Help with Fiddle-Leaved Fig please?
 

I have a lovely specimen of this plant boarding at my Mum's place. It's
about eight feet tall and has just reached the ceiling (after over
twenty years in situ!). Since the plant is a single tall stem (never
branched... dunno why not...!), I'm not sure what, if anything, I should
do to it.

Should I cut the central stem and hope it will branch lower down? If so,
how far up or down should I do that?

Should I wire and bend the stem horizontally in the hope that 'a branch'
will happen lower down? If so, where on the stem should I make the bend?

Or should I just leave well enough alone and allow the plant to make its
own course? The two newest fiddle-leaves are currently hard against the
ceiling with nowhere to go.

The plant is in great health with very large glossy leaves. It has a
drink occasionally and a cup of tea (leaves) occasionally, but beyond
that has been very happy in its bucket-sized pot all these years.

I'd be grateful if anyone can suggest ideas for me! ;-D

TIA,

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Help with Fiddle-Leaved Fig please?
 

g'day trish,

being a ficus you should be able to cut them down a bit and they
should branch from there, might be best to just run it by a plant
nursery first though would hate to have something go wrong then have
you come gunnin for me hey lol.

snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.users.bigpond.com/gardenlen1

Help with Fiddle-Leaved Fig please?
 

id air layer the stem with some spagum moss ..grow a new
plant then cut the stem just under the growth of the roots
from the air layer ..youll have 2 plants an the mother will
branch..



On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 14:03:35 +1100, Trish Brown
wrote:

I have a lovely specimen of this plant boarding at my Mum's place. It's
about eight feet tall and has just reached the ceiling (after over
twenty years in situ!). Since the plant is a single tall stem (never
branched... dunno why not...!), I'm not sure what, if anything, I should
do to it.

Should I cut the central stem and hope it will branch lower down? If so,
how far up or down should I do that?

Should I wire and bend the stem horizontally in the hope that 'a branch'
will happen lower down? If so, where on the stem should I make the bend?

Or should I just leave well enough alone and allow the plant to make its
own course? The two newest fiddle-leaves are currently hard against the
ceiling with nowhere to go.

The plant is in great health with very large glossy leaves. It has a
drink occasionally and a cup of tea (leaves) occasionally, but beyond
that has been very happy in its bucket-sized pot all these years.

I'd be grateful if anyone can suggest ideas for me! ;-D

TIA,