As Dave said MG moisture control will retain too much water. This product is more for flowers in the garden in full summer sun then for a houseplant. The "drainage layer" (you have used crush aluminum most people used gravel or broken pottery) is no longer recommended because it creates an aerobic wet zone at the bottom of the pot just above the "drainage layer" . This is called perched water. There are elaborate posts on how water moves through soil over in the container garden forum here on this site that can explain much better than I can. Now back to your plant. If it were mine I would repot it in a fast draining soil. The easiest would be to use a quality soil like Miracle Grow (not the moisture control stuff though) and mix it with perlite at say 40 to 50 % perlite. Some people will point you in the direction of a home made bonsai mix such as 5:1:1 mix. This requires more specialized ingredients and some work to sift the bark for proper size. For a single plant take the easy route and add perlite to your bag of potting soil. I would take a strainer and sift out the dust from the perlite. fine particles just make much. Take out the drainage layer. You can use a stone or piece of a pot to cover the hole (or nothing at all) . Check the roots before you pot the plant back in the pot. Remove any rotted roots. Pot and water carefully. See what happens.

Thank you Dave and Sans2014 for responding, I appreciate it so much. Good news is that I moved the tree to a front window ~10 days ago that gets much more direct sunlight during the day and it has seemed to be a very positive change. All branches have new growth in just that short amount of time. And it hasn't dropped any leaves at all which I also take to be a positive sign of its overall happiness with its new home. So my question is should I repot it now to get rid of the current MG moisture control soil or should I wait until spring? I know not to over water. I wait until the soil is dry an inch below the surface. Maybe the roots will still suffer though btwn now and spring in the current soil? There is a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot and it is sitting on a drainage pan. Also, maybe Al or someone will tell me if and when I should trim the leading branch off since there is a large gap.

I read a few posts of Dave's and feel better about thinking I haven't been pruning correctly bc the regrowth that comes up is at different angles than what I thought they should be. I actually started bending them slightly with my fingers to see if I can manipulate them at all before I even read the posts. I feel like I'm learning slowly but surely.

As for now I'm just happy that it seems to be moving in a more positive direction, no matter how small. Thanks so much for the feedback!

Thank you Dave and Sans2014 for responding, I appreciate it so much. Good news is that I moved the tree to a front window ~10 days ago that gets much more direct sunlight during the day and it has seemed to be a very positive change. All branches have new growth in just that short amount of time. And it hasn't dropped any leaves at all which I also take to be a positive sign of its overall happiness with its new home. So my question is should I repot it now to get rid of the current MG moisture control soil or should I wait until spring? I know not to over water. I wait until the soil is dry an inch below the surface. Maybe the roots will still suffer though btwn now and spring in the current soil? There is a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot and it is sitting on a drainage pan. Also, maybe Al or someone will tell me if and when I should trim the leading branch off since there is a large gap.

I read a few posts of Dave's and feel better about thinking I haven't been pruning correctly bc the regrowth that comes up is at different angles than what I thought they should be. I actually started bending them slightly with my fingers to see if I can manipulate them at all before I even read the posts. I feel like I'm learning slowly but surely.

As for now I'm just happy that it seems to be moving in a more positive direction, no matter how small. Thanks so much for the feedback!

Heidi,

That is good news that your plant is putting on new leaves.

I've never used moisture control so I'm not sure how easy it is to tell the moisture level of the soil. If it were my plant I would repot it into better soil.

I've read that you can use a skewer or chop stick to test soil moisture by pushing the stick down toward the bottom and when you withdraw it you'll be able to see if the dirt clings or is moist. I have one of these myself. They can take quite a bit of abuse, as I've done all sorts of things to it from over watering to under watering to putting it outside too soon or returning it inside too late. I've still got the original plant, and a couple of propagation now also, LOL! So keep up the good work and keep asking questions too! Good luck with it.

Sounds good. I'm glad the thread I started helped you. Al (Tapla), has incredible knowledge about these trees any many others. If you read thoroughly through that thread where he was offering me advice, you should definitely get a feel for pruning.

In the right conditions, these trees grow insanely fast!

chop it back a bit and stick it outside in direct sunlight when the weather warms up again next year. Leave it there all summer.

You may notice leaves turn white and fall off, but when the new growth comes out, it'll be thicker and fuller than ever. You could have a great looking tree by the end of next summer!

when in direct sunlight, you will need to water more often.

repot in June and use 5 parts pine bark mulch, 1 part peat and 1 part perlite. Al's gritty mix is also a great option, or so I've read from many. You may need to prune some roots too. Since you've had that tree 9 years, the root system has to be hindering its ability to grow and take up nutrients as the roots are probably all strangling each other at this point.

just make sure you don't over water it right now. You could also elevate the pot and add some wicks to help remove some of the perched water in the soil. I've done that and it works wonders.

Do you water in sips, or do you water till it starts coming out the drain hole at the bottom?

The skewer method works pretty well. Stick it in, it it comes out with dirt sticking to it, the soil is still wet. If it comes out clean / with very little soil sticking to it, it's time to water.

Also, you should post in container gardening when posting about Ficus Benjamina. The ficus you have, and figs are completely different and you're not going to get many responses in here.