Hello - first post here!

I bought this fiddle leaf fig from a box store about a year ago. He was brought home as we were finalizing a remodel and moving back in our house so wasn't repotted or quite honestly, given that much care and attention until ~Oct. 21'. He has since then been repotted and seems to be doing well in his South facing window (Atlanta, GA).

I think we'd like to keep him somewhat bushy rather than a bare trunk with a tree-like top but I'm worried that he has too many main trunks? I count 9 trunks growing from the soil. Should I remove several of the smaller trunks or would this just cause additional trunks to grow?

Any advice is appreciated - thanks!
Dave

This is just what a well grown fig can do. Yours looks wonderful.

Why would you want to mess with something that looks so good? Just leave it as is Dave!

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the feedback! We love the way it looks but were worried that with so many shoots coming out of the soil they would eventually be competing against each other.

If this is normal and no reason to worry then we will keep him exactly as he is!

Dave

That is not a valid worry Dave. Think about it. If your conditions were not so darn good and the plant wasn't so darn happy, it would not made so many stems. Making that many stems is not a problem.

What's the old saying, "Don't look for a problem where none exist"!!! Something like that.

Ken is our Fiddle Fig expert, what do you think @drdawg ?

I think your plant looks wonderful. I'd be happy if I owned that plant.

Thank you very much everyone for the helpful advice! Glad to hear he doesn't need any work besides the usual care:)

Dave

@dave0538, first things, first. Please go to your "Profile" page and put your location. I know you said
"Atlanta", but if you'll list that (and the USDA zone) in your profile, this will show when you post. Often, folks won't take the time or know to go back and read your initial post.

You are really, really lucky to have so many stems on such a young plant. In fact, I'm not sure you have a single plant or multiple plants. I have a 30 yr. old fiddle that has 14 stems, but those stems multiplied over a 20 yr. period. My tree is now outside in Vero Beach, FL (she grew in NE Mississippi for her first 25 yr.). When I removed her from her pot and put her in the ground 3 yr. ago, she was about 7' tall. She's now about 25' tall. But she was acclimated to full sun, and the fact that she's in-ground, makes all the difference in the world.

You can certainly remove stems as you wish, and they may or may not regrow. Even with so many stems, it's no big deal to cut her back whenever you need to. While in MS, having to bring my plant inside every fall, my fiddle was cut back a foot in the spring and then another foot in the fall, just to be able to get her through a doorway. She came inside in early November and then went back outside in late March. She was in a 30" diameter pot and was in that same pot for 15 yr., before going in-ground when I moved to FL. She was so root-bound that I had to destroy the expensive composite pot to free her.

The photo was taken 10/30/2020. This tree is now about 10' taller.

Profile updated - thank you for the assistance!

Sounds like I lucked out when picking this one and should leave it be and continue to enjoy!

Thanks again for all the help and advice!

Dave

Enjoy your fiddle leaf ficus, Dave. I enjoyed mine, potted for all those years, enjoyed propagating fiddles, both marketing seedlings as well as rooted cuttings, and am enjoying seeing my plant grow to become a huge tree.

Looking forward to it! Do you have any links to forums on propagating? I think it would be fun to try.

Goggle "Air Layering", Dave. That's the best way I found to propagate. In my hands, I seldom could get a stem cutting to root, but I was using rooting media. They might root in water, but I never tried that method. Air layering was highly successful though.

Thank you!!!