently wiggling and removing the plant out of the pot. The plant should come out of the pot pretty easily, and you can count the roots you can see to determine whether or not they are root bound (many roots going horizontally around the pot).
Every two to three years, you should repot your plant with new soil even if it isn’t root-bound. By doing this, the plant will be able to absorb new nutrients from the new soil. Instead of increasing the pot size, simply utilize the same pot to do this.
Before replanting with new soil, the dirt should be gently broken up and as much old soil as possible should be shaken off the roots.
Can I trim the fiddle leaf fig’s roots?
My fiddle fig tree, Miss Fiddle, has been in my possession for a year, and she is still going strong! It was time for a trim since the main stem, which stood over 9 feet tall, was becoming absurdly tall and top heavy. I spent a lot of time researching the pruning procedure since it was a little frightening to cut down something I had been striving to keep growing for more than a year. It turned out to be less terrifying than I had anticipated, and Ms. Fiddle immediately looks better after I cut 2 feet from the main stem and removed most of the leaves with brown patches. As you can see in several of the photos, I used string to keep the stems from sagging. Now that the top is less stressed, I’m hoping it will begin to grow upward.
Wearing gloves before cutting is recommended because the tree will emit some extremely sticky sap. Of course, I skipped this step and am still attempting to get the sap from my fingertips. Don’t cut through carpet or bare floors, either. Put down a dropcloth or tarp to prevent a sticky mess.
Pruning is best done in the early spring. The undesired new growth should be pruned, and all the dead growth should be removed.
Prune Techniques:
1. To ensure a clean cut, use a sharp pair of pruning scissors.
2. Intersect two leaf nodes at an angle.
3. Trim the main stem to the appropriate length.
4. To stop sap from pouring and promote faster healing, dab the cut stem with a moist tissue right away.
5. Cut off any branches and leaves that are unhealthy. Brown patches can be caused by a variety of issues, such as overwatering or underwatering, infections, or insets.
7. You may also prune the roots to prevent your tree from becoming too big by taking it out of the pot and removing 20% of the root ball (the mass formed by the roots of a plant and the soil surrounding them). Put it back in the pot and add fresh dirt.