I have an indoor plant that's similar to a rubber plant, but not
exactly identical to pictures I'm seeing. I bought it at Walmart
several years ago, and it said "rubber plant" on it, but it doesn't
have a central stem and the leaves aren't as dark as pictures show
them. Instead, it has 7 bark-like stems, all from different areas of
the pot, and the leaves are a medium-to-deep green.

Anyway, when I first bought it, the plant had some parasites that
dessimated most of the lower leaves. After a lot of TLC, leaves began
growing again, and the stems grew (a lot), but leaves have never come
back to the lower regions, making the stems ridiculously top-heavy.
The tallest stem is about 3 1/2 feet long, and has 9 leaves on it (all
gathered at the top). I've tried nicking just above the old leaf
nodes, but haven't seen any growth at all. At this point, I've
resorted to tying each stem to one another and sticking a post in the
middle, just so they don't all fall over.

Sadly, this isn't the most attractive thing in the room, and I'm
wondering if I can prune these stems down to the bottom and start
over. The idea is that if I cut them down to about 6" from the pot,
then they'll start new sprouts from there. Assuming that this is a
good idea, here are my questions:

1. This is in western NC (zone 6, I think). If I do this, how long
will it be before I expect new growth?

2. Considering this is the beginning of Spring, is this the right time
for this type of "surgery," or should it be left to late fall?

3. As an indoor plant, he's sitting in a southwest-facing window, and
although he gets plenty of indirect light, major growth always happens
when I put him outside. After this type of surgery, should he be left
indoors, outdoors, bright light, low light, or what?

4. Is a pruning like this necessary? I haven't read anything else to
do than nick the old leaf nodes, so is there anything else I can do to
encourage growth in the lower regions?

TIA for any advice!

Mike

PS, I am a total novice, and it's just blind luck that my plant has
lived this long. The bark of the stems is brown, and most of the stems
have gray-ash colored stripes to them, and I'm not sure if this is
normal or if it's an indication of remaining disease.

If it helps, here's a photo of the bark, as close-up as I could get:
www.oneworldshipping.com/300/bark.jpg (60kb)