Carol Cloud Bailey: Manage a cold-damaged ficus by pruning dead wood, watering

Q: My ficus took a hard hit, and every leaf has fallen off of it. Over the years, the hedge has grown taller, so I want to cut it down to about 18 inches tall. Hopefully, this will help with recovery. What tips or suggestions can you give me to speed up the recovery process?

— Tim, Port St. Lucie

A: Ficus trees have been popular for planting and sheering into hedges in South Florida. The species most often used are tropical trees and often suffer damage when temperatures fall to freezing or when frost forms. Many ficus hedges and trees in Treasure Coast landscapes have lost their leaves and may have branch damage from this winter's cold.How much damage has been done to ficus and other landscape plants is hard to determine at this time. Once the danger of cold has passed, best practices for managing a cold-damaged landscape include pruning any dead wood until green is found and the application of water when the soil is dry. The general rule for pruning trees, shrubs and grasses is never to remove more than of the plant. This assures there is enough wood and leaves left on the plant to refuel new growth.

However, if damage covers more than of the plant, prune until healthy green is found. Ficus plants are very aggressive and often grow when poor pruning practices are used. There is no evidence that harsh pruning — cutting a plant to the ground — does any good. The results are often rapid dense growth and a shortened life span. I don't recommend the popular end-of-season pruning of landscape shrubs to the ground.

Ficus trees, whether planted as trees or pruned to hedges, are among my least favorite plants. They are riddled with insect problems, they easily grow out of scale and bounds for the location, the roots can damage water lines and other structures and some species are invasive plants.

If your Ficus hedge has considerable damage from two years of cold and the ficus whitefly, consider replacing them with cold-hardy and more easily managed plants. Some of my favorites include Simpson stopper, marlberry, butterfly bush, fiddlewood, Florida privet, wild coffee, dwarf schefflera and rosemary.