Defoliation Error?

I have a 7 year old Golden Gate Ficus that I've had only 3 months. After giving the tree time to settle in, I wanted to decrease leaf size and encourage back budding. I researched how to do this on line and settled on defoliation. The tree seemed healthy and was sending out a lot of new growth on top. I decided to start with the 4 lowest branches on the tree. So I snipped off the leaves on those lower 4 branches. But I mad a critical error and didn't snip the leaves off while leaving part of the bit that attaches the leaves to the branch. I took the leaves off all the way down to the branch. So now, after 4 weeks, the branches are still bare and show no sign of producing new leaves (smaller or larger). Any suggestions on how to get these now bare branches to produce new leaves?