Scale and mites are common indoor plant pests. I'd check for them. I don't see them in your pics, but the pics are not taken close enough. Sticky spots on leaves is often a scale issue. Very fine webbing can be mites, or just common harmless spiders.

It is not abnormal for your Ficus to drop some leaves in fall and winter with decreased daylight.

What part of the world or country are you in? Is it warm enough to bring outside and spray thoroughly a few times with Bayer 3 in 1 insect disease and mite control?

how long has it been it the current pot and soil? Have you ever done a bare root repot and root prune?

F Benjamina need lots of light. You say you moved into a dark apartment. Unless you really get some high powered grow lights, a single grow light isn’t going to be enough.

last pic above ... you gave it a haircut in a perfect square shape of the walls ... you might want to learn how to track back into the canopy and prune deeper in to avoid the haircut look ....

in 5 mins i could show you how to do it.. if we were standing in front of the tree .. but i have no clue how to do such by the written word ...

itsw basic tree pruning ideas .. nothing specific to this type of tree or houseplants or anything like that ...

ill see if i can come up with some poignant search term to find vids on such.. but hopefully someone else might know the trigger words ...

ken

pshaw on tricky search terms.. lol ...

first vid here is basically what i mean as to avoiding the haircut: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pruning+houseplant+tree&t=ffsb&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Diql6cIOal04

and the second here re: ficus.. might be the same lady in her groovy safari jacket: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pruning+houseplant+ficus&t=ffsb&iar=videos&iax=videos&ia=videos

so the only question left is.. since you just pruned it;. when should we prune it again.. more aggressively ... probably spring....

and do note her comments on nodes and choosing the ones that will grow in the direction you want .... that would be called training ...

ken

Thank you Dave, Dave, and Ken.

I thought the cottony strands might be mealy bug because many leaves had tiny cotton pillows on the underside at the base of the leaf. I had almost eliminated them which is why I was frustrated that the tree continued to suffer.

I have added photos which I believe better show the leaves. The first two show leaves with dots and in the third I circled an area. At 10:00, there is a thread-like strand and below that is something that may be mealy bug? The leaves are shiny because they are sticky.

I am in PA. If we have a warm spell, what is the lowest temperature at which I could use the Bayer 3-in-1? I guess indoor use is not an option? It has been in its pot for at least three years, maybe longer. I have never done a bare root repot and root prune, but think I need to do it to eliminate the bugs in the soil.

The only place I have to do the bare root repot and root prune is in a bathtub in a compact bathroom with no extra space. The tree is 7' high and 4' wide at its widest. Thinking about this practically, to get it into the bathroom, I would prune, not haircut ;-), the tree back more. Then , I would pull the tree out of it's pot, laying it on a tarp. While on the tarp, I would remove whatever soil I could. With this done, I would cross my fingers and hope the tree small enough to maneuver into the bathtub.

Would you recommend a smaller pot? or a thorough cleaning of the existing one, which given its size (~17" width at the base, ~23" width at the top, and ~30" high) is easier said than done.

Thank you for pointing me to the pruning videos. They were very informative. Yes, it is the safari-jacket lady in multiple videos.

I have added a photo of the light that was delivered today. Is this strong enough?

Would spraying with Safer EndALL and Safer Insect Killer Soap be of any value?

Thank you so much for responding to my post. Doing so, makes me feel like I have a fighting chance to safe the tree and that I'm not in this alone. I am so grateful for your recommendations.

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