Happens a lot with Benjamina's and it will probably bounce back. How about some info on how its currently potted? Does the pot have holes, what kind of dirt, how big is the pot?

I diasagree with the above comment.

this is not normal and if things aren't corrected, it will not bounce back.

Did you pot up or repot? Repotting involves removing ALL soil, untangling roots, root pruning, etc.

what type of soil?

how often do you water?

how do you tell when the tree needs water?

they need way more light then you are giving it.

over watering and lack of light would be my best guess.

The pot has holes, is 24 inches wide, miracle gro soil when reported but not originally potted.

I guess i did not "repot" by your definition, just potted up.

I water once a week.

What size pot was it in prior? Sounds like too large of a pot now. Mine is 7 feet tall and only in an 18" pot.

MG soil is too water retentive on its own. You need a faster draining mix.

Wayering once a week is a perfect way to over water.

Never water on your set schedule. You need to water as the plant needs it.

Get a sharpened wooden dowel and stick it all the way to the bottom of the pot. If it comes out dark, damp with soil stuck to it, don't water. Keep checking till it comes out clean and dry. Then water.

Get it out of that pot and back into the original. All you did was add a layer of soaking wet soil on the outside and bottom.

where in the world do you live? I'd get it outside if it's warm enough. Nighttime temps need to stay above 55°

the tree will not survive unless you take some steps to fix the soil and also give it more light. It may already be too far gone though.

By no means am I saying it is a good sign it lost its leaves ;) ! But I am saying its common for various ficus species, especially benjamina to drop their leaves when shocked / if something is wrong. Its not necessarily alarming and ficus are hardy - they bounce back. I asked about potting because I assume there is something unhealthy (not normal) occurring.

I agree MG retains too much water and ficus have aggressively growing roots - they can easily get "root bound." If you take the tree outside, it probably requires an adjustment period of indirect light. Even indirect light outdoors will likely be better than having the tree next to a window indoors, both in terms of light and how quickly the soil dries between waterings. I have my retusa, benjamina and caricas outside. They are all potted in Al's Gritty Mix.

I agree, F. Benjamina will shed SOME leaves when moved into a new environment of lesser light. Which is to be expected.

However, the OP's tree did lose an alarming (YES, ALARMING) number, practically all of its leaves. Which is a very big deal for the plant.

The tree is hardy and will bouce back only if the conditions provided allow it to do so. If it's given nearly no light and drowned to a peat heavy soil with constant watering, I will bet money on the fact that it would never bouce back.

Id guess the roots are rotting and the extreme lack of light is also taking its toll.

If things aren't corrected asap, I don't think there's a chance. Which is unfortunate, as it was a beautiful tree to start.

It was in a 18" pot to start and I live in Texas.

Put it back into the original pot and place it outside in open shade.

going from an 18" pot to a 24" pot is too large of an increase for an indoor plant using a very water retentive soil.

the tree is also full of dead branches that need to be trimmed. The tree may sprout new growth, but most of the bare beaches are now dead.

to tell if a branch is dead or alive, scratch the bark with your finger nail. If you see green, it's alive, if it's not, it's dead and you can keep making scratch marks lower and lower until you find green. The branches / tree should be pruned to that point.

i don't mean to be so negative, I'm just being very honest with you.

The tree was way over potted, over watered and placed into a dark corner.

I agree there is certainly a chance it will die, and fixing it ASAP is vital. Maybe I'm naive or more hopeful because my ficus trees bounced back with a vengeance. I was assuming root rot hadn't occurred, at least to a significant degree, but that could be a game changer. I guess we can bet on it ;)

Another way to check if branches died is to bend them and if they break off, keep breaking away dead twigs.

There are a lot of factors to fix or check:

• Root bound?
• Watering? (Over or Under)
• Light?
• Temperature changes will shock a benjamina
• Humidity, especially if near an air vent
• Simply having been up-potted

One of my Caricas lost all its leaves and really sprang back to life with a lot of new growth within about a month. When I got my retusa, it lost nearly as many leaves. It was root-bound, had scale and was shocked from moving from a tropical environment to a house with central air (darker, colder and drier). None of the branches died, but I wish I would have trimmed back more because of apical dominance, the ends of branches and the top of the tree will grow new leaves and the internal area will be bare. Some people say not to trim if the tree is already shocked, others say it is the perfect time to trim if the plant has gone dormant - the answer to that question is beyond my experience.

This is a really good article - I learned a lot from Al's (Tapla's) posts, as well as a forum member who lives near me:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1493078/ficus-trees-in-containers

I'll add,

heres a newer version of the same "ficus trees in containers" link.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1476078/ficus-trees-in-containers-iv?n=223

by how many threads I've seen with the exact same thing, over watering, too large of a container, soil that is too water retentive and lack of light are the primary concerns.

The others are worth bringing up, but don't seem to be the main concern.

ive grown this one from 3' at purchase two years ago to 7' today. I do know a little bit about them and I promis I'm not just going off other threads.

Nice tree - my wife likes the braided ones, I tend to go for sort of "informal upright" trees. I can't claim to know the first thing about bonsai, but influenced by bonsai trees, I try to keep the trunks relatively larger than the upper portion of the trees.

It looks like you have a schefflera brassaia next to your ficus? I have a schefflera arboricola on the opposite side of my ficus retusa, and you can see a small ficus benjamina on the other side of the retusa (it is 3 cuttings inosculated together).

I believe the ficus retusa is 20-some years old, but I haven't been caring for it nearly that long! You can see how it lost it's leaves after a shocking move/transition. You can really see what I mean by needing to trim the branches after the leaves were lost: they only regrew at the ends of branches (apical dominance). Now these are "sacrifice branches": serving only the purpose of thickening the branches until I prune them way back very close to the primary (trunk) so new branches can re-grow. I didn't have the guts to trim as much as I should have, but now I'm mentally preparing myself to chop off all the branches.

Also, the fig (ficus carica) on the far left of the top pic lost all its leaves when it got smashed, then frozen. The last picture shows how it recovered (with a vengeance). That pic is from a week ago, it has a lot more leaves and branches now!

I definitely agree about soil that is too retentive - I never use MG. I love this gritty mix - very well draining!

Nice trees!

I too prefer the straight trunk over the braided.

Got this one for $20 at lowes two years ago when it was 3' tall. Can't really beat that!

i rooted a cutting from this tree last summer. So eventually I'll have a straight trunk version.

The schefflera in my photos is also getting too large. I may give it away or chop it back and make it branch.

gritty mix is a great choice. I personally use the 5:1:1 mix for all of my potted plants and have had nothing but success with it.

I have the benjamina in 5:1:1 because I got the cutting from someone locally. This is my completely amateur hypothesis, but I think it is really good for young plants because it keeps them hydrated while they build a nice root system.

Honestly, I have to water my indoor 7' ficus in the 5:1:1 every 3/4 days currently.

When it goes outside later this month in direct sun it'll probably need water every other way.

I really can't imagine having to water more frequently, ha.

I think the 5:1:1 works well for these trees at any stage.

afterall, it is a very fast draining mix. I don't personally ever seen myself switching to the gritty mix.

what I currently use seems to work well for my plants and I. Plus, by adding more or less peat, you can play with how much water the mix will hold.