Uninspired

[Maiden69]

I forgot to add, when you defoliate ficus, it is recommended to cut the leaves at the petiole. The buds are very fragile and most likely will get damaged when you pull a leaf out. I say this because I don't see the petioles on the picture you posted of the tree defoliated.

Here is a pic of when I defoliated my tiger bark last year when I moved it into a pot. You can clearly see the petioles left behind.

 

[RJG2]

I kind of feel like it’s just your location. Hard to consider southern Maine as prime ficus growing conditions. What kind of temp highs and lows are you getting in the hottest part of summer? My ficus don’t really start blasting off till it’s hot as shit at night AND in the middle of the night. They do fine otherwise, but just ok. It’s that heat and sun that gets em!

That's a fair assessment

A few scattered days over 90, and maybe a couple weeks where the night temps were high 70s, low 80s.

 

[RJG2]

I may simply be repeating what others have said...

Do not touch the branch other than to loosely wire it. I want to emphasize "loose" because the branch will thicken quickly at this time of year. Then make sure you don't repot that spring, wait until the heat of the summer, and defoliate the tree other than that single branch.

If you defoliate and you are losing branches it is because the tree is too weak. You have it in a small shallow pot that is constraining growth - great if you have finished development, but not great if you are trying to get it to grow and bulk up. You want the tree to have a ton of roots so that when you defoliate it is energy positive and all of the roots are screaming "more foliage!" via hormones. When I defoliate my ficus I don't leave a leaf, and I can't recall ever losing a branch (though I do make sure to leave a terminal bud on the branches I am trying to elongate).

Makes sense - one reason I'm leaving a leaf is I just watched a demo where he suggested doing it that way - we'll see how it goes.

Demo:

 

[RJG2]

I forgot to add, when you defoliate ficus, it is recommended to cut the leaves at the petiole. The buds are very fragile and most likely will get damaged when you pull a leaf out. I say this because I don't see the petioles on the picture you posted of the tree defoliated.

Here is a pic of when I defoliated my tiger bark last year when I moved it into a pot. You can clearly see the petioles left behind.
View attachment 562518

Thanks; I did leave the petioles, but didn't wire for a couple days - and they had browned and knocked off easily.

 

[NaoTK]

Try piling a bunch of long fiber sphagnum moss around the base of your tree. It will put out roots to fill in your gaps and eventually merge with the trunk to form taper.

 

[RJG2]

Try piling a bunch of long fiber sphagnum moss around the base of your tree. It will put out roots to fill in your gaps and eventually merge with the trunk to form taper.

I tried at one point with just bonsai substrate netted in, but yeah, I should do it with sphagnum instead - good call.