I'd have to say that I don't think the room has adequate lighting. If you place these large plants in front of that one window, they will effectively block the light from the rest of room.

how about buying a greenhouse?

Mike, you are not qualified to answer questions. If you cannot be helpful, please.....just pay attention to your own plants.

Cassie, I honestly don't have any suggestions for you. They are stunning plants but I fear for their immediate future.

I agree.

A north window just won’t do it. I have a Ficus Benjamina that’s larger than both of these.

In the winter its right in front of a south facing window with three 4’ 6500k light fixtures directly over head, and that’s probably just enough to keep it alive through the winter. It summers outside like yours.

Besides using really bright grow lights, these trees are only going to suffer in that room.

Only orher though would be if you had a basement and watnted to invest in some lighting. Though, I get it, that’s not practical or something most would be interested in.

Ficus Benjamina and all Ficus in general need a lot of light. Full sun shining through a window all day would be best.

While the cuttings may not die in a north facing window, they certainly won’t thrive either.

Doesnt hurt to try the cutting though.

Rather extreme, but you could try chopping the top half off and letting it regrow indoors under the lower light conditions. Mind the white sap. It won't look great for while, but then neither will the entire tree after it has dropped most of its leaves from the change in environment.

you probably now understand.. why the prior owner gave them away ... lol ...

google 'propagation of ficus'... perhaps look for video ... i might tend to do such.. and when i actually got some rooted.. i would just get rid of the monsters ....

i doubt you can retwine them ... that is usually done with new fresh flexible growth ...

finally.. if you take them into the dark.. do not be surprised if it sheds its leaves ... but as long as you water properly .. and not kill the roots ... it should releaf ... and those leaves will be more in tune with the new location .... when you from indoors to outside ...... its called 'hardening off' to new light levels.... this is the converse .... going into dark .... it will be heavily stressed ... and imo.. fert is not a response ....

ken

One trick I've discovered with overwintering some of my plants is to place them in my unheated garage. It gets cool in there, but not too cold. I used to bring my braided Ficus alii indoors and keep it near the French doors going out to my backyard, which face south. Even then, it still didn't get enough sunlight and would eventually shed all of its leaves towards the end of winter. Finally, I started keeping it out in my garage with some of my other plants, and the cooler temperatures seems to slow down their metabolic rate and keep my plants from burning thru their energy reserves like they would if they were kept inside where it's warmer. My plants would still shed a handful of leaves, but nothing in comparison to losing all of them. Another bonus was that they required even less care, just the occasional watering.

I know this isn't the ideal environment for plants like this, but it works. If those were my Ficus trees, I would most certainly give it a shot. My garage only has one window, which would be nowhere near enough light for all of the plants I keep in there, but the cooler temperatures keeps them, not really dormant, but in a lowered energy state. If that makes any sense. I have so many plants that I couldn't possibly keep them all indoors. So many of them stay in my garage. I do this every winter.

If you do decide to do this, exercise caution when moving them back outdoors in the spring. For my plants, they all get moved to a shaded location, so that they can acclimate to receiving much brighter sunlight. Especially after being kept in a somewhat darkened garage all winter. Even if your plants were kept in direct sunlight, like they are right now, they'll still need adequate time to adjust back into receiving that much sunlight.

If I was intent on keeping them I would cut them back to a size I could handle indoors. They're gonna drop leaves and look a mess after you move them anyway, may as well shape them up so that when they grow back out they are still manageable.

One of your unasked question should be how do you move them.

My wife has several plants of similar size. I bought a hand truck and modified it by extending the lip so the plant is completely supported. With the extension It makes it much easier to tilt the truck back to move the plant.

To use, you tilt the tree, and slid the extension under the tree. As moving any thing with a hand truck, you pull it up stairs, and wheel it where you want. If the tree is very large the extension gives a handle for a second person grab and lift the lower end as you go up and down stairs.

My extension is simple. I bought some 1/2 inch angle iron. I cut "V" so I could bend it to a square shape. The final shape is a square U, with tabs at the top of the arms. I drilled holes in the tab, and similar holes in the back plate of the hand truck lip and attached it with a nut and bolt. To complete I cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to fit in the extension.

I did this about 20 years ago and am still using the same truck.

These are endlessly prune-able. Cut it back to fit whatever place you like.

It all depends. If you root some small branches, 12” or less, you don’t need a very big pot to start them.

Ive always started something that size or smaller in a 1”-3” pot that’s between 1“-2” deep.

If if you’re starting small cuttings, remove all but 2-3 leaves at the tip. This will reduce water needs while it’s rooting.

If if you were to air layer a larger branch, you’d need a larger pot.

Here’s a pic of the main tree and a couple pics of a cutting I took.

Main tree:

cutting 2016:

Cutting 2018:

None of these live in these spots. It was a cold night tonight so they had to come in just for the night.

Man I was tough to post that. I had to try 5 different times.

I wish this site worked like it used to.

Wow, Dave! Thanks for working so hard to the progress photos! Your trees are beautiful!

Thanks!

just wanted to show what you can grow from some cuttings. It’s not hard!

Ive grown so many in the past but have given them all away except for this one.