You have just purchased a ficus, that's good news. You will soon be able to enjoy this plant which is highly valued for the lush leaves it is capable of producing.
First of all, we recommend that you take a look at one of our previous articles on ficus trees that have brown leaves to see the maintenance you need to do to keep your foliage from getting messed up.
But to have beautiful foliage, you have to go through a step that a lot of people fear at the beginning, prune a ficus. Indeed, it is rather stressful to do at first.
As we have said, the ficus have a tendency to be temperamental and therefore pruning them is to be afraid to reduce all one's previous efforts. Fortunately, we'll explain how to do it!
Ficus - General information
There are a whole bunch of different ficus trees on the market, each with characteristics that will look better on some people than on others. This is why we invite you to discover them all in our article on this subject.
A ficus usually doesn't need pruning
The first thing to know is that if you are really afraid of doing something stupid, pruning a ficus is optional. Indeed, unlike some plants, you will not need to do this especially.
A ficus can do well without being pruned. The only specific case where you won't really have a choice is when he gets sick, as we will see a little later.
But for now, know that there is no rush. Of course, we recommend that you do this, but if you are a little afraid, you can take the time to see how to go about pruning a ficus.
You can also train on other plants a little less capricious or simply ask a friend who has already done this operation for advice so that he can explain it to you in more detail.
Why prune a ficus?
But then, if it is not compulsory to prune a ficus, why recommend it? Well, for that it is worth seeing why you bought this ficus originally. The answer is usually the leaves.
Indeed, it is easy to fall for the magnificent leaves of this plant. Except that to be able to have such beautiful leaves, you will not have the choice, you will have to go through the size box.
It is once you have successfully pruned a ficus that you will discover that it tends to make more leaves in response. This is how you will make sure you have beautiful foliage.
Moreover, you should know that if pruning a ficus scares you, it is not such a common operation either. Indeed, for this we advise you to see what your type of ficus requires.
But in general, we recommend one pruning per year for ficus trees, not more. You can if you want to do one every six months, but we advise you not to go beyond it would be simply counterproductive.
How to prune a ficus?
So now that we have seen how important it is to prune a ficus, it remains to be seen how you go about it and let's start by discussing together the period in which to do this operation.
We will not be able to tell you a precise date, because each type of ficus has its preferences regarding the period when they should be pruned. We therefore advise you to inquire about this.
Doing it within a specified period helps your ficus to recover more easily from pruning and therefore will avoid problems such as loss of leaves for example, because you would have exhausted your plant too much.
As for how to prune a ficus, there is nothing too rocket science here either! Indeed, the goal will be simply to cut the end of the stems. When you go to do it, you will see that usually two shoots come in.
By doing this on the most peripheral stems, you will find that you can potentially double the number of leaves on your ficus and then pruning a ficus begins to make sense.
However, as you can imagine, pruning a ficus will also have specificities depending on the type you have, which is why we advise you to consult our previous articles, depending on whether you have a ficus bonsai, a rubber ficus, a ficus alii or even a ficus lyrata.
Our advice for pruning your ficus
Pruning is an important stage in the life of your plant. It is not that complicated if you have the right technique but also the right tools.
What to do in the event of illness?
Finally, let's talk about a specific case where you will be forced to prune a ficus. The goal is not to make leaves, but on the contrary to protect your plant and the leaves that are present at the moment.
When you see the infection is spreading, you should not hesitate to prune in such a way as to stop it, even deeply. You must also cut the branches that would have died because of it to relieve your ficus.
