That looks more like F. retusa aka F retusa nitida aka F. microcarpa, than F. benjamina (which has a distinctly weeping appearance) but the root problems are nearly as bad. Eventually the wooden containers will disintegrate and the roots will grow into the ground. Those barrels don't last all that long. As they fall apart you could trim the roots and put them into larger plastic containers with fresh soil that will last a while longer. I don't think you can over water them in containers, unless whatever soil they are in has turned to anaerobic sludge, and even then it would be difficult.

A little balanced fertilizer given at regular intervals (see package directions) and regular water will help them grow more leaves, but that is going to help the roots grow, too. Since they've been shifted to a new sun exposure and since it's been so hot, some leaf-drop is not unexpected.

Ditto for star jasmine, they like some fertilizer and they like some water. Once very well established or cared-for for a while, they can look good with less of both.

Never fertilize dry plants in dry soil; give them a good watering, wait a day or two, then fertilize and water again.

Thanks so much hoovb! I was going off of what the owner of the property said about the benjamina part, but I do see what you're saying about the look of them. So they probably are F. retusa. Thanks!

We were thinking of maybe trying to make a large long concrete planter to put them all in... Maybe that's a better move than leaving them in the barrels...

I'll make sure they have water, and give them the fertilizer after watering like you suggest!

Hmmm. They're great because we need a tall screen, and they were free. But the root part is really troubling. Maybe I'll just keep them in the barrels for a few years and save up for a screen plant with less invasive roots in the meantime...

You just have to get them out of those barrels, root prune the heck out of them and put them in fresh potting medium back in the barrels.

Is it too late to give them back? I'm really not kidding. Take the money you would have spent building and filling in the concrete planter, and dealing with the other problems these plants cause, and use that towards a better solution. There are more ways to gain privacy than planting a screen hedge; pergolas, a strategically placed canopy tree, etc. A good design can work wonders and increase the value of your property.

The easiest way to get them healthy is to remove them from their containers and stick them in the ground. But then the "free" turns into quite expensive to remove, and the problems that causes makes it not a route I would recommend. You can go the root prune and soil replace route to counter the too-small container condition and increase the health of the plants, but barrels often make it extremely difficult to extract the plant. And then there is the cost to replace the container mix. Transplanting into larger plastic containers is expensive, too; the cheap containers often crack within 6-12 months, and the good-quality ones cost more than $125 each with a very good discount.

If you want to keep them in containers as interim screen plants, it is recommended you place those containers on top of a solid surface. Because those roots just love to snake through drainage holes and into real dirt. On the plus side, the escaped roots do stabilize the containers. When Santa Ana winds start whipping, container trees on solid surfaces blow over. I suppose you could place the containers on a solid base, and install 4x4 posts to support and stabilize each of the trees, but then you are moving farther and farther away from that "free" component.

Ha! that's bad news I didn't want to hear. Though I read through all of the ficus posts so I guess I knew what I was getting into. The real problem is that in order to get any privacy from the apartment building directly next to us we need something tall on the order of 15-20' And it's a pretty long run, around 30' long that we need to cover. To get enough of something like podocarpus, which we were considering, that's that tall and would cover that long of a run seems like it would cost a fortune. Or buy smaller trees and have to wait a number of years for any privacy... Maybe there's some way to grow a less invasive permanent solution in front of the ficus and swap them out at some point? I'm open to suggestions of better trees for sure.

Thanks!

You are thinking about privacy the difficult way. Yes, if you want to block their vision at the property line, you need to have a 15-20' vertical visual barrier. If you want privacy, 8-10' high horizontal visual barriers (covered pergola, flat or slanted board lattice patio, and/or canopy trees) provide dual-purpose solutions that are much more appealing visually.

the cheapest horizontal solution would probably be steel cable and agricultural shade cloth.

As far as watering? They are way underwatered. Once a week for plants that size in Oak barrels that are terrible for conserving water even compared to a plain black nursery pot.

The Falcon did give you fair warning about "free" plants. I was given a free Ash tree near 30 years ago. I should have told him I pass.

