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ID & advice for office plant please

josine2302josine2302 Posts: 68
in Problem solving
This plant at my workplace is shedding leaves and looks a bit unhealthy. Two months ago I gave it some new compost and started watering it. At first I started noticing new leaves growing but since a week it’s shedding leaves.. The plant is in quite a cool place, nowhere near a radiator, and about two meters from a ground to ceiling window. Any advice? I know next to nothing about ‘indoor’ plants.

Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I'd say that's looks like some kind of ficus but I can't seem to find a match for it. You said you gave it more compost, did you repot it or just top-dress? It looks like it's got quite a heafty trunk so I'm curious what the root system is like. If it is a ficus then they're quite fussy and prone to dropping leaves especially in the winter. They don't like low temps, dry air or dry soil (or overly wet soil). The plant looks generally healthy though so it could just be the winter effect.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    As far as I know, all ficus exude latex. So if you tried snapping a healthy leaf stem and a sticky milky drop of liquid appears, then it could be a ficus.
    My first thought was some kind of clerodendron (I have one in the garden and the stems look very similar), but I think the leaf shape is wrong, and they're not house plants.

    Billericay - Essex

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  • josine2302josine2302 Posts: 68
    wild edges said:
    I'd say that's looks like some kind of ficus but I can't seem to find a match for it. You said you gave it more compost, did you repot it or just top-dress? It looks like it's got quite a heafty trunk so I'm curious what the root system is like. If it is a ficus then they're quite fussy and prone to dropping leaves especially in the winter. They don't like low temps, dry air or dry soil (or overly wet soil). The plant looks generally healthy though so it could just be the winter effect.
    I just top dressed it, should I repot? Or maybe in spring? I am going to have a look at the roots though. Thank you.
  • josine2302josine2302 Posts: 68
    Pete.8 said:
    As far as I know, all ficus exude latex. So if you tried snapping a healthy leaf stem and a sticky milky drop of liquid appears, then it could be a ficus.
    My first thought was some kind of clerodendron (I have one in the garden and the stems look very similar), but I think the leaf shape is wrong, and they're not house plants.
    No signs of latex while snapping a leave. A have an app for finding out the names of plants, but that works only for outside plants, alas..
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