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Ficus benjamina, generally often known as weeping fig, may be very forgiving in relation to sure facets of its care.
Stick it in a nook of your house with an honest quantity of sunshine, water it as soon as per week, and for essentially the most half, it’ll thrive.
Nevertheless, this Ficus is deeply delicate about adjustments in its surroundings. Woe betide the houseplant guardian who needs to maneuver this tree!
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Any shift on this houseplant’s habitat or routine could cause a drastic lack of leaves. Roughly solar, a change in your watering regime, or temperature fluctuations can all trigger sudden leaf drop.
If taken care of correctly, nevertheless, this comparatively fast-growing small tree will be really spectacular. Our information to rising weeping figs covers all the small print.
Occasional pruning can encourage new, vibrant development and assist maintain your ficus pest and illness free. Learn on to learn the way to start out.
Right here’s what we’ll cowl:
Ideas for Pruning your Ficus Tree
Why Prune Your Ficus Tree?
There are lots of causes to prune your weeping fig. Pruning can encourage new development, and take away previous, weakened, or useless branches. It might additionally assist to restrict the unfold of illness or a pest infestation.
Trimming can even improve daylight and air circulation, two essential components for sustaining wholesome vegetation. Typically just a little trim is a beauty affair and simply helps your vegetation look their finest.
Relating to weeping figs grown indoors, it’s finest to maintain your pruning to a minimal and never reduce away an excessive amount of dwelling materials directly.
Most significantly, pruning these vegetation ought to give attention to eradicating useless or dying branches so that they don’t clog up the inside of the tree.
Slicing out any criss-crossing branches in order that the tree grows outwards, and never right into a dense tangled mess, is essential, too.
Like every other houseplant, F. benjamina is vulnerable to infestation from aphids, mealybugs, and scale.
Sticky leaves, brown spots and yellowing foliage are all indicators that these pests are current.
In the event you look carefully you’ll possible see them hanging across the mushy, tender new development or on the undersides of the leaves, close to veins.
In case your tree is affected by numerous pests, earlier than you take into account pruning, you should care for the infestation. Pruning ought to be thought-about a final resort to take away closely infested branches and foliage.
Maybe your tree is superior in years and desires a little bit of a makeover? Somewhat trim will help with that too.
Eradicating previous branches will help encourage new development which will be formed right into a extra aesthetically pleasing kind. Though you’ll by no means obtain animal formed topiaries with a weeping fig, spheres and neat balls are all inside attain.
Lastly, should you’re confronted with a weeping fig which gained’t cease dropping foliage or is experiencing extreme department dieback, you possibly can strive giving it a tough prune. With a tough prune, all branches are reduce by roughly a 3rd.
It’s sometimes not advisable for delicate houseplants like F. benjamina, however for unhappy instances, it may be helpful to try to stimulate new development and produce it again from the brink.
When to Prune
Timing your trimming accurately is of the utmost significance, particularly in relation to weeping figs. The truth is, it may be a matter of life or dying! An ill-timed, overzealous chop is perhaps all of your plant must ship it to its remaining resting place on the compost heap.
Lifeless or diseased leaves and branches will be eliminated at any time of yr. Plan to chop off crowded branches, or to make small, aesthetic adjustments in the course of the rising season, ideally in early spring.
Any cuts you make could have the chance to heal higher and extra rapidly whereas the tree is actively rising, and it’ll compensate for misplaced leaves by rising new ones quickly.
If you should give your tree the excitement reduce of the pruning world, what’s often known as a “laborious prune,” that is finest performed throughout dormancy.
As talked about, this isn’t advisable for weeping figs grown indoors and ought to be prevented except it’s time to fall again on a final ditch effort at rejuvenating your plant.
Tips on how to Prune
Pruning isn’t rocket science, however there are a number of golden guidelines.
Firstly, at all times make certain your instruments are sharp. Ragged cuts are laborious for the plant to heal. Secondly, clear your instruments. Just a bit wipe with rubbing alcohol helps forestall you from passing illness from one plant to a different.
And at all times reduce at a forty five diploma angle so water is not going to acquire on the wound and invite fungi and different disease-causing pathogens.
Earlier than you start, don some washable gardening gloves. Weeping figs belong to a household of vegetation identified for his or her milky latex sap, which will be irritating to some with delicate pores and skin. Higher to be protected than sorry.
When you’re able to make a reduce, search for the department’s nodes. Nodes are the 2 little lumps from which leaves sprout. You wish to reduce proper above considered one of these nodes or simply above a pair of leaves.
If you wish to take away a whole department, take it down near the trunk, with out wounding the trunk itself, and make sure you make the reduce at an angle.
To prune discolored or useless leaves, simply snip them off on the base.
Keep in mind to chop off as little as potential. Leaves are what create your plant’s meals and also you don’t need it to starve to dying.
Shaping Your Weeping Fig
Within the wild, F. benajmina grows to heights of fifty ft or extra. It’s a reasonably statuesque and unruly creature!
Development comes naturally to this wannabe gargantuan, and typically it’s essential to take it down a notch, notably should you’re rising this tree exterior.
The best strategy to form a tree is to first make certain all of the useless wooden and crossing branches are gone. After that, give attention to the softer, newer development in direction of the ends of branches.
Trimming these to create a extra symmetrical, even form will imply you might take just a little extra off right here, and rather less there, and that’s okay. Simply make certain to at all times reduce at an angle, simply above a leaf node or pair of leaves.
As a rule of thumb, by no means take away greater than 10 p.c of the branches at time.
For extra info on pruning your outdoor-grown F. benjamina, check out our rising information. Out of doors vegetation are far more vigorous and may deal with lots of heavy responsibility pruning, whereas potted vegetation indoors can’t.
Now’s the Time to Get in Form
Tree trimming is probably most simply realized by going slowly, watching, and ready. Take a number of check snips, and see what the result’s.
Over time you’ll discover ways to form your weeping fig into the body you need. Simply bear in mind to maintain your tools clear so that you don’t finish up with diseased wooden you need to prune out, too!
Tell us how, when, and why you prune your personal weeping fig within the feedback beneath. As at all times, when you’ve got any questions, ask away! We’re comfortable to assist.
And for extra details about caring for vegetation within the Ficus genus, try these guides subsequent:
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