Ficus Trunk Cutting?

[Engineer]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum, and while I'm relatively familiar with ficus nerifolia I'm curious about when/how to do a complete trunk cut. The plant in general is pretty bad looking up top with one bud popping down low. I was thinking about getting extreme and hacking off the top and making the new bud the apex but didnt know if now was a good time to do it since I'm currently growing it indoors. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Bill S]

Is it indoors for the winter, or year long growing???

Welcome to the Nut House, and our obsession.

Willow leaf will react as you want, they will throw all kinds of buds after a chop, top to bottom.

 

[stacy allen muse]

I would at least wait till early spring.
Got any pics ???

 

[Engineer]

I live in ohio. Zone 5 I believe, so i am moving it inside for the fall/winter. Hopefully I'll have a picture soon.

 

[Kirk]

I would wait for Spring or early summer. Wait until it warms, move it outside, let it recover from being inside all winter and then make your cut. It will have the rest of the summer to pop buds. They always seem to slow down and become less vigorous when you move them inside during the winter. The house is darker, less humidity... You run the risk of the plant not thriving or the new shoots developing mealy bugs/spider mites. Mine will slow down even when I move them from the outdoors into the greenhouse for the winter.

If you have a greenhouse or an indoor growing environment with humidity, metal halide lights, warmth, then you can do hard pruning almost anytime.

Kirk