They do seem to be suffing and will not make it unless the situation is corrected.

I'd make a true 5:1:1 mix for them. But make sure you get the pine bark down to the right size. You can use the cacti soil, but you should also add in perlite and you need dolomite lime too.

Its not about just adding in some pine bark, the bark has to make up a certain percentage of the mix for it to work correctly. It also has to be the correct size.

Make sure you bare root as well. Don't let the roots dry out while doing the work. Untangle and prune any rotting roots.

The scheffelra on the side isn't looking so hot either.

Read these two links. Your Ficus Lyrata has the same exact cultural needs as Ficus Benjamina.

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

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention?n=8

Thanks, Dave. I repotted again. It's not a perfect 5-1-1, but it's as close as I can get locally without a car at the moment.

Would you recommend defoliating the plants, especially the very burnt leaves? Or will that harm the plants' ability to recover? Ideally I'd like to stimulate some back budding if possible.

I wouldn't recommend removing the leaves. Let the tree drop them if it wishes to do so.

If it's warm enough, I'd place them outside in open shade or if you can't place them outside, put them directly in front of a south facing window.

For watering, get a sharpened dowel and stick it all the way to the bottom and pull it out.

If it comes out dark, damp and stained with soil, do not water.

Keep checking and finally water when it pulls out clean and dry.

do you have a photo of the mix you made? What did you use exactly?

I don't have access to an outdoor space, and in a garden level apartment don't have much ability to place in a window, per say. But I do get a lot of light in the corner where I have them, both south and west light. Hopefully that's enough.

On second thought, I think I can place the two struggling FLFs outside my window for the time being. I live in a condo building so might have to get the okay from the other residents to leave them there longer term.

A few more leaves have dropped as I've been moving them, but I did notice one seems to be getting ready for some new growth, despite all the issues. I definitely overpotted and overwatered at first (in plastic pots with poor drainage, to boot) and only over the last month have been trying to fix my mistake, so perhaps the current spots/dropping leaves are a result of damage caused some time ago?

Just be very careful with that mix. The bark is too large to be doing much except taking up a little space and maybe partially lowering the perched water table a fraction.

Ideally, you want the mix to be more like this.

There's not much of an in between. The bark size and portion are super important if you want it to work. I'm just trying to be honest and help.

Yes, place them outside. But not in direct sun. They'd need to be acclimated for that.

Where you have them inside currently just isn't bright enough.

I do wish you and them the best! Let us know if you have any more questions and please keep the thread updated.

Dave, many thanks for your help and advice. You mentioned that the area I had the plants in isn't sunny enough. Do you mean it's not sunny enough for while they're recovering from whatever has stricken them? Or in general?

For what it's worth I have 30+ other plants (many pothos, zz plants, succulents, peace lily, etc.) that do well in my apartment's light. If I just don't have the light I'd need to support the ficus lyrata and other similar plants, perhaps I'll focus on what's worked so far

I have been learning a lot through the forums and realize I do probably need to invest in the supplies to make a true 5-1-1 mix eventually.

Yes, I've read that before along with many of Al (Tapla)'s other articles. I don't doubt that I could figure out how to appropriately care for ficus eventually, assuming I have enough light to make it work.

The area where I have the ficus and umbrella plant is the brightest in the apartment, getting south and west indirect light and some late afternoon direct light. If they can't survive in my apartment then I'm kind of stuck. I put two outside right now but don't really have access to outdoor space so won't be able to leave them there.

I'll see how things go from here but am thinking that if the ficus don't make it, maybe I'll have to wait until I move to try another.

Hi Dave,

I wanted to write with an update and a question. Thanks to your previous advice I put two of my three FLFs outdoors. I had trouble at first finding a shady enough spot and many leaves got sunburned and dropped. I finally found an adequate spot and am very pleased to say that one is putting out new foliage and the other seems about to.

Once I realized they were doing well and the spot I had them was shady enough, I moved my other FLF and schefflera outdoors as well.

I've been reading more here on the forum and realize I should've just made a true 5-1-1 mix sooner. I now have the ingredients for the 5-1-1 and gritty mix. So my question is: which would be preferable for these plants, 5-1-1 or gritty? And seeing as I've repotted them more than once trying to get the soil right, should I repot again or wait until next summer (since they seem to be doing better in the mix I hacked together)?

Thanks!