As an old-school horticulturist of over 40 years and in spite of opinions to the contrary, I would never put a tropical in any kind of gritty mix. I would however highly recommend the 5-1-1 mix for your ficus.

Regarding repotting this time of year, I think it would be okay but please wait until someone more familiar with benjaminas checks in with an opinion. They will probably want to know where you are and your zone, so you might post that info as soon as possible.

Russ

Thank you Russ, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I am in MA, just south of Boston

Wait until June for the full repot. You could slightly pot up this time of year, but you'd be stuck using the same type of soil.

Looks nice. One of my f. Benjamina was smaller then that when I got it in feb of 2015. It's now 7' tall.

Mine largest one is currently in an 18" terra cotta pot in the 5:1:1 mix.

I summer them outdoors in full direct sun and obviously winter them indoors since I'm in Vermont.

where is it currently placed? Which direction do those doors face? I feel it might not be enough light.

Be carful about watering. These trees are easy, but you'll quickly kill it if you give it too much love in the form of water.

Great find! Was it very expensive?

Ficus that size can usually be had for around $20.

not saying that's what the op paid, but that's what they go for at the box stores.

I'm excited about it, and agree it's probably best to wait for full repot. I paid $50 but it is from a very nice nursery and I hadn't seen one that looks this good elsewhere. Just got it yesterday and it was living outside in a shady area. The lady at the store said to put inside since it's getting cooler and they don't like to be moved around a lot. Should I put outside for a few days before transitioning it in, or should I find the sunniest spot inside and leave it? The doors in the pictures are facing more west/north west. I have bay windows in the room facing south east, or I can do a different room all together???

FWIW, all my many ficus are in the gritty mix and all exhibit stellar vitality and growth rates. You've all seen pictures of the trees I actually have to defoliate or cut leaves in half to slow them down because they grow so strongly in the gritty mix. That said, the 5:1:1 mix is also a great choice for Fb.

I'd also wait until mid-June of '17 to repot. Getting into a rhythm that finds you repotting and doing any heavy pruning in the last 2 weeks of spring or first 2 weeks of summer allows you to work harmoniously with the plant's natural rhythms, instead of disregarding it's strengths/weaknesses and letting the chips fall where they might. If the timing of regular maintenance activities like pruning and repotting can be ordered so they favor the plant and minimize the severity/duration of any stress caused, it hardly makes sense to adopt the 'any time is ok for anything' perspective. You'll actually feel better about how you approach growing when you realize you're working with your plant's natural tendencies instead of against them.

If the plant is very root bound, you can pot up slightly now if you like, but do be careful to avoid over-watering.

Al

Rina,

my tree was just about that size. The canopy was just not quite as fat. Got it for $19.99 at Lowes in February of 2015. It's now 7 feet tall.

the nurseries sometimes get nicer looking plants, but I think most places have ridiculous prices. Ficus are so easy to propagate and grow extremely fast.

Anyway, it would do best right up in front of a southern facing window. A north facing window will not provide enough light.

You can keep it outside of you want until nighttime temps start to dip below 55°.

You will probably notice some leaf shed as it'll need to acclimate to its new home. Don't worry though. Water when the soil feels dry at the drain hole.

As Al said, gritty or 5:1:1 would be great. Do that next June and then put it outside for the summer. If you really want it to take off, at that point, acclimate it to full sun.

I do this by first placing the tree in an area that recieves only ambient light from the sky and no direct sun for about a full week. Then move it out for to full sun for an hour a day, then a couple hours a day and so on until it's in full sun all day.

The full sun grown leaves look the best. More uniform in size and they are much glossier too.

I will absolutely wait to do anything major but do you think it would be better for the tree to pot up or leave it alone?

It's always better for the tree to give roots more room to run; but the qualifier is: if you can be sure you're able to avoid over-watering/soil saturation. If you do decide to pot up, you'd do well to consider increasing the volume of the pot/soil combination minimally, or using a considerably larger pot and building the planting with enough ballast to reduce the volume of soil in the planting capable of holding perched water to the degree root health/function won't be limited appreciably. IOW, there are steps you can take that allow you to increase soil volume dramatically w/o jeopardizing root health, but increasing the soil dramatically w/o taking those steps should be avoided ...... especially with the presage of winter's short days not too distant.

Al

Dave - we pay much more for everything here...:-(

Ah, I'm sorry!

I wish I could run into a Ficus that size for $20!!! I' all just wait for my little one to grow up LOL. Shouldn't take long cause it seems to have new leaves every time I look at it!

If you give them what they want in terms of light, water, fertilizer, it's hard to hold them back. They put on weight very fast. You've see the trees I have to defoliate in order to slow them down because they are literally too strong for my purposes ......

Al