Hi. I was given this Bush today and realized that it is completely out of control. The stems are all leaning towards the back of the pot and spreading sideways. It's seems really healthy and I really want to make this work but it's just to wide. My question is, can I cut one of the main stems and make it grow upwards instead of sideways? Will I damage it? Are the main roots in the soil separable?
You can stake it up and also cut it back a little.
I would stake it to start with. Try to pull the trunks closer to vertical.
The one that refuses, cut that off perhaps as small as a foot high. If it already has a side branch, perhaps see if the side branch can be controlled, and cut off the main part above this branch.
Roots are probably so tangled you won't get them untangled.
I have one in the ground in a covered patio that is doing the same thing. I simply pull it back upright and tie it there.
I think those things are immortal and indestructible. I left one in its pot sitting on the ground by my porch after a termite tenting... and left it too long. What do I know about tap roots? Now I whack and hack to keep it from devouring my hose connection out there, giving it no respect whatsoever. If you put that pot out on bare ground and don't want a permanent addition, be sure to use a paver under it - I'm buying more concrete pavers all the time, now that I know better. Syb
There are a couple of ways to fix your issue, but now isn't a good time to be doing any significant work on a tropical/subtropical tree - save that until mid to late June when the tree has good energy reserves and its ability to make food (photosynthesizing) is peaking. This ensures the least amount of stress and fastest recovery. Doing heavy work now ensures at best a very long recovery, during which the plant will be more susceptible to insects and diseases
The easiest way (at a more appropriate time) is to simply separate the 3 trunks by more or less evenly dividing the roots between them when you cut the individual stems apart, if that's even required. Based on the appearance of the plants (probably from 3 cuttings), their root systems aren't well developed, so little or no inosculation should be found in the roots. Once separated, simply repot the stems at a more appropriate/desirable attitude - preferably in an appropriate medium, which would be one that allows you to water to beyond the saturation point (so you're flushing the soil when you water) w/o having to worry the soil will remain soggy so long it supplies a breeding ground for diseases and limits root function. This is a very important point.
Another way is to move the plants outdoors when nights are reliably above 55-60* so they can gain some reserve energy. I'd actually just move them right out into full sun with no acclimation period. This will probably kill the existing foliage, but the plant will quickly push a new flush of growth tuned exactly to the high intensity and duration of summer sun. From the perspective of energy gain, this is much better than trying to acclimate the indoor foliage to outdoor conditions, which is very unlikely to happen. Leaves can only adjust to higher and lower light levels by degrees w/o the plant shedding the leaf anyway. Once the plant begins to react to the intense light and added air movement by backbudding, you can cut the stems back to just inside the pot rim, then choose the stems you want that break off the short stubs of trunk.
The plant pictured was given to me to "fix" by a church member who said "give it away - I don't want it. Soon after I worked it, a guy contacted me from Boston or NYC (I forget) with a story about how he killed his fiancé's scheff while she was abroad with family vacationing. Since there's only 1 degree of dead, I offered to send him the plant, and she sent her thanks and a picture of the plant in its new home.
Al
