Pruning is a great way to help the plant to grow taller, stronger, and bushier, by removing dead and stunted growth. We thought it was high time to talk about how and when to prune weeping fig!
If you have never done this before, it may seem a little daunting – but it’s actually pretty simple and easy, and there’s not much that can go wrong.
What You'll Learn Today
How And When To Prune Weeping Fig
Pruning is part of essential maintenance for many plants – it can help prevent them from getting too tall, encourages growth, and can keep them in an attractive shape.
Pruning your weeping fig tree should be done if it is getting out of control, or if you want to train it to grow in a certain shape.
Pruning a weeping fig should only be done in the winter, when the plant is in its dormant stage, to avoid damaging new growth.
Wear gloves when you prune this plant, as the sap can be irritating to the skin, and ensure that children and pets stay away.
It is recommended that you prune this plant once a year, to keep it in good shape and to keep an eye on the growth and health of the plant.
- Take a pair of sharp secateurs (ensuring that they are clean and sterilized, to prevent the potential spread of disease from plant to plant).
- Start by removing any dead, dying or spindly branches and foliage, to encourage the plant to put its energies into healthy growth.
- When you make a cut, do it at an angle – this should help the plant to regrow new growth from the snipped shoots.
- Keep an eye out for nodes or buds, and always cut a few cm away from these, so that they will grow back into healthy leaves and branches.
- Tidy up all the cut foliage and place it straight into the compost bucket or bin – you don’t want you or anyone in your house to be grabbing them and getting sap on their hands.
- Give the weeping fig a little feed of diluted fertilizer after its haircut; this will give it some extra nutrients to help it bounce back.
Should I Trim My Weeping Fig?
In a word, yes. Pruning is very good for all types of plants, and it can help them to grow back even more healthy than before.
Because weeping figs can get extremely tall, a good prune now and then is essential to keep them in a good shape.
Pruning can not only make the plant look neater, but the growth that comes back after the pruning may be even more healthy and vigorous than before.
If you never prune your weeping fig, it may get too large for your house! Also, you may end up with spindly growth.
Give it a prune once a year, while the plant is dormant, and you should notice an improvement in its general health, and renewed health of the regrown leaves and branches.
This video explains why you should trim your weeping fig, and the best ways to do so:
How Do I Make My Ficus Benjamina Bushy?
A bushy, healthy weeping fig is a thing of beauty, isn’t it? If yours is looking a little spindly, there are things you can do to make it bushier!
- Add fertilizer. A little feed once a fortnight in the summer will do wonders for your weeping fig tree.
- Give it the right conditions. Indirect sunlight, well-draining soil and occasional waterings are the best things you can do for your Ficus.
- Prune it. Pruning will really help the plant to push forward some new, healthy growth that will automatically make it look better and bushier.
- Check your watering schedule. Weeping figs really object to being too wet, and overwatering will cause leaf drop and stunted growth.
- Avoid stressing it. Sudden temperature changes, droughts and being moved can stunt the growth of this tree, so leave it in peace as much as you can.
- Check the pot size. Ficus Benjamina does like to feel cozy in its pot – a pot that is too large can actually stunt their growth.
Can You Hard Prune A Ficus Benjamina?
Some plants respond well to a good hard pruning, while others do not… Luckily, Ficus Benjamina is in the former category!
You can prune this tree right back – as long as you do it at the right time of year – and it will simply regrow from the trunk the following season.
Make sure that you protect your hands and face from the sap as you prune, but that’s about the only thing you need to worry about!
Once you have hard pruned all the leaves and foliage, you can remove it from the pot and trim back the root ball too.
Although this sounds a little drastic, it’s actually a really good way to encourage strong new growth, and to stop your weeping fig from taking over completely.
What Time Of Year Do You Trim Ficus?
It may be tempting to grab the secateurs as and when you feel like it – but there are better and worse times of year for trimming Ficus.
You really don’t want to be trimming in the spring, when the new shoots and buds are appearing, or in the summer, when the plant is in full growth mode.
The only time of year to trim Ficus is the autumn or winter. If you prune before winter, make sure that the plant is out of its active growth phase.
Pruning in the winter is ideal, because the plant has already “gone to sleep”, and won’t be growing new shoots or buds at this time.
Getting to grips with pruning can seem a little daunting, but it really is one of the best things you can do for the health and growth of your weeping fig.
As long as you do it right, it will not damage your tree, and in fact you will probably be surprised at just how well it bounces back!
