What’s wrong with my ficus?

6 years ago

I’ve had this ficus for over 4 years now, through multiple moves and even a couple of nights outside under freezing, and it’s been fine through all of it. The last couple of weeks, the leaves started yellowing and dropping like crazy on me, and I have no idea what’s causing it.

I’ve kept it consistently watered as I always have, waiting for the soil to dry out. It’s in a very well draining mixture too. Receives plenty of natural sunlight from the windows and skylight.

So my only guess is some sort of pest or nutrient deficiency? I’ve checked it over for pests and don’t see anything, so I’ve landed on a nutrient deficiency (please correct me if I’m wrong!). I’m hoping the pictures of the leaves will be descriptive enough to help point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!!

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Comments (3)

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
6 years ago
How many times have you repotted your Ficus microcarpa over the course of 4 years? If none, your plant is reacting as it would be expected to. The fact you're guessing at a nutrient deficiency leads me to think you haven't been fertilizing, either. Plants are programmed to tolerate a fairly narrow range of conditions. Ignoring their needs, for any reason, puts the plant at or beyond the limits they are genetically programmed to tolerate, and that's not a sustainable arrangement.

In all honesty, the plant is circling the drain, so even though now is not a good time to repot, you should buck the growth cycle and do it anyway. Repotting includes bare-rooting, root-pruning, and a change of soil; potting up won't turn the tide. It's possible a lack of fertility, N in particular, is causing the plant to cannibalize older foliage for the nutrients it contains in order to fuel new branch extension and a leaf here and there. Root congestion is also made manifest in loss of old foliage such that almost all foliage is concentrated at branch apices (ends of branches).I have a LOT of Ficus and the only fertilizer I use is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. It's a very good product and contains everything your tree needs for healthy, normal growth.

BTW - allowing a Ficus (other than F carica, the hardy fig) to be subjected to temps below 55* is another unsustainable arrangement. It essentially puts the plant on battery power (using up what stored energy it has) which will come back to bite you later.

Al
kellersincolorado
Original Author
6 years ago
Appreciate the comment!! I’ve repotted it twice in 4 years, and pulled it out to make sure it’s not root bound in this pot.

It has had a slow release fertilizer for years, but that went bad and it hadn’t shown signs of needing anything, so I left it be. I have some liquid 6-4-4 I could heavily dilute to see if it reacts.

It is always indoors and the couple times it was outside below freezing were accidents during the moving process. It hasn’t been subjected to that in years though. I was just trying to point out that it’s been a pretty resilient plant through a lot of abuse. It’s been sitting in a corner by a window for 2 years now though and hasn’t been moved.
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
6 years ago
This might be helpful (click me).

Al