Ficus trees, whether grown indoors or outdoors, are renowned for their beauty and low maintenance requirements. Routine pruning is essential for keeping your ficus tree strong, robust, and aesthetically pleasing. By thinning out overgrown areas, removing diseased or damaged branches, and encouraging fuller growth, pruning can significantly enhance the health and appearance of your plant. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the best times to prune your ficus, routine pruning techniques, and the optimal methods for shaping your tree.
Best Way to Trim a Ficus Tree
To maintain the health and appearance of your ficus tree, it is crucial to remove any diseased or dying branches. Additionally, cut back overgrown areas or vertical branches to keep your ficus looking its best. Always cut just before growth nodes to promote new growth. It is important to note that you should never prune more than 30% of your ficus at a time. For extensive shaping, wait until the dormant season in winter, as this is when your ficus is least likely to sustain shock from pruning.
When to Prune
Outdoor Ficus Trees
Outdoor ficus trees are quite adaptable and can be trimmed during most seasons. The ideal time for pruning is anytime from late summer to early spring, which is right before and after your ficus’s dormant season. Avoid pruning your outdoor tree in early summer, as this can induce an off-season growth spurt and leave your plant more vulnerable to frost.
Indoor Ficus Trees
Indoor ficus trees require regular pruning to remove old leaves and shape the plant to its living space. However, avoid pruning your indoor ficus in mid-spring, particularly when it is forming new leaves and buds. For extensive shaping, wait until your plant’s dormant season in winter. During this period, your ficus is least likely to sustain shock from pruning, and with outdoor plants, you’ll be able to see the branch structure better.
Handling Diseased or Damaged Branches
Dying or dead branches can weaken your tree and make it vulnerable to further damage. To prevent this, remove damaged branches as soon as you notice them. If your tree is weak, avoid pruning it unless it’s to trim or cut away damaged areas. Both indoor and outdoor ficus trees are vulnerable to pests like mites, mealybugs, and aphids, which can cause disease and damage. Use an insecticide like neem oil to fight off pests, and dispose of infected leaves and branches immediately to stop the spread of disease.
Encouraging Branching and Foliage Growth
If you’ve noticed excessively thin areas on your ficus, pruning can encourage branching. Try trimming your ficus in early springtime to encourage branch and foliage growth during the next season. If you notice thinning in summer or early fall, wait until the following season to prune.
Safety Precautions
Most ficus varieties excrete a toxic milky sap that causes skin irritation. To prevent rashes, wear thick gloves and long sleeves while pruning your ficus. Opt for thick gardening gloves, which are available at most plant nurseries or garden centers.
Pruning Techniques
If your ficus has diseased, damaged, or dead branches, prune them away at a downward slant with your loppers or shears. Cut the damaged branch back to a healthy area to help your tree heal and focus its energy on healthy branches. Dying or dead branches usually lose their bark and have gray or decaying wood. Diseased branches may have brown leaf spots or greasy-looking spots, excessive leaf drop, or yellowing near the veins. If you suspect the branches are diseased, sanitize your shears between each cut with 70% isopropyl alcohol to prevent the disease from spreading to the rest of the ficus.
If your ficus tree has thinned out more than usual, inspect it for scars where leaves used to be. Clip directly above leaf scars to encourage thicker foliage as your plant grows. Leaf scars are small, round marks found where your plant originally grew leaves. They’re usually lighter in color than the surrounding branch. Pruning above leaf scars should ideally be done in spring. If you prune back large branches or make many cuts, apply cut paste over the clipped area. Pruning essentially creates many small wounds on a plant, and cut paste will help your tree heal and protect it from diseases and pests while it recovers.
Disposing of Clippings
Because ficus plants are toxic, their clippings cannot be used as mulch or compost. Collect the clippings in a trash bag and discard them when you’re done pruning. For an environmentally-friendly alternative, ask local recycling centers if they can make use of your ficus clippings.
