Making your Benjamini buschiger is easier than you think. Pinch or cut the tips off your branches and your plant grows two new shoots at each cut point. This simple trick turns a thin leggy Ficus into a full bushy tree within just a few months of regular pruning.
The Ficus schneiden buschig technique works best with clean sharp scissors or pruning shears. Cut just above a leaf node that faces outward from the center of your crown. This sends the new growth outward instead of into the middle where branches crowd each other. Wipe your scissors with rubbing alcohol before you start since your Ficus can get infections at open cut points.
Here is why this pruning trick works so well on your plant. Every branch tip has a growth bud that makes a hormone called auxin. This hormone tells the side buds further down to stay asleep and not grow. When you cut off that tip, the signal stops. The sleeping side buds wake up and push out two or even three new branches from that single cut point.
I pruned my leggy Ficus back by about one third in early spring last year. The first few weeks looked brutal with short bare stumps all over the plant. But after four weeks, tiny bright green buds popped up at every cut point. Three months later my crown was thicker than it had ever been and had a beautiful round shape that filled my whole window.
Here is a bonus trick that gives you instant fullness in your pot. Take the cuttings you removed and stick them back into the same pot. Ficus cuttings root with ease in moist soil. After a few weeks these new plants grow up and fill the gaps in your crown from below. You get double the benefit from every single cut you make.
Plan your pruning around the seasons for the best results with your Ficus. Pinch your growing tips every four to six weeks from April through August when your plant has peak energy. Save any heavy shaping cuts for early spring when growth kicks in fast. Do not prune during fall or winter because your plant rests then and cut wounds heal poorly in the cold months.
Regular Ficus Benjamina Rueckschnitt keeps your tree compact and thick year after year. Without pruning your Ficus grows tall and goes bald on the inside over time. A quick pinch of the tips once a month plus one spring shape-up gives you a dense bushy crown that looks amazing in any room of your home.
Read the full article: Ficus Benjamina Care Guide
