Ok, I know nothing about ficus except what I've found online. In fact I've never done well with plants until last year, and now I've been successful :)

I always loved the look of the ficus so when my neighbor was getting evicted he mentioned getting rid of his ficus he's had for 5 years. I hadn't seen the neighbor since and I thought he took it with him as I told him I would take it. This was mid December (2013). People came to empty the house this past Monday. I saw the ficus in the driveway (they were getting ready to throw it out) I was so appalled, at 20-30 degrees the tree was sitting outside and bone dry. Leaves were still feeling healthy but droopy and turning slightly brown. Since I've had it (5 days) I did a heavy water and it's inside but there has been only cloudy skies, no sun. Every leaf is now falling off and drying up, getting browner.

Tree is over 6 foot tall and 4 foot across, I don't know if I'm doing anything right. I have no idea what type of ficus it is but the original owner garbage picked it 5 years ago, it's always been outdoors from spring the early fall. Inside during winter. I don't know if I can post pictures? But I'm not sure if the pot is even big enough but could take measurements if needed. I would love to save it but I don't know how long it wasn't watered for, the owner had no water in the house since summer but occasionally bought a few gallons. It's possible the tree had not been watered since it came indoors in sept/oct.

I don't know if this is just a waiting game to see what happens or take more measures. I like to say I'm strong for a woman but I lifted the entire tree myself into my SUV and carried it through the entire house to place it in the living room. In my personal opinion, with it being so dry was fairly light but made it still a chore- but size wise should never have been a one person job! No way was the soil even damp or I would have needed help...