And do not give up as you can always improve your mistake and turn the potted plant into a real tree. The first couple months it looks like it is in shook and then comes back greener and fuller. I believe its time to re-pot this tree again, thoughts.Thanks for any advise you can give me as I do not want to lose my tree after all these years. I have a seemingly healthy potted ficus tree (approx 5ft tall and lives in 12 in depth of soil, 15 in diameter pot) that has started to drop yellow leaves. It made an amazing difference with some of our potted ficus trees that had a really bad white fly infestation. Fertilizer just makes it happen faster, when you're not watering properly - or CAN'T, because of a heavy soil. Change In Season At night I bring it back inside (around 76 degrees Fahrenheit). You Said It: Imagine It Empty and More Tips of the Week, need advice on plants, jade plant and dracaena maginata, How to overwinter decidous and pine young prebonsai seedlings in z5. Look for dark, foul/sour-smelling roots, or roots that separate, leaving only the center pith behind and attached to the root when you pull on them. Spots become brown and leaves fall. Ficus trees (Weeping fig) are beautiful and interesting household plants. When you water in small sips, ALL the salts in both fertilizer and tap water remain in your soil. Leaf Drop Ficus benjamina: Leaves yellow and fall. Percentage? BTW these diseases come in the shipping containers from Asia and SA they say. Ficus benjamina, also known as weeping fig, sheds its leaves at the slightest provocation, but brown leaf tips signal something more amiss. Wood under the bark is black. Our nightly temperatures were not going below 40, however the other night it went below what was perdicted.My tree has leaves turning brown and the new growth has turned brown too. It is currently about 5 feet tall. Things in the vitality department aren't going to improve much until after the vernal equinox, when your plant starts getting really stimulated by day length, but we can still work on what are the most likely factors that limit growth and vitality, the greatest of which are likely either a high level of soluble salts or watering habits, with a strong leaning toward the salts issue, as you already suspect. She said she fertilizes every 1-2 months; from that we can draw the conclusion she's had the plant a while. The natural osmotic flow of water is from the soil solution into cells because there is a higher concentration of certain solutes inside of cells than in the soil solution. Randy;It is around 50 (10 C) at night here, so i will keep it outside. A plant in shock has very little need for water. I water it daily like I always did. It may have also dropped leaves because it was half-dormant (the light outside would have told it it's winter, even if it's indoors). I do not have a green thumb, but wish I did. It's a schefflera, but like ficus, it doesn't suffer wet feet well. Could the mealybug be responsible for the great loss of leaves? The rubber plant (Ficus elastica) is a tough plant.It can grow to over 100' tall outdoors. Ficus tree (Ficus benjamina), also known as weeping fig, makes an attractive, undemanding houseplant. This guarantees a salt build-up in soils that usually becomes more concentrated and manifest as winter progresses. See, a ficus tree hates change. If you can get hold of a fluorescent fixture, hang it so it's 4-5 inches above the plant, use 40w Full Spectrum Grow bulbs in there for 15 hours a day you'd be just about right. It WOULD be better if all this was happening in summer, but it's not, and it needs to be addressed now, as it's unlikely the tree will straighten out w/o your direct intervention. Should I repot or trim as you suggest to some of the other posts? A key point here is a soil that drains well enough to allow (both of) you to flush the soil w/o having to worry about root rot. As I read from the forum, my ficus is in shock. That would mean the tree is still alive. We need to take an active role. I'll ttyl, or maybe someone else will chime in. This process IS energy driven, though. it is killing all types of citrus. Please read what I wrote above, in this post, to DB, and follow the link to the thread about fertilizing if you want to learn more. And all the new buds that had been furled tightly at the base of mature leaves shriveled and turned crispy. Are they private enough for you? The only problem is that you can't provide enough sun 15 hours a day as up-close as it wants it (where you live). I have placed the Ficus in medium light (it's not near the window). Ficus should be watered thoroughly. Makes me think it still has a chance to