A weak or flimsy trunk shouldn’t be notched because you run the risk of accidently beheading the plant instead of notching it. It’s far too simple to accidentally make a deep cut and remove the entire branch.
If the trunk of your fiddle leaf fig has to be strengthened and thickened, watch this video to discover how to do it.
Plant Care
Of course, giving your plant the care it needs will aid in your notching efforts! Make sure you’re taking the necessary precautions for fiddle leaf fig care, including appropriate watering, enough sunlight, and fertilizer.
Adequate Watering and Drainage
Making sure your pot and soil drain well so your plant receives the proper quantity of water is one of the most crucial aspects of fiddle leaf fig care. Make sure your pot has drainage holes because fiddles dislike sitting in damp soil. Additionally, you should choose a light, well-draining soil that is properly aerated. Extra perlite or vermiculite added to the cactus mix may be effective. Because it was specifically formulated for fiddles and other ficuses, with the right combination of moisture retention and drainage, we highly suggest our Premium Fiddle Leaf Fig Soil.
Water your violin when the top 2-3 inches of soil feel dry to the touch, according to watering instructions. To determine when to water more precisely, you can also use a moisture meter. This meter, which also monitors light and soil pH, is what we advise. Watering should be started when the meter shows 3 or 4.
Nutrient-Rich Soil
Make sure your fiddle leaf fig is receiving the necessary nutrients because growing new branches demands them! A potted tree can only access the nutrients in its potting soil, and it can exhaust all of those nutrients in a matter of months. In nature, plants acquire all the nutrients they require from their soil. After a month or two of ownership, it’s crucial to supplement with a premium liquid fertilizer, at the very least during the growing season.
We recommend Fiddle Leaf Fig Food because it’s precisely balanced for fiddles and other ficuses, and contains the nutrients necessary for branch formation, root growth, and new leaf production.
Adequate Sunlight
Make sure your tree receives plenty of bright, indirect sunshine because fiddles require a lot of bright sunlight to generate the energy needed for growing new branches. (Or even the sun directly, if it has grown accustomed to that much light!)
A fiddle leaf fig thrives in an east-facing window. If your tree can tolerate it, a location next to a south or west-facing window can also work well. However, if it can’t, watch out for direct sun on the leaves. This can cause leaf scorch!
You can always use a grow lamp to make up the difference if a north-facing window doesn’t supply enough natural sunshine. We adore these standard light fixture-compatible full-spectrum bulbs.
Repotting Fiddle Leaf Fig
Making ensuring the roots have space to breathe and flourish is another crucial—and frequently disregarded—aspect of taking care of a fiddle leaf fig (or any plant, for that matter)!
Every year, or anytime the soil begins to compact and the roots become congested, repot your fiddle. When doing this, choose a plant that is 2-3 inches wider in diameter than the root ball and move up one container size. This will allow your plant to grow without retaining water that its roots cannot absorb.
Does a fiddle leaf fig respond to notching?
On Instagram, you may have noticed those lovely fiddle leaf figs with their delightful lollipop shape, long, slender trunk, rounded canopy of branches, and distinctive lyre-shaped leaves.
If you’ve bought home a fiddle leaf fig and have allowed it to grow for some time, you could have discovered the hard way that the trendy lollipop shape is not a result of nature. Instead, you must mold your fiddle to achieve the appearance of a trunk and rounded top.
Pruning is necessary in order to achieve that naked trunk, of course. But you need to urge the tree to branch in order to get the lollipop top.
This can be accomplished using the straightforward notching method. Fiddle leaf fig trees are simple to notch. All you need is a little bit of knowledge and a little bit of luck.
Where are fiddle leaves harvested for propagation?
Grab a set of clean, well-kept scissors, clippers, or pruners. This is a bypass pruner that I enjoy using.
To lessen the possibility of a disease spreading from plant to plant, wipe the blades with a cotton ball that has been dipped in rubbing alcohol.
Making the cut – angle or straight?
