Pruning Tall Fiddle Leaf Fig

[Curt]

Hi,

A couple years ago I started a new Fiddle Leaf fig tree by rooting a clipping. It grew into a beautiful tree with many pairs of huge leaves. But it consists only of a single tall stem. I've kept rotating the pot to keep it from leaning toward the sun. Still growing faster than ever, it hit the ceiling last week and is starting to bend over and deform.

How should I care for this plant? I don't seem to have any choice but to top it off, but I'm worried what would happen. Would that cause it to start branching prolifically at the top? Is there a way to encourage side shoots? Would that cause it to become imbalanced? Can it be encouraged to start new shoots at the base?

Thanks for any insight you can provide!
Curt

[Rima]

Why not airlayer it halfway down, and end up with two plants? The orig. would branch out more, but you can keep that in check by careful pruning.

[Curt]

Thanks, I was just reading about air layering and I may try it. It seems like a pretty advanced technique. The other possibility is to just discard the top half of the tree, but that would be sad since it's full of strong growth.

If the plant started branching about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way up, it should remain pretty attractive. I'd have to keep the fig outside during an air layering process because it's already 6" taller than my ceiling. Should I cover the base of the pot with polyethylene wrap also to prevent it from getting infested with bugs, or does the root system really need to breath?

[Rima]

Yes it needs to breathe, never mind get rained on and never mind the mold and mildew that would occur with a plastic cover on in direct sun.