That's a Ficus for you ;)

If it is F. benjamina (the one available in every store) it most likely is
not going to back-bud. Other species of Ficus do, F. benjamina doesn't.

If it is putting out new leaves, you are on the right road. Keep it where it
is until spring. Be careful to not overwater and not underwater until then -
maybe invest in a $4 water meter at Wal-Mart and just leave it in...or stick
a wooden chopstick all the way in and pull it out every few days to see if
it is drying out. Ficus will drop their leaves if they stay too wet or too
dry. Next spring put it outside either in morning sun or bright but full
shade (ie, no afternoon sun) and it will put out a bunch of new leaves. Be
sure to keep it fertilized and watered. I often put watering trays under
mine outside in the summer and the 100 degree temps dry out the tray, too,
to keep it from getting too dry. Then of course bring it in when the temps
hit the 40's next fall.

After you start getting some limbs coming off the limb, I'd take the one
closest to the trunk and wire it straight up in the air to visually replace
the old trunk. If you only have one limb left, you don't want to wire that
one straight up because, well, what if it broke off?

--

John T. Jarrett
http://logontexas.com
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"Adam Webster" wrote in message
...
Greetings,
Recently I neglected a poor (big beautiful) ficus, which promptly
dropped EVERY leaf with the exception of one branch. I now have a
beautiful twisted braided trunk that is big and thick with one little
sad branch coming out. New growth abounds on this new branch, but here
is the $1MM question(s):
a) will it live
b) how do I encourage "new" branches (surely it can't grow through one
branch?)
c) how much TLC will it require to make it
Sadly untalented in matters green,
Adam