When making a cutting for propagation, instructions on whether to cut straight across or at an angle are occasionally seen. Cutting at an angle results in more surface area being exposed. This has both positive and negative aspects. Here is the lowdown:
It’s harmful because it somewhat raises the possibility that bacteria or fungi will spread disease into the cutting. Therefore, it’s not the cut that commercial producers like since, if a disease took hold, it might spread to a significant portion of their crop.
It’s advantageous because an angled cutting has greater surface area to absorb water and rooting hormone than a straight cut and is therefore more likely to establish more roots.
I advise cutting at an angle as disease is unlikely for those of us who garden at home.
Where and how much to cut from your fiddle leaf fig?
Take 3 nodes from a growing point if you can, cutting just below the third node.
Although three nodes are not required, having three increases your chances of success because there are now three growing points rather of just one.
A lengthier cutting can also be divided into two or more pieces. Although a growing point end is not required, it must have nodes.
Describe a node. wonderful question A leaf or branch along a stem is said to be at a node. The fresh buds will develop here. The internode is the term for the area between.
White milky sap will trickle from the cut. A milky, white latex sap is produced by all members of the Moraceae plant family. Simply avoid eating it and putting it in your eyes as it can irritate you.
Inject rooting hormone into the cutting. The rooting process for your cuttings is accelerated with rooting hormone, resulting in bigger, more developed plants more quickly.
- Particularly on woody plants like fiddle leaf figs, it is advised. Ficus lyrata is a woody plant that roots readily, although generally speaking, woody plants are far more challenging to root than soft, non-woody (herbaceous) plants.
Before sticking the cutting, completely moisten the soil in your container after adding the propagation mix.
- This prevents the rooting hormone from being immediately washed off, as may happen if you stuck the cutting and then watered it in. It also stabilizes the soil to better support the cutting.
“Use a pencil or chopstick to make the pilot holes for your cutting. When you insert the cutting, it helps prevent tissue damage and turning off the rooting hormone.
Cut the bottom leaves instead of ripping them off to avoid damaging the cambium tissue, which could allow illness to infiltrate.
The likelihood that the entire cutting may decay increases if leaves are left attached and sitting in the soil.
Cuttings should be inserted into the container at least 1/3 of the way up so that they won’t topple over.
“To stabilize the cutting, tuck the earth around it. Even though I used a huge cutting and compacted the soil, the plant didn’t need a stake because it was moist.
Why should I Wiggle my Fiddle leaf fig?
Your indoor tree’s trunk can be moved to simulate wind, which will help you become more resilient outside. You can also leave your tree outside for extended periods of time to strengthen its trunk and expose it to the elements. Once you get the leaves inside, be sure to inspect them for bugs.
What are the best growing conditions for an indoor fiddle leaf fig tree?
Know that your fiddle leaf fig tree prefers moderate temperature changes and place it in a sunny spot within the house. The tree should be planted in a container with well-draining soil that is kept humid but not soggy since this might cause root rot.
Why isn’t my fiddle leaf fig tree flowering?
You should be careful not to overwater your fiddle leaf fig because it is prone to root rot. When storing the fig within a container, make sure the bottom has lots of holes to allow for proper drainage.
How do I fix a leggy fiddle leaf fig tree?
Give a leggy or tilted fiddle leaf fig tree bright, filtered sunshine as treatment. Please place your plant in the area of the house that gets the most indirect sunlight, which is usually six to eight hours per day. Don’t keep it in the Sun for too long, though; doing so could scorch the leaves.
Will wiggling my fiddle leaf fig tree weaken its roots?
Every one to two weeks, wiggle your fiddle leaf fig tree for 1.5 to 2 minutes to significantly thicken the trunk. Beginning with light shaking, progressively build up the force. If your plant is stake-supported, move it about at first with the support in place. You can take the stake out once your fig tree has gotten used to this practice.
How should a fiddle leaf fig tree be shaped?
As I indicated earlier, many growers like to cultivate a traditional tree shape, complete with a distinct canopy and trunk. However, F. lyrata tends to grow in a columnar or bushy shape when kept as a houseplant.