Avoiding Over-Pruning
Too much pruning can throw your tree into shock and leave it vulnerable to diseases. Limit yourself to removing less than 30% of your ficus’s foliage and branch structure at a time. If damage expands across more than 30% of the plant, hire a professional landscaper to determine the best treatment for it.
Maintaining Natural Shape
Ficus trees are not ideal plants for extensive shaping. When pruning your tree, keep its initial shape in mind and aim for a trimmer, better-maintained version of its original pattern. In many cases, when a plant has been properly pruned, it’s difficult to tell that it’s been pruned at all. Ficus trees are usually round and widest at the bottom. Plants that are pruned according to their natural shape typically require less maintenance than those pruned into an unusual shape.
Inspect your tree for branches that jut from the plant’s natural shape or overlap other branches. Cut these away with shears or loppers (depending on the size of the branch) directly above a node or where another stem branches off to minimize damage. Thinning out your ficus’s foliage helps light penetrate the tree, which can make the plant look fuller and give it better air flow. Vertical branches can give your tree a bulky, awkward shape. Inspect your tree for any branches growing upward and prune them away with loppers or shears to keep your ficus looking its best.
Managing Lower Branches
The lower leaves and branches bring essential nutrients to the trunk, and a strong trunk is essential for holding up the ficus’s foliage. Thin or shape the lower branches lightly to keep your tree strong, but don’t remove them completely. This is especially true for smaller ficus trees like rubber trees and fiddle leaf figs.
Root Pruning
If you have low ceilings or keep your ficus in a confined space, trim the roots in addition to the branches to keep your tree from growing too large. Unpot the ficus and remove most of the potting soil from the rootstock. Use clean pruners to trim no more than ⅓ of the root system and remove any diseased or damaged roots. Then, repot the ficus and freshen the soil if needed. If you decide to prune the roots, it’s essential to prune the branches as well. Otherwise, the plant would be too top heavy. While you don’t have to trim the roots to prune your ficus, it helps prevent the plant from producing leaves as quickly. If done incorrectly, root pruning can damage the tree, so only do this if you’re comfortable trimming the roots.
Repotting or Replanting
If you’ve cut back about 30% of your ficus and it is still too large for its pot or your backyard, try repotting or replanting it somewhere else. This can give your ficus more room to grow without sending it into shock from excessive pruning. Avoid transplanting trees with a trunk diameter wider than 2 inches (5.1 cm). Hire a landscaper or nursery professional to replant large ficus trees.
When repotting or replanting a ficus, be sure to use a well-draining, fertile soil. Soil-based potting mixes often work well and provide all needed nutrients. Avoid acidic soils, like those used for roses or azaleas. If you move your ficus, keep it in an area with a lot of light, but avoid placing it in direct sunlight, as this could scald the leaves.
Expert Q&A
Why are the leaves on my ficus tree turning yellow and falling off?
This is an indication of not enough water. Or, the humidity in the air may be too low.
How often do you water a ficus tree?
During the spring and summer, you can water them a modest amount. During the winter months, they only need a little water.
Why is my ficus tree losing leaves?
Typically, this is from bad watering. You may be either underwatering or overwatering the ficus.
Additional Tips
- Sanitize any tools you use before and after you prune each plant. This helps prevent the spread of disease.
- If your plant loses leaves after extensive pruning or transplanting, don’t worry. Ficuses often shed leaves after these events, and your tree should grow more after several weeks.
- Be careful not to overwater your ficus. Water ficuses only when the top 2 inches (5 cm) of soil is very dry. For indoor trees, water until it runs out of the draining holes at the bottom, and for outdoor trees, water once or twice a week with about 1.5 to 2 inches (3.8-5 cm) of water.
- Do not use household scissors or knives to prune your ficus tree, as these can damage the plant’s tissues. Using gardening shears to trim the ficus will keep it healthy and strong.
- Ficuses respond to stress by losing leaves. Stress can be caused by drafts, pests, over- or underwatering, too little light, low humidity, or a change in temperature. Be sure to monitor your ficus for any of these issues.
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