G'Day Ian, I have a dozen or so bonsaied Ficus.
These trees are in fact a sort of parasitic plant and as you may well have
seen, they grow along the sides of the freeway sandstone gorges.
What I have done to some i'm not happy with is take it out of the pot and
stick it in the garden for a year or two.
This will fatten the trunk, thicken the roots etc. Simply chop the branches
to the minimum. Leave some style to it though, and it will send out more
branches where it has been cut. Keep doing this till you get an abundance
of branches and when you are ready for repotting, trim to your desired
style. The roots are very forgiving in Ficus. Pot in a semi gravelly
potting mix for great drainage.
I have one that has been it its container for 30 years, its simply
accommodated itself with about 1/2 inch space for watering.
Cheers, Pete

"Ian J Robinson" wrote in message
...
I have been told that once the tree gets a circumference around the
largest
part of the butt then rather than re-pot it I should set about clipping
the
roots back!
Does this represent the correct procedure?
TIA