How to Prune Small Indoor Indian Banyan Tree

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by universereflected, Jan 28, 2008.

  1. universereflected

    universereflected Member

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    Hello,

    I couple of years ago I purchased some Indian Banyan seeds over the internet. One sprouted, and has since grown into a nearly 2.5 foot tall indoor tree. I originally wanted to turn this into a bonsai tree, but am considering now that it is perhaps too big.

    At any rate, I would like to know if I can/should prune the tree in any way to encourage varied growth or more leaf output (right now the tree is comprised of only one trunk, with no additional branches). I have been concerned that leaves that fall off have not been replaced; new leaves only sprout out of the top as the tree grows upward.

    Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
     
  2. M. D. Vaden

    M. D. Vaden Active Member 10 Years

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    I have zero experience with those, but had a question.

    Do the leaves alternate as they develop and the stem elongates? One to the right, then one to the left, and so on.

    Or do the leaves emerge two at a time, directly opposite one another?
     
  3. globalist1789

    globalist1789 Active Member

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    What you have then is a ficus of some kind, no?

    At 2.5 feet is is certainly not too large to make a bonsai out of. It is normal to allow a tree to grow very large, and then cut it down to a smaller hight in order to make a bonsai that has a fat trunk for it's hight.

    And there is no such thing as an "indoor tree", only trees that can survive indoors. It will do better outside, but in any case, your problem should be easy to fix. Just pinch out the growing tip of the plant. It should send out new shoots along the trunk. It may take a while before you have a bushy tree, but if you like to grow trees from seed as much as I do, waiting is not a problem. Let new shoots grow out to a 3-4 sets of leaves and then pinch the shoot back to 1-2 leaves.
     
  4. universereflected

    universereflected Member

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    Thank you for the replies! I pinched out the top growth, and will wait to see how affects branching/leafing over the months.

    Yes, I believe that Indian Banyan trees are of the ficus family.

    The leaves grow out of the top, one at a time, alternating sides.
     

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