Hello
I bought a ficus elastica last year and it has grown quite well. At the moment it is in the conservatory.

The little nodes above the leaves started to grow and now tiny leaves have started to unfurl. I've googled but can't find out why this is.

If I cut of the new leaf growth at the top of the plant will this encourage one of the funny little leaves to grow into a branch?

Thank you

Maybe post a picture?

You already have a little branch started at that point so you don't have to do anything more.

Thank you so much for getting back to me. There are actually 6 of these little branches growing. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Kind Regards
Ann

Hi & welcome! It sounds like your tree is super happy!

If you've got 6 it's a very happy plant! Congrats and enjoy!

In the crotch formed by the leaf stem and the branch or stem the leaf is attached to (called the leaf axil), there are a row of buds which are normally suppressed (from growing) by a chemical/hormone produced in the growing tip of the branch or stem. Did something happen to the branch/stem tip? It's unusual for so many suppressed buds to suddenly become active on F elastica.

Here is a tip. Removing the mature leaves below the new branch will make internodes on the new branch shorter and your plant fuller and more compact.

Also, if you pinch each new branch after it has 2 leaves on it, 2 more (new) branches will grow from the axils of the 2 new leaves. Example:

This rooted Ficus microcarpa cutting was pinched, as can be seen by the stub I intentionally allowed to remain. The act of pinching forced 2 new branches to grow in the axils of the mature leaves. I will remove the mature leaves you see in the image, and as soon as the the 2 new branches have 2 leaves, I will pinch those branches. So from 2 branches, I'll get 4. When I pinch those 4 back to 2 leaves, I'll get 8, then 16, 32, 64, .....

If you pinch your 6 new branches after 2 new leaves have opened, you will end up with 12 branches. Another pinch after those branches have 2 new leaves, you'll have 24, .....

Al

Hello and thank you for the advice.
As you can tell I'm a complete novice.
I bought the plant at the end of last summer from a local supermarket/grocery store and it has grown well. I live in Scotland so wasn't sure how it would do in winter but it's growth just slowed down.
At the start of spring the trunk looked like it was thickening out, so I repotted.
As I said I'm a novice and just used the only compost I had which was GroPlus Seaweed Compost and I mixed in some coco coir. I've just checked, and it says that the compost is "packed with micronutrients and trace elements including phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and growth hormones (such as auxins and cytokinins)".
So maybe I've overdosed it on auxin.
I haven't done anything to the stem tip, but I have noticed the last few leaves haven't had a sheath and the last leaf was a much lighter green. I presume it's putting all its energy into growing the new stems and leaves.
I checked the plant this morning and another four nodes are starting to grow, and I think by tomorrow there should be two leaves on a couple of the lower new little branches so I will take your advice and pinch them.
Thank you again.

At the start of spring the trunk looked like it was thickening out, so I repotted. What do you mean by thickening out, and did you use that as an indication it needed repotting? Typically, root congestion starts to take a toll on growth, vitality (health), the plant's ability to defend itself, and eye appeal about the time that the soil/root mass can be lifted from the container intact.

As I said I'm a novice and just used the only compost I had which was GroPlus Seaweed Compost and I mixed in some coco coir. I've just checked, and it says that the compost is "packed with micronutrients and trace elements including phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and growth hormones (such as auxins and cytokinins)." So maybe I've overdosed it on auxin. I'd take that advertising with a grain of salt (means 'doubt it' over here). Anything organic contains a wide variety of nutrients, and the growth regulators auxin and cytokinin are synthesized within the plant for its own purposes - so a bit of hype on the package
Auxin and cytokinin are antagonists that work at cross purposes with each other. One of auxin's jobs is to suppress lateral branch growth, one of cytokinin's is to stimulate suppressed buds. Usually, those buds wouldn't be breaking on your tree since it's apically dominant (auxin wins out over cytokinin in apically dominant trees to a large degree), but it's a bit of serendipity, so enjoy it.

I haven't done anything to the stem tip, but I have noticed the last few leaves haven't had a sheath and the last leaf was a much lighter green. I presume it's putting all its energy into growing the new stems and leaves. Ficus have an appendage called a stipule that often acts as a bud sheath, and which is shed as the leaf starts to open. They often go unnoticed.
I checked the plant this morning and another four nodes are starting to grow, and I think by tomorrow there should be two leaves on a couple of the lower new little branches so I will take your advice and pinch them. Great! To keep your tree at it's best, this pruning plan will be very helpful. Short internodes make the fullest and most compact plants. To ensure they all remain short, prune like this:
1) Keep pinching all branches back to 2 leaves all summer.
2) In September, stop pinching and allow your tree to grow unencumbered by pruning all winter. All the late fall, winter, and early spring growth will have long internodes, so prune all the longish growth back to the previous summer's growth, which will force back-budding.
3) Pinch all summer and restart the cycle again in fall and repeat year after year. You'll soon be thinning out branches in strategic areas to let more light into the middle of the canopy.

Keep in mind that your tree is programmed genetically to spend about 2/3 of its energy in the top 1/3 of the tree. This means you can (should, for best results) prune the top back harder and partially defoliate it to slow the top down (or else the branches in the top will grow heavy and the lower branches will weaken/wane). Pruning the top harder and removing some foliage here and there from the top is how you balance the tree's energy flow so the lower branches stay strong.

Too, as I noted, it's very helpful to remove the mature leaves when you see a branch growing in the leaf's axil (crotch).

Best luck. Keep us updated on your progress, please.
Al