Encouraging the Plant to Branch
- 1 Wait until your fig plant is 5 feet (1.5 m) tall. ...
- 2 Choose an upper section of the tree to trim. ...
- 3 Cut the branch with sharp, sanitized pruning shears. ...
- 4 Leave your plant in a place with lots of indirect sunlight. ...
- 5 Nourish your fig with about 2 cups (470 mL) of water each week. ...
Full Answer
How tall should a fiddle leaf fig tree be?
What happens when you cut off a tree tip?
When cutting a stem at a lower woody point, do buds form much slower than they do at the top?
Do fiddle leaf figs grow taller?
Does notching a fiddle leaf fig branch work?
How do you make a fiddle leaf branch out?
Pruning is hands-down the easiest and most reliable way to get your Fiddle Leaf Fig to branch! It involves cutting off the stem of your Fiddle Leaf Fig at the height you'd like branches to grow from.
How do you notch a fiddle leaf fig for branching?
0:203:42Notching your Fiddle Leaf Fig in UNDER 5 minutes (to get NEW ...YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou'll see sort of a raised. Area you could see a leaf sheath you could see it at where a leaf usedMoreYou'll see sort of a raised. Area you could see a leaf sheath you could see it at where a leaf used to be that fell off that is your node just kind of a razor ridge on the stem of your plant.
Will a fiddle leaf fig branch naturally?
If you're wanting your Fiddle Leaf Fig (or any tree, for that matter) to begin to grow branches, you can do a couple of things. Try giving your plant more light first — trees naturally grow branches, and if they're receiving a lot of natural light, they'll have more energy to potentially spend on creating branches.
When can I notch my fiddle leaf fig?
Final tips for increasing your chances of notching fiddle leaf fig tree success: Spring and summertime might be the best times to attempt notching because this is their natural growing season and most fiddles will already be experiencing a growth spurt.
How do you promote new branch growth?
Pruning is one of the best ways to encourage a tree branch to grow. Pruning and thinning upper-story plants to allow more light into a poorly performing understory tree or bush can help stimulate growth in a branch.
How do you thicken a fiddle leaf fig stem?
Shaking or wiggling your fiddle leaf fig tree will help to thicken its trunk. This is because the act of shaking or wiggling the plant will stimulate the cells in the trunk to divide and grow.
How often should you water fiddle leaf fig?
The number one way to kill a fiddle leaf fig is to overwater it or not allow for proper drainage. Water your plant about once a week or every 10 days. As we mentioned earlier, FLFs are native to a rainforest-like environment, which means they're used to receiving a huge deluge of water with dry spells in between.
What happens if you cut the top off a fiddle leaf fig?
Cutting the top of the fiddle leaf fig will keep it short and encourage side branches to grow, creating a more compact look. Pruning it heavily on one side helps give a balanced look if the fiddle leaf fig is lopsided.
Do fiddle leaf figs only grow from the top?
We love to see growth on our fiddle leaf fig trees, but we prefer fresh new growth at the top of the tree, not the very bottom of the trunk. Leaves at the base of the tree can give your fiddle a bushy or even unbalanced appearance, which isn't the best thing for an ornamental plant.
How do you notch for branching?
2:274:31How to notch a fig tree - Pruning technique to stimulate branch growthYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo once you've made your 45 degree. Cut you then just go straight which then creates. The notch.MoreSo once you've made your 45 degree. Cut you then just go straight which then creates. The notch.
Should I take the bottom leaves off my fiddle leaf fig?
In order to shape your plant to look best for its location, you'll want to remove lower leaves and branches that are growing too wide. Prune your plant toward a tree shape by removing the lower leaves.
How do you notch a plant?
How to do plant notching correctlyFind the nodes. "To identify a node, look at the base of a bud, leaf or branch; they are always attached to a node," says Heeks. ... Pick your spot. ... Make your cuts with a sharp knife. ... Mark your cut. ... Watch and wait.
How do you make a tree grow new branches by notching?
How to do plant notching correctlyFind the nodes. "To identify a node, look at the base of a bud, leaf or branch; they are always attached to a node," says Heeks. ... Pick your spot. ... Make your cuts with a sharp knife. ... Mark your cut. ... Watch and wait.
How do you cut a fiddle leaf fig node?
Here's how to do it:Use a clean, sharp blade to make an incision above a node. ... Just ABOVE the node, make an incision 1/3 of the way around the stem and no more than 1/3 deep into the stem. ... Leave it alone to heal and hopefully you'll have buds after several weeks that turn into branches.More items...•
What is notching in pruning?
Notching: The removal of a wedge-shaped bark piece from above the bud to make a notch is called notching. 6. Nicking: The removal of a wedge-shaped bark piece from below the bud to make a notch is called nicking.