Now one last..if you are a consciences type who is always on top of your garden,those Ficus will give you that privacy. You just have to set a regular pruning routine to keep them as big shrubs and not all out tree's. It can be done. You see many of these Ficus in Mexico trimmed into all shapes...hemispheres- square hedges.

Thanks so much everyone! We did think about some horizontal options, but maybe I'll need to look into it again. Actually it might be that I'm not fully understanding how it should be done. When I was checking the sight-lines from their windows (It's a tall 2-story building with lots of high windows right at the roof-line, which sits hovering almost over our property line) I couldn't find a way to horizontally block out enough to make a difference without essentially making a roof that covered our entire yard. Adding to the problem, is that there's a grade, rising in the back, so if we built something in the middle of the yard, by the time we got to the back of the yard their windows would be visible over an 8-10' structure. We did plan on planting some olive, citrus, and a palo verde, but it still didn't seem like they'd give us much cover. We also have a utilty pole smack dab in the middle of the back, so we can build much around it.

Thanks so much for the advice!

You realize you're in a global metropolis, right? Provincial suburban privacy paradigms don't fly here unless you have money to burn. A hedge over 6 feet is technically illegal here although the city won't enforce it unless someone files a complaint.

Sadly, I don't have money to burn. But luckily I do like living in a global metropolis, and have never considered myself to have a particularly provincial suburban privacy paradigm. I love my neighbors, and I love that we live in a part of LA that is zoned R2. It just happens that the previous owners before our neighbors put up a very utilitarian, not very global-metropolis-looking rental unit in their backyard that runs right alongside most of our small backyard. And for that reason, both our neighbors and we think it might be nice to have a bit of a screen. Perhaps that may be considered provincial.

I didn't realize that there was a hedge height law for the backyard in LA. I knew that all the ficus-fortress front yards that are popping up everywhere weren't technically allowed, but I didn't know the backyard had similar height restrictions. Good to know!

Makes sense that they wouldn't spend time enforcing it though as the city has it's hands full.

Thanks!

There are a lot of things we cannot see from the photo and description. I can only see the location of one window; the building to the left appears to not have any facing your yard, and we have no idea what is to the right. I cannot tell the size of the yard. Even the type of room(s) the overlooking windows are in can be an important factor; the amount of potential time occupants spend staring out of a window can vary greatly between bathroom, bedroom, living room and kitchen, for example. The utility pole may have clearance and access requirements. Is it in the very center (re your: smack dab) of the entire back yard, or in the center of the left property line area?

Thanks falcon! Here's a pic of the yard with the building shown (before we inherited the trees.)

It's an apartment building that's built over a carport, so the second story windows, I believe, are a bit of their kitchen, the living room, and bedroom, along with their front door and stairs.

The building to the left is actually the auto shop that runs along the back of our lot. No need for privacy there, as their windows are all really high up and frosted.

The pole is in the pic. It's centered in our yard (left to right) but in the back half. Though the mains to our house, the rental, and our neighbors drop down off of it bisecting the space above our yard. Right now the lines droop really low, but because the pole is leaning badly – the DWP is in the (long) process of replacing the pole, which may help with the clearance.

Thanks!

Ok, cool. I just wanted to make sure you're expectations weren't completely unreasonable for the location. I've had clients want to screen 4 story apatment buildings with plants in an 18" planter along the back fence. smh.

DWP just needs to keep the power lines clear (the ones at the very top). You have to keep the tree 5 feet away from them or they'll do it for you, which you don't want their hacks to do. The phone and cable lines don't matter.

The new pictures make the situation look a lot less drastic. You can probably get away with repotting a few of the ficus and just placing them strategically in front of the windows. They'll leaf out really well and be a pretty good screen. you can use the free composted mulch from the city as a base for the potting medium with a lot of perlite added for improved drainage. The only problem is that it will break down pretty quickly so you'll have to repot ficus again in a couple years.

