Hard naked cut back

[jobo78]

I made the decision to cut back this green island ficus. It’s one of my favorites bc I’ve had it for 20 yrs. The blue wrap on the bottom was for aerial roots b/c it’s root over coral and was working great. The top has buds after 1 week, and lowest branch has 3 buds but nothing in the middle. I moved it out of full sun bc I had read about potential sunburn (the canopy it had was massive). Should I be getting nervous?

 

[jobo78]

Ironically I saved the branches for cuttings and they are all budding back :|

 

[Colorado]

Nah, should be fine it it was healthy before the work. It can take longer than a week sometimes for new buds to form and emerge.

 

[penumbra]

Nah, should be fine it it was healthy before the work. It can take longer than a week sometimes for new buds to form and emerge.

Agree with above. I have given this treatment to a variety of ficus. It can take Weeks to get budding on many of them.
Full sun is best to pull those buds out.

 

[jobo78]

Ok good feedback. I was curious as to whether I should buy into the sunburn theory and was being overly cautious putting it in partial/late day sun. It was in full sun before and exploding with growth.

 

[Scarlet Ibis]

Ditto . It's fine. Expect 2 to 3 wks. Full sun (within reason).

 

[jobo78]

Thanks. It’s back where it likes to be, in full sun next to the pond. I had hesitated to do this cut back for yrs and ended up with really long branches and not much taper. I should have plenty of warm nights left here in Va to help it regain some energy before it has to come back inside.