Question
Hi-
I recently purchased a ficus that is in a young shrub form.  How do I prune it so that it will develop a trunk and grow into a tree.  The nursery said this was possible by continuing to trim the bottom 4-6 inches of growth off of it, but I don't understand how that will develop one strong tree trunk.  Thank you,
Julie

Answer
Julie,

You ned to pick 1 sprout to be the trunk of your tree and prune everything off the lower 4-6 inches of that trunk. Don't cut off the trunk, just cut all branches off of it.
You said it is a shrub, are you sure there is not several trees in your pot?  How tall is it? If there are really several trees in 1 pot you can remove them all from the pot and put them on newspaper then carefully remove as much soil as possible until you can separate the trees. Have several pots ready and additional potting soil and pot each one in it's own pot no larger than the pot it came in. Then trim the lower branches off each tree to reveal the runk. Fertilize your tree or trees with Miracle Grow monthly and they will grow fast. You can repot them once a year in the spring but do not move them to a pot with a diameter more than 2 inches larger than the 1 you are taking it out of. Do this repotting in the spring between April 15th and June 15th. When the tree is as large as you want it to be stop repotting it. Ficus trees do not mind being rootbound. Good luck.

Darlene