I had a ficus in a large steel container for over 25 years until I gave it away. I root pruned it once or twice but it stayed the same size the whole time because it got minimal water. It was nice and green but didn't get larger. You probably won't need all 20, so think about Craig's List.

I was watching the local news and as they did a story on Haight Street in San Francisco,I could see sidewalk Ficus nitida that were about the height you want. They were pruned into a dense small canopy. They are nice looking tree's.

btw,I cant promise this..but you might want to plant ALL of them shoulder to shoulder. That will go a long way to keeping them as long term tall hedges. If you plant only 3-4,they will want to be tree's. The crowding is a natural way to hold down explosive growth. You should seriously consider being better off planting like a hedge to get a hedge look

You might have to invite all your friends and buy a few cases of beer to dig the holes or trench. Or,hire a crew,or used a backhoe. I know even digging one hole for those tree's is hard work. Soak the ground the day before is my advice.

Yes, the most recent photo gives a better perspective. You have a larger area than first imagined. I'm not a big fan of ficus, nor most examples of straight row of hedge plants, but you could probably make them work for the purpose you desire. I would still be leery of the potential problems, but then, I don't like taking risks for plants that don't excite me. ;-)

You could plant a few even with that patio slab. If you plant right up against the fence,the neighbors might not like the solid block of green right out their window one day. That's when bad pruning happens. If its all on your own property and done right,you're better off.

Yeah, it will definitely be all on our property, and our neighbor is all for it, as the two-story building in the photo is actually a rental she has in her backyard. She wants the renters to have privacy too, so she's happy about the trees! Thanks everyone for all the comments. I'll keep everyone posted on how it turns out.

Also, I've read a bit about root-pruning, but if there's any link to what people think is a great resource on the subject, I'd love to check it out.

Thanks!

They might have been free, but I'd really think twice before planting ficus in your yard. Just don't say I didn't warn you. Ficus grows very vigorously and has a tendency to take over. The roots frequently become invasive. I think there's already too many people planting ficus in Southern California.

Thanks so much parker25mv! Looks like we're both on the same page. I'm not planning on planting them in the ground, and I agree that they're too dominant in LA right now. When I was trying to find a suitable screen plant I read through all of the ficus discussion on here and decided against them. Then these fell into my lap, which opens up budget for native CA plants elsewhere so I'm trying to make lemonade. I'll leave them in the half-barrels, but I'm also open to any suggestions to make them healthier. Root pruning has been suggested above, which I'm looking into now.

Thanks!

Be aware that if you put the barrels on bare ground the trees will quickly send roots through the barrel. My mother put a F. Benjamina in a half barrel on the ground in her yard. Within a year it was firmly rooted in the ground. In about 4 years the barrel had broken apart from the root pressure. It is now an established tree with shoulders where the barrel used to be.

Wow. That's a scary thought. Falcon mentioned something similar. Here's a question though. The trees have been in the barrels for 6 years (at their old location.) They don't have any roots coming out the bottom of the barrels yet. Does that just mean it hasn't happened yet, or did they get root bound in a way that prevents the roots from escaping?

Thanks!

If they were sitting on concrete they wouldn't show roots. My mother previously had her ficus on a patio for several years but when she put it on the ground it wasn't long before it had rooted in place.

Got it. Might have to figure out how to get them sitting on something hard. Thanks!

What if you potted them up in a feeding tank.. or two (local Craigslist?). You may be able to get a couple years out of them until you can get a native hedge in place. Elderberry/Sambucus nigra is a fast growing 20 foot tall CA Native "bush".

You might be able to reuse the tank as a planter for natives after you remove the ficus. You could place them near the patio to get maximum shielding while the new plants fill in.

I noticed this post is 4 years old, but if this gentleman is still looking for a good plant to be used as a windbreak and privacy screen, try hibiscus plants. They grow very quickly have little or no root problems, and make beautiful flowers. You'll see lots of them in Southern California. I started with one gallon cans which were about $7 each for a total of about $150. The shrubs are now 12 ft to 15 ft tall. Only problem you might have can be whiteflies.