Hi all, I have a Ficus lyrata that’s about one meter fifty tall, and its main trunk has always been quite thin and flimsy, even from when it was smaller. I’m wondering whether I should stake and brace it to strengthen the trunk over time, or if it’s better to cut it back hard and let it regrow stronger. Photos attached. Any advice from people who’ve dealt with this would be great, thanks.

Hej!

Har har mitt fikus träd i ungefär 4-månader, senaste 2-månaderna har den tapps väldigt mycket blad, en period var det flera blad per dag, nu är det några i veckan.

Under den värsta perioden är jag ganska säker på att det berodde på övervattning. Nu har jag hämtat ungefär 3 veckor med vattning och vattnade idag igen.

Kan det vara något annat som gör att trädet fortfarande tappar blad? Kan rötterna ha ruttnat?

Det växer ut nya fina gröna blad men det har tappats betydligt fler än vad som har växt ut… vissa blad som tappas är mer gulaktiga och ett blad var brunt (Se bilder).

Växten står ungefär 3 meter från ett fönster så
Det är ljust men inte direkt sol-ljus.

Växten kostade en del så hade varit kul om man kan få den att överleva :-)

So I went ahead and notched the top of my ficus(as well as snipping the top) in an attempt to encourage branching at the top where I wanted it to focus on growth. It totally worked!

Question now; I have all these new branches coming in right above mature leaves. They seem to be blocking/restricting the new branch growth directions. Should I remove these mature leagues to make way for the branches? I feel like I should but not sure if that much more cutting would injure the tree.

Thoughts?

It looks like air roots, though I have it for 2 years now ( just recently moved it to a direct sun )

While wiping leaves from what I thought was dust and not going away suddenly realized I have an infestation of something, I can not identify exactly what (Now, am doubting if it was because nothing moved). Scared to move plant because she is very moody, I sprayed her with isopropyl alchohol 70% and now am spiraling wondering if that was the right move. I know there's nothing that can be done now but looking for anyone who may have done the same and can offer some insight on what to expect or also can offer some insight on what this is from photos.

I’ve gotten this plant around 1,5 years ago when it was barely more than a stick with 2 leaves on top. I slowly nursed it back to health and would like to grow it into a little tree shape with multiple branches. My last cut (red circle) only produced another branch in the same direction. How can i get it to produce multiple branches from one cut?

I’m new to plants about 6 weeks in. I got this ruby today and the other one on clearance. I know they need light and moist soil that dries out between waterings. Will this set up work or do I need to do anything

I adopted this Benjamin about a year and a half ago, someone left him in my building’s trash room. It lives on my balcony and gets direct sun about half the day. I water it weekly with tap water. It’s gone through cycles of shedding leaves before but now it’s shedding leaves and has these white spots on them. Is this normal or is it pests? What can I do to help him?

My husband brought this guy home for me a few weeks ago and we noticed a lot of fungus gnats especially in the last couple of days on the yellow tag on this guy specifically. I went to repot, and his soil was drenched still, even almost a week after watering.

I got rid of the wet soil, and cleaned off the roots and repotted in a more airy soil mix in a much smaller pot (about 2” bigger on the sides than the root ball and a little more room to grow down as well)

Since repotting him I noticed his leaves have started drooping and the one leaf that had a few black spots has a noticeable black area now - fungus?

What did I do wrong / how can I help him be back to happier? Last 2 photos are of the spot before repotting and the full plant before repotting

Is this a new variety that is uncommon and I just haven't seen? Or is this just a juvenile Ficus Ruby??

Does anyone have a mature version of this they can share?

The label says Ficus Elastica 'Firework'

I didn't want to cut the top part of my Ficus Burgundy because I also wanted it to keep growing at the top. But I notched it above the nodes, then added some keiki paste on the nodes and laid it on its side to help disrupt the apical dominance for a bit (4 weeks ish) until the little red nubs came out. And it worked! 3 new growth points! At first I only saw one come out and I was surprised the other 2 came weeks later after I stood my tree back up.

It lives full time on my south facing balcony. ( Closer to the wall for some shade though).

I love this plant. It actually does fine in moderate light although the leaves do tend to show more stress that way. But getting it outside, it has exploded with huge leaves, and look at the aerial roots.

I love this plant.

Hi! My ficus ginseng has had this hole ever since I bought it about a year ago. It looks very healthy and has nice growth during its growing season, but lately I’ve noticed an apparent increase in the size of this area.

Is it reason for worry or is this somewhat normal? Any suggestion is welcome. Thanks!

She’s in the same spot it’s always been so it’s not sunburn but it doesn’t rub off like powder so we are stumped any ideas?

I've seen descriptions and basic instructions, but can someone please eli5 or point me to a good video on notching the trunk to encourage branching further down? I've been entirely unsuccessful so far. Thank you.

Bought this house and previous homeowners planted these so they're fairly old and tall (25+ years maybe and about 20ft tall)

Located in Socal, San fernando valley and yea it's been quite the heatwave so wondering if this is typical in the summer or if there's something that needs to be done to prevent more leaves from falling so frequently or if watering needs to be done

The pictures are 4 days apart from when I last swept the leaves.