Thanks for the kind words TG - and WELCOME. A picture would be helpful, and what you want to do won't be difficult. Have you read the article I wrote that I'm linking to below? If not, it's a good place to start.

Where Ficus b naturally occurs, it has an upright weeping growth habit. You're right that the tree is very apically dominant, and for that reason you need to selectively restrain top growth or the tree will concentrate its energy in the upper apices to the extent that you'll see continual shedding and die-back of lower and interior foliage and the lower branches. Managing their energy flow isn't difficult once you understand what's going on, but how about a picture before we start a dialog? It SOUNDS more complicated than it really is.

{{gwi:3269}}

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Much more about your tree if you click me

Thank you Al, your just the person I was hoping to respond to my question. I actually have read that forum, many times, I have it saved along with other pieces of forums that I found interesting on my computer. Another question I have is about the soil the tree is in. I know you recommend planting in a fast draining soil and tell everyone it is the growers responsibility to provide nutrients and the soils job to provide anchorage. I would be interested in changing out the soil to a better draining mix that would still provide some nutrients but also be a little gritty. I do worry about being able to water as frequently as the true gritty mix would require since I'm in school and am constantly in and out of the house. I don't know if I am doing this correctly, but I uploaded some pics on photobucket and them posted the link here? Is this the easiest way to view? Thank you again Al - Is that your ficus,(willow-leaf ficus?) salicifolia? It is a nice tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of my benjamina

It's fine to change to something like a bark:peat:perlite mixture at a ratio of about 5:1:1. It will look something like you see in the middle here
{{gwi:2389}} when it's dry. The bark at 3,6, and 9 would be what you're looking for as the bark component. Taking responsibility for the plant's nutritional needs is no big chore. It can be as easy as fertilizing with a little teaspoon every time you water, or you can stretch the intervals out to every 2-3 weeks in summer & maybe monthly in winter. Once you decide how you want to approach the soil & nutrition, I'll help, but if you're willing to order a little Foliage-Pro 9-3-6, I can pretty much promise you it doesn't get any easier. You really can't depend on the soil to fill the nutritional needs of your plants if you want them to be healthy.

Here's the general plan for your tree:

You have multiple apices (competing leaders) right now, and that needs to change by about 2/3 of the planned height. What you'll need to do is prune off the vertical growth on some of those trunks immediately above a horizontal branch. You'll turn the multiple trunks into multiple branches. If you want your tree to be 9' tall, you want to be sure that you have selected only 1 leader to grow taller than 6'. ALL the rest of the stems growing vertically will have their vertical growth truncated so they then terminate in horizontal or nearly horizontal growth. You'll need to plan out how you want to do this so the branches don't all occur at the same ht. Does that make sense?

Yes - that's salicifolia/nerifolia. It was just repotted in the pic - thus the jute holding it secure to the pot. The top needs a hard pruning and the tree needs thinning, but I waited until the roots had reestablished before working the canopy. I have about 25-30 ficus of various species, but benjamina is well-represented in my collection. It's a favorite.

I had a forest planting of benjamina 'Starlight' (which I'm thinking your plant is) that I didn't think was anything too special (my planting, i.e.), but it won the people's choice award at the MI All-State Bonsai Show several years ago. Go figure.

I'm guessing you should be patient for now & be looking to start working on your tree this summer. I'd be thinking about getting it outdoors when nights are reliably above 55*, unless you want to shuttle it in and out. I'd be planning a full repot, including root pruning in late June & then a heavy pruning in late July. You'll be amazed at what the repot will do for the tree's fullness & o/a vitality. Let me know if you're up for it.

Al

Again, thank you Al. So at this point I will be waiting until late June to early July to repot and I probably won't be doing much trimming until the tree gets to about 6'. At that point if I understand correctly, I should pick a leader and allow it to continue growing, while trimming back the remaining, vertically growing co-leaders, to a horizontal plane? Also trim at varying levels so they are not all the same height? As for when the repot happens would you suggest I change the medium to the one you mentioned? I already have the Dyna-gro Foliage pro, with that, would it be beneficial to continue fert. every 3 weeks with 2 tsp/gallon? Sorry I have a lot of questions. I dearly want to maximize the growth potential of this tree, (and the others in my house). Ok, this could possibly be the last question, for now, when I repot I should do a root prune to? The tree was just recently put into this pot you saw maybe by June it will be 4-5 months ago. Before that I did seperate all the roots and take out all existing old dirt and do a very minor root prune. With this in mind would it still be advantagous to the tree to root prune again? If I do, how much do I take off without sacrificing vitality? Ok Al that's all I've got for now, thank you very much, hope to hear back soon.

Any suggestions . . .

Hi - I don't know how I missed your post - sorry!

If you want your tree to be 9' tall, try to make sure all the branches that make up the top are coming off 1 or possibly 2 trunks. The vertical growth of all the other trunks should be terminated and the tree pruned so those trunks terminate in roughly horizontal growth. The lowest branches on the tree should be pruned so they ARE horizontal of angled slightly downward, with the branches attitude moving slowly toward the vertical as the tree gets taller.

When you repot, you can make it a lot easier on yourself if you choose a soil like the bark-based 5:1:1 mix or the gritty mix. Think of these soils like financial vehicles that are front-loaded. They're a little harder on you in the beginning, but the rewards come after you get your planting established. They are MUCH more care-free, provide a much broader margin for error, and most importantly - they produce healthier plants. It's easier to use a heavy soil from a bag, but those soils are rear-loaded - much more effort and gnashing of teeth as the planting ages. There is probably about the same amount of o/a effort associated with both, but only with one can you get a superior opportunity for your plants to grow to their potential.

You can tell by all my writings that I think soil choice is THE most important choice a grower will make for conventional container plantings.

Every two weeks with 2 tsp/gal of FP 9-3-6 is going to be light (in the summer) if you are watering properly (so you're flushing the soil each time you water). I usually use 4 tsp weekly for plants outdoors in fast soils. If you're using a heavy soil, that might be about right, but fertilizing and managing EC/TDS in heavy soils is much more difficult because you can't flush old residues from either fertilizer or tap water from the soil w/o risking root rot.

I would go for the whole deal when you repot. Bare-root completely & prune out the largest roots - especially those growing down from the bole. Saw off the bottom 1/3 of the roots, then bare-root, then root prune, then repot. Check out this repotting sequence to get an idea of what a F benjamina will tolerate:

{{gwi:80440}}

{{gwi:55262}}

{{gwi:80441}}

{{gwi:4846}}

{{gwi:79532}}

{{gwi:4847}}

{{gwi:4260}}

{{gwi:95998}}

{{gwi:6990}}

I can help you if you need it at repot...