How do you cut the top off a fiddle leaf fig?
I Chopped My Fiddle Leaf Fig TreePrune your trees at the right time! ... Find the tippy top of the plant where new leaves grow, go down a few leaves, and from there cut/prune the whole top of the plant off.Up your watering once pruned, to every three to four days.More items...
How does notching a fiddle leaf fig work?
Notching also works by disrupting the flow of growth regulator hormones (we’re talking auxin again here). Once the wound callouses over, the effect is gone and hormones will flow again. How to notch your fiddle leaf fig. First, notching requires some finesse.
What is a non branching fiddle leaf fig?
A non-branching fiddle leaf fig (aka Ficus lyrata). Pruning or notching will produce branching and turn it into a tree with a bushy canopy. Source | Kara Eads via Unsplash
What is notching on fiddle?
Notching. Notching is where instead of pruning the top shoot, you instead make a careful incision above a node. Notching is an advanced technique and the only reason I’d recommend using it over pruning is if you don’t want to reduce the height of your fiddle leaf.
What happens when you prune the apex branch?
Pruning the apex branch disrupts the flow of growth-regulating auxin so the lower nodes can develop branches. Graphic | Greenhouse Studio
How to make an incision above a node?
Use a clean, sharp blade to make an incision above a node. I used the tip-edge of a new X-Acto knife blade. (The kind where you can snap off the old blades.) This gave me good purchase on the internode. Use pruners as most do if you’re more comfortable.
Why do we cut below the node?
The reason for making the incision above rather than below the node is that cutting just above disrupts growth regulating hormones like auxin. Cutting just below a node promotes flowering/fruiting by diverting carbohydrate flow from the vegetative growth into reproductive growth (flowers & fruit).
Can you notch a ficus?
First, notching requires some finesse. You run the risk of cutting off the limb if the incision is too deep. (But hey, even if you accidentally decapitate your ficus, you’ll certainly have branching!) Make the incision to shallow, and it might not work.
Why Can’t I get my Fiddle Leaf Fig to Branch?
The above methods have a great success rate of growing branches. However there are some factors that can hinder branching, so it’s best to make sure you address these things for the best chance of branching.
What is a notching on a fiddle leaf fig?
Notching is a method of encouraging a Fiddle Leaf Fig to branch that doesn’t involve removing any height off the plant. Instead, small cuts or ‘notches’ are made up and down the stem or trunk to encourage new growth to form further down the plant.
What do the nodes on a fiddle fig look like?
Another thing to look out for is how close together the ‘nodes’ are. Buds can also grow from these areas. Nodes look like little rings around the stem, and are often where the crispy brown leaf casings on your Fiddle Leaf Fig sit.
How does pruning work?
Pruning works by activating dormant buds below the cut. This happens because the growth hormone (auxin) can no longer travel up the stem, and it’s redirected to the buds that are generally closest to where the cut was made.
How to notch a FLF?
The first makes a diagonal cut around a third of the depth into the FLF trunk, just above a leaf or node. The second is similar, but two cuts are made and a section, or small ‘chunk’ of the trunk is removed. The two cuts should be made within 1-2mm of each other, to remove a slither of the trunk.
What is pinching a plant?
Pinching is similar to pruning, except you won’t need to use a pair of cutters. Instead of removing a section of stem, pinching refers to plucking the top bud off the plant, also known as the growing tip. This is a great method if your plant has reached the height you’d like it to start branching at.
How to get multiple branches on a plant?
For the best chance of getting multiple branches when you prune, try to prune above a cluster of leaves. Or, a group of leaves that are close together. Dormant buds live where leaves meet the stem.
How tall should a fiddle leaf fig tree be?
To do this, your Fiddle Leaf Fig main stem / trunk should be at least 3′ tall.
What happens when you cut off a tree tip?
As soon as one side bud forms, all the energy will go to this ONE bud so it can quickly grow into a branch. So we cut off the main branch only to gain one side branch!
When cutting a stem at a lower woody point, do buds form much slower than they do at the top?
When we cut a stem at a lower woody point, buds form much slower than they do at the top green part of the plant. This allows the opportunity for more than one bud to form at the same time, instead of a super fast growing bud taking over.
Do fiddle leaf figs grow taller?
When we first started growing Fiddle Leaf Fig, all our trees were growing taller and taller every year. Each of them has just a single stem. We tried pinching off the top of a couple of them to encourage branching, only to have one side branch growing out of each tree, lol!
Does notching a fiddle leaf fig branch work?
Some people have had success notching Fiddle Leaf Fig to encourage branching, some said notching doesn’t work. We have not tried this method, but here’s a video tutorial on YouTube if you want to give it a try.
