Ficus retusa

[rebeccabonsai24]

Hi All
I have a ficus retusa, 7 years old , about 3 years in training . I know that Prune is the key to shaping a plant , however what is your stance on pruning under line of growth??
Its a vigorous tree , will post pics when I find camera charger..
It should be ok if I leave one or two shoots ...??

[kdodds]

Do you mean chopping it back a little? Sure, it's done quite a bit. Your tree should back bud readily, but some species do not. These, it's better to maintain and grow what you have rather than chopping back and hoping for new growth. Ficus are, in general, quite resilient. I've chopped some back at the root by half (received so seriously pot pound that there's no soil left), defoliated, and seen new bud forming in days, bursting in a week, easy.

[JTred]

Ficus backbud pretty well. If you cut back ALL of the growth you will definitely get new shoots. If you leave a few, you will have the strongest growth on the ones you left, and will probably get less new shoots. If it were mine I would probably combine the two, taking it down to one or two branches and then defoliate those branches. It's hard to say without seeing the tree though. Can you post a pic with lines on it where you intend to cut?

[rebeccabonsai24]

Hi all ,
so I decided to prune my tree and I took some time looking at it before giving it the chop , now I'm praying that it shows me new shoots in the next few weeks , I'm still working on getting my camera ready for pics, just need t find the charger.....thanks for the helpful advice.