survive, at least. Does it get too much direct sunlight from the skylight above it?Would the permanent plant pot be a problem for future watering patterns when I flush it?Its summer in SA at the moment and the temperature is about 35 degrees Celcius. My miniature Ficus tree is over 20 years old, recently I moved from Southern California to Southern Oregon. Can someone give me some advice ? LucyI have placed it inside next to a window where there is 7-8 hours sunlight. Can I check it by scratching?Thank you for your answers. In short, dropping the leaves is a survival mechanism for Ficus trees. I was told to scratch a bit on it's bark to see if it was still green and it is. My tree is so sparcely leafed that I am sure I am killing it. Hi,Ok,So if I have mealybug what do you recommend? Nor can we judge the state of vitality of your tree before the exposure to sudden chill, which is a deciding factor insofar as whether or not your tree has enough energy to push another flush of foliage, assuming it is still viable. Here is a link that might be useful: Billy_gsk's Live Space. If I guessed you were just getting interested in learning how to best provide for your plants' cultural needs, would I be right? I love this tree and do not want to lose it now after all these years it's been with me. Really hard to say without any photos. It should require less water in the winter. My guess is, the soil has been kept overly wet, which accounts for a very high % of the problems for which folks eventually arrive here in search of resolution. Although the ficus bonsai tree is fairly resistant to pests, some bonsai varieties can be affected by various diseases. Ficus tree (Ficus benjamina), also known as weeping fig, makes an attractive, undemanding houseplant. Otherwise, give it a few weeks of infrequent watering and see if it doesn't come back with new leaves - elms are great that way, and it may well be fine if it isn't fussed anymore. If this location is not ideal for the plant, please advise and I would need to repot ASAP as I dont want to lose the plant. You can't buy the soil in the pic. The rapid dehydration is caused by the same process of reverse osmosis that cures ham/bacon. I hardly ever water it (less than once a week, I'd say) and when I do I don't give it much (1/2 gall) because the water will soak thru and spill out over the tray and onto my hard wood floor! * In the AM, return the pot to the container (This part would be skipped too, if the plant did not remain unpotted overnight.) Foliar Nematode Ficus elastica: Areas between the leaf veins yellow and die. I'm trying to doctor it back to health. BTW these diseases come in the shipping containers from Asia and SA they say. But I have checked smaller ones and they are dry and brown. I have about 100 ficus in a greenhouse that goes down to mid 30's some nights, but usually in mid 40's. It may not survive, especially if it's not used to it. Plants that are overwatered react the same as if they weren't watered at all. I water it about every 10 days or when the top of the soil is dry and I never let it sit in water. We will try to describe all the major symptoms and ways how to save the evergreen shrub. Ficus tree’s only drawback is that, given a sudden change in temperature, humidity or wind speed, your lovely weeping fig might play dead and drop all its leaves. Keep the soil 'just damp'. I have removed them since reading somewhere that fertilizing has a negative effect if the tree is loosing leaves. The first month was uneventful, but over the course of the last month (November) it has lost most of it's leaves … Are you sure it wouldn't be a problem to place it under the direct sunlight near the window? This will not cost you anything and is such a good idea. I thought for a while on how to approach your particular issue. I must say the roots look perfectly fine, so I didn't cut in those.I suppose the healthy roots are actually a good sign? En savoir plus. Did you actually repot, which includes soil removal and root pruning, or just pot up? Change in environme… Ficus trees require regular watering. While I do see new growth (new budding leaves, so to speak), they aren't growing as far as I can see (which does make sense,since it's not the right time of year for that), the rate at which the leaves are falling is freaking me out. When the soil does feel dry, give it enough water so you see it drain out the bottom. The plant still gets a lot of afternoon sun as it sits in front of a glass sliding door to the SW. Q. Ficus tree lost LOTS of leaves Was doing well for several years 10+. I have moved home in the last 2. 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