Ficus troubles
gp2446
Posts: 1
Hi everyone,
I have been having major trouble with my ficus. I've had it for a few months and it would occasionally drop leaves, but nothing extraordinary until recently. And it consistently has been growing new shoots off the branches. I think it developed an infection of some sort because when I pulled the pot out of its container, there was this clumpy white stuff near one of the drainage holes. And leaves were browning. So I decided to repot it.. I removed most of the existing soil around the roots to get rid of any suspicious stuff .. (amount of weird stuff was minimal).. and I put it in a slightly bigger pot. Maybe an inch bigger. Now, it's losing leaves like crazy.. entire branches are full of dead leaves .. yet are growing newshoots too. What do you think is going on here? I'm a true novice with this stuff and I appreciate any and all advice.
Posts
It is evergreen but even so, at some point, the leaves age and need to be renewed.
It's a rubber plant so any wounds will leak white sticky stuff. I think yours might just be a bit hungry so try giving it liquid feeds for leafy house plants. If that doesn't help, pot on again into good quality compost such as John Innes no 3 which is loam based so will give decent drainage.
Make sure you do not over water as it won't like wet feet but don't let it get too dry either. At that size, it's easiest perhaps to dunk the whole pot in a bucket of water till no more air bubbles appear and then drain it and return to its display pot or drip tray. Once a week in summer, less often in lower heat and light levels. I also put mine under the shower every couple of months to remove dust from the leaves but ordinary baby wipes work well too if you have the patience to do it leaf by leaf.