In the wild, F. lyrata does this on its own by losing its lower leaves and growing into its original shape as a banyan tree.
like the renowned “Wild F. lyrata and ordinary banyan, F. benghalensis, both start out their lives as epiphytes. When a seed falls into another tree’s canopy, it germinates, develops, and eventually strangles its host plant as it descends to the ground.
Your houseplant won’t do this, of course, but the tree shape is attractive. How can a rambunctious F. lyrata be transformed into a tall, graceful specimen?
First off, if you’ve recently acquired a highly sought-after fiddle-leaf, hold off on starting to prune it into a tree shape.
Whatever two-thirds of the intended height means to you within the boundaries of your space, let it grow to that point. The trunk might become strong and thick as a result.
It’s advisable to top the tree out at least eight to ten inches away from the ceiling if you want it to grow tall.
This not only improves the appearance but also prevents the top leaves from bending and slamming against your ceiling.
Say, for instance, that you want to top your tree off at about seven or eight feet and that your home has nine-foot ceilings. You shouldn’t begin trimming for lateral growth until the trunk is at least five feet tall based on these measurements.
Wait until spring or summer when the plant is actively growing before pruning your fiddle-leaf fig to generate a tree form with branching lateral growth. Then, make a cut at least six inches down from the tip of the tree.
You can preserve and grow this cutting! Cut in an internodal space, if possible.
Don’t remove the leaves that are below the cut. So that the plant can photosynthesize and generate energy to grow those lateral branches, you want them to stay.
Within a few weeks, your F. lyrata will start to branch from the cut. Although this tree occasionally produces just one branch, it frequently produces two or three additional lateral branches.
You can remove one or two leaves from the tree’s base once the new branches have developed leaves.
The hue of the leaves and emerging branches will deepen as the canopy ages. Feel free to remove one or two more leaves from the bottom part of the trunk once you become aware of this.
You can continue to prune leaves away from the tree’s trunk as the canopy grows over time. You’ll eventually grow a tidy trunk that supports a Y-shaped canopy.
Note: Some knowledgeable gardeners enjoy using a technique called “creating lateral branches by notching. Using this technique, the gardener carefully cuts through two nodes. This cut is supposed to encourage the tree to generate lateral branches without losing height.
Because of the fast growth of F. lyrata and the fact that we are confident that pruning for lateral branch growth yields reliable results, we advise using this technique to produce that attractive canopy.
After pruning, give your plant the best care possible by providing it with the right amount of water, fertilizer, and light, which will hasten the healing of its wounds.
How can branching be promoted?
You take good care of your houseplant because you want it to develop more branches. But time doesn’t provide you the branches you wanted, which makes you quite disappointed. Did you make a mistake? What causes houseplants to sprout branches? To provide you the solution, we undertook a ton of research.
How can one aid a plant in developing more branches? You should trim or prune your houseplant in the manner described below to encourage branch growth:
- Select the appropriate tool for the task (such as garden scissors or pruning shears)
- Start by removing the dead pieces.
- first trim the larger branches.
- then trim any extremely long stems.
- Instead, pinch stems (only for some houseplant species)
- fertilize subsequently
In this extensive guide, we’ll go through each of the aforementioned processes in great depth. Additionally, we’ll discuss which cutting tools are appropriate for your indoor plant and why pinching stems can be effective for particular houseplants. Go on reading!
What is pruning by notching?
1.Pinch pruning, also known as pinching, is the deliberate removal of apical or terminal buds by hands in order to promote the growth of lateral buds.
2.Thinning: To open the plant canopy, excess vegetative growth and unattractive plant parts are removed.
3.Heading back: Cutting back a branch’s terminal section to a lateral bud is referred known as heading back. In heading back, a branch or shoot is condensed, which promotes lateral branching.
4.Thinning out: Thinning out refers to the removal of the entire branch from a lateral or main trunk. Thinning out involves removing an entire branch or shoot from its source.
5.Notching: To create a notch, a wedge-shaped piece of bark is removed from above the bud.
6.Nicking: To produce a notch, a wedge-shaped piece of bark is removed from beneath the bud.
7.Girdling or ringing: A 2.5 cm long circular ring of bark (Phloem) is removed.