bnsaijim

Mike,

Since thsi is one of your first trees I'd not bother with a grow box. I'd enjoy this one as is and maybe learn a few things in the process.

You've already heard some very good styling advice. You'd really have to hack it back to achieve a decent informal, and it'd be an awkward one at that. I'd opt for a broom style, a broom style variant where the branches emerge at varying heights from a single leader or a formal upright (unnatural for ficus but still an option).

Better yet, save the branches you cut off. Jam them in a pot of coarse sand and you'll probably have much better candidates alter for your informal...

Some other things I've learned which were alluded to by the others:

Pinching back: You'll see spiky growth tips - you can give these a twist to remove- seems to stop the branch dead in it's tracks. If you defoliate the branch too much the branch may shrivel up.

Or, if you let these open up to small leaves you can tweeze the center out, leaving a leaf. At least half the time it seems the whole thing come soff. no big deal.

Defoliation: You'll see larger leaves growing at branch junctions. These seem to suppress branch development and can be cut off. Usually this will cause a fast extension of that branchlet. Control the internode with pinching technique #2 but save that leaf! Not a big deal as you can usually get subranches to pop later or cut the whole new extension back...

You can cut large leaves off ( particularly where you see a desirable bud emerging) at anytime but as stated, never completely defoliate a branch- always leave a few at the ends...

You can see my "first benjamina" in my Gallery...

Sincerely,

Jim Stone
Galveston