Branch Growth

[crock9000]

Hi,

Im sorry if i am posting this in the wrong part of the forum. I was new to Bonsai around June last year when i got my first one. I believe its a ficus but i am not 100% sure as it was a present.

Over the winter (i live in England) it started to really struggle and part of it died, i have looked around at what best to do and i scraped away at some of the bark to check what was still alive and what wasnt. I cut a big chunk of it away that was dead and it is now happily growing again which is good to see. My main question now is about shape and growth. I have attached a picture of what it looks like now and you will see that it is very one sided. I want to promote branch growth further down the trunk to level this out and I wanted advice on how to do this?

At this point in time i am thinking i need to trunk chop down below the remaining long branch but i dont want to kill off the tree by getting rid of all new growth so i am a bit reluctant to do that without advice. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Shibui]

Pruning is the best way to get trees to bud from the trunk but response will be variable according to the health of the tree before pruning.
This tree is in very poor health. I would not cut this one at all in the current state.
Do not worry about shape now. Put all your effort into learning how to keep it happy and healthy.

The good thing about most ficus is that they are able to bud all over the trunk when pruned back so it is never too late to prune a healthy ficus.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

It's just close enough to good weather for it to come back around.

The worst part about this time of year is..
Since it's actually a little warmer, our heat stays off so it's a tad colder indoors.

That cold sucks for these trees, cuz they are wanting to see it get warmer.

Sorce

 

[crock9000]

Pruning is the best way to get trees to bud from the trunk but response will be variable according to the health of the tree before pruning.
This tree is in very poor health. I would not cut this one at all in the current state.
Do not worry about shape now. Put all your effort into learning how to keep it happy and healthy.

The good thing about most ficus is that they are able to bud all over the trunk when pruned back so it is never too late to prune a healthy ficus.

Thank you for the response. The tree was in bad heath a few months back in the winter, however now everything that you see is alive and growing so it is definitely on the mend. All of the leaves and growth you see are from the last 3 weeks. About halfway down the long branch I can see that another bud is forming to create another branch too. Are you able to offer any advice on pruning i can do to this plan to promote growth further down the trunk specifically? Any resources or help woud be greatly appreciated.

 

[crock9000]

Thank you for the response. The tree was in bad heath a few months back in the winter, however now everything that you see is alive and growing so it is definitely on the mend. All of the leaves and growth you see are from the last 3 weeks. About halfway down the long branch I can see that another bud is forming to create another branch too. Are you able to offer any advice on pruning i can do to this plan to promote growth further down the trunk specifically? Any resources or help woud be greatly appreciated.

I would also point out at this stage that I am just planning to let it grow and recover, i just dont want to get to a point where i have all of the growth in the very top areas and then leaving it bare further down as it is now.

 

[Grovic]

Thank you for the response. The tree was in bad heath a few months back in the winter, however now everything that you see is alive and growing so it is definitely on the mend. All of the leaves and growth you see are from the last 3 weeks. About halfway down the long branch I can see that another bud is forming to create another branch too. Are you able to offer any advice on pruning i can do to this plan to promote growth further down the trunk specifically? Any resources or help woud be greatly appreciated.

I would wait until the tree looks healthier before pruning anything. You will know it is getting healthier when it gets new shoots, being a ficus you won't have any issues getting new shoots, as long as it is healthy.

 

[Shibui]

Let the tree grow without any pruning. Feed it and give the best of care. Allow it to grow as long and as big as it likes for at least 6 months, maybe all year. When it is really strong you can prune then. Pruning now may kill it but will certainly weaken it again.
This tree is definitely NOT healthy or vigorous even if it does have all of 6 leaves.