Hello All!

About a month ago I transplaned a white fig sapling from my back yard in Arizona. I brought it out with me to San Diego where it has taken well to the weather. It has doubled in size but during transplating the sapling on the right has died. Right now I am just letting it grow since it is so small. The leaves have been very big so ive been taking them off once they reach full size and leaving the stem as you can see.

I do not have any ideas for what it will look like yet, looking at pictures online of mature fig trees for inspiration. Any tips, ideas, or expertise would be greatly appriciated!!

-Gabriel

Hi Gabriel,

Sweet trees-to-be

In the current state, I would probably not clip of leaves. Your little saplings seem quite small. The current state of the plant is to try and bulk up. And although you do not want your plant to gow out to a massive tree you probably to want them to stay alive. After trnasplanting them (And most likely damaging the roots somewhat) the plant needs strength to recover.

As for how further.. Depends a little on the size you want the tree to be, and which 'school' you follow. I have asked a question about trunc thickening, which still waits for an answer: Some say: Grow the plant for a few years without any limitation. You will get a fat trunc. THen you trim the whole thing back to 1/3 of the height you want, and in stenps you start building a tree around it. The other sais: That will eave nasty scars. Grow the tree very slowly over time. The latter may take 15 years before something resembling an old tree starts to form. The first method may take some 6, 7 years (When starting from seedling: If you can get a 4 year old tree from the wild you only need a few years).

I have not decided yet, although my 3 year old seedling Larix'are trimmed by-weekly to stimulate backbudding and tender growth. These trees are however around 20-40cm already, with quite some biomass, and can deal with a bit of maltreatment

I agree with leatherback, don't take the leaves off, he needs leaves to survive

It is a nice tree, maybe make a mame/shohin in the future?

thank you both!

I just got a little ahead of myself. I'll see where it is in a year, its growing pretty fast.

Is there anything that I should look out for, or anything that I can do now to help promote growth in one spot while it is growing?

let it grow, when there are more leaves the tree will grow faster because of the fotosynthesis of the leaves. So let it leave for a while, and remind that jade trees live in very dry countries so don't give it too much water, first let the soil dry out before watering it again!

Good luck!

I realize I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but there is only one response I can give.
SOOOOOO CUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!