im not sure i would worry about sunburn thru a modern double pane window ....

you are running out of room for this monster ....if it were mine.. i would be looking up how to propagate a healthy piece or two ... and eventually plan on getting rid of it... or start saving money.. to raise the ceiling ....

in my mind .. when i root a piece.. im growing the same plant... just in a a younger phase of life ... the sentimentality remains ....

no tree holds its leaves forever ... and its common to shed some of the oldest leaves every winter.. as light level changes ... and the oldest.. are the lowest ... sooo.. on some level ... losing lower leaves is not outside of normal ...

potting media ... wears out ... and one sign of such.. is when it does what yours is doing ... the plant needs to be repotted in spring ... and that isnt going to be easy with this monster.. which might be another reason to rejuvenate it into a younger smaller plant ...

i would not fert in winter ...

ken

ps: trees dont wear pants ...

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your comments. I don't mind the height of the plant as it's in a room where the ceiling is about 20' but the window is only about 8'. I propagated the smaller plant you can see in the first pic from this one 2yrs ago. It too is losing its original leaves. It's initial new leaves were quite small mind you.

Regarding sunburn, I do notice a rougher leaf texture and yellowish bumps which I thought was sunburn. A few leaves have this.

I'll definitely go ahead and repot in spring as well as prune the tops off to propagate them. Use potting, perlite/vermiculite and organic compost I presume?

Nothing else I can really do to save those lower leaves? Heh, you caught my pants comment... just meant that its losing its lower half :)

Would it really mess up the plant to repot now?

Like all Ficus, it wants to grow tall and big and in the process it will start sacrificing some of the lower leaves and favor the top. Especially, under low light conditions. If you can move it to a large bright window the plant will thank you. It will still need some supplemental light.

Leaves gradually turning yellow is not necessarily a bad sign. Means the plant is withdrawing nutrients from the leaves and allocating it to other parts. Some older leaves yellowing and falling off is normal even outdoors.

It definitely needs a repotting but late June is a much better time for that and some pruning too. You need a bit larger pot. Good well draining soil. Compost in container soil is not good for plants in the longer run. People have different opinion regarding compost in containers and can turn into a debate. That is your choice.

The soil you have is very congested with probably many circling roots. All those fat circling roots are doing no good to your plant. You want to encourage growth of lots of fine roots which absorb nutrients and support plant growth.

If you want to learn more about caring for a ficus you can study this post from our resident guru Al: Ficus Trees in Containers IV

Wish I could move it to an area with better light but I'm afraid this is the only place for it due to the direction of the house and height of the plant. We have some other windows but they are mostly shaded.

So nothing I can do in the meantime before repotting in June, like a bit of fertilizer? Seems a long way away but sounds like repotting off-season is a no no. I'd hate to see it continue to drop.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated!

Never got the notification on this thread. You can give it a weak dose of fertilizer . Quarter strength is safe assuming you are using a synthetic water soluble fertilizer. You can also up-pot to next bigger size but you will have to root prune some from all sides. I am sure there is a dense wall of roots all around. You really do not want that to be embedded inside the soil. So you have to prune those and loosen the sides a bit too.

A complete repot is a no-no now. Summer is best for that. Your plant does badly need a complete repot. A complete repot is remove all old soil, remove dead and randomly curving roots.

Would you advise to up-pot and prune now or wait until a complete repot in June? Do I have to do a full repot then as well as the up-pot now? Wouldn't pruning the roots cause massive leave drop? 4 leaves are about to fall off shortly. I have rooting liquid that I used on another plant, should I use it on the fig after trimming the roots? How do I know how much to prune?

Should I also prune some of the top branches so it can focus energy on the bottom section? If I prune the branches, can I and propagate now or will they all just die off since its not spring?

Sorry for all the questions, I have no experience rescuing plants.

Take the plant out of the pot and post some pictures of the sides and the bottom. Take a close up or two also. The plant may be stuck in the pot. Too loosen it tap the sides and bottom with a mallet or a hammer or a piece of wood. You are trying to loosen so you hit quite hard. Just not too much to break the pot itself. Hold the base of the plant and give it a good shake too. Eventually it will slip out. It is easier when the soil is bit on the dry side. Once you are done slip it back and water it well. Let us see how it looks like.

Your plant does not too bad right now. It will keep losing leaves the next few months while indoors. The bottom and shaded leaves are the first to go. But I think you can wait till Summer for a full repot.

Rooting liquid does not help when you already have roots.

There is a chance it will drop leaves if you up-pot now. But you will have prune some leaves and branches when you do a full repot.

Did you have a chance to go through the link I posted a few posts above? Did it help?

Even though I had just watered it before your message, it was very easy to take out of the pot which I'm assuming isn't a good thing. Here are the results:

It's going to be a bit of a scavenger hunt finding a suitable large pot right now as stores are shut down to curbside only here due to covid (south of Toronto). The current pot is 14" so I'm assuming I should look for 16" or 18". At this point, I only have regular potting soils and will have to find a source for the pine bark fines and some sort of grit/perlite.

The link you sent is an excellent resource! Thank you for the reminder about it. I've been reading through it again and hope to be able to create the right soil mix but it's hard source some of the materials this time of year.

Thank you so much for your continued support to save my figgy :)

First, it does not look too bad root-wise. I was expecting lots of circling roots which is usually a sign of over-watering. On the other hand either you habitually under-water or your soil has become hydrophobic and water is simply running out. The soil does not look wet although you said you had just watered.

This is what I would to keep it simple. Do a full repot in Summer. In the mean time learn to water it properly. I would immediately soak the plant in a tube of warm water for about 30 in. To make sure it is soaked well pick the pot out and sink it back in after a minute 3-4 times. This will make sure water has a chance to get into all parts/pockets in the soil. After that flush with plain one more time and let it drain. And one last time water with a 1/2 strength fertilizer. After draining tilt the pot for another 5 minutes to let the excess out. This is basically steps reset the conditions in the soil. Pick up the pot and "remember" its weight - just get a feel for it.

After that check every 2 days for dampness of the soil. Use a tell as describe by Al. Basically use a chopstick to probe into the soil to measure moisture. When bottom third feels dry water and drain well afterwards. Every time lift the pot and feel the weight too. Over time you will be able to tell when it needs water. Once every two weeks or so you can use 1/4 strength fertilizer.

My preferred fertilizer is Foliage Pro 9-3-6. It is liquid and has everything in it in the right proportions. Usually not available in stores. But available on Amazon and other online sources. Miracle grow 24-8-16 is available in many stores locally. It will also serve the purpose. Read the label. It will tell you what makes a full strength fertilizer and use it appropriately.

Rotate the plant every few days so all sides get some light. Leaves will still yellow and fall. It is common in low light indoor conditions. One my little ficus lost all its leaves (missed watering it several times). I did exactly what I described - reset the soil, flushed but I did not fertilize (since it had no leaves. It is slowly bouncing back with new set of leaves.

All my ficus lose some leaves through the winter. Nothing to worry about and I think you will be fine.

Wow, I didn't even think that it was underwatered. I've been using a wooden dowel to measure moisture (not much soil sticking) and it ends up needing 2L of water once per week. I've been doing that since the beginning. How could it need more frequent water than that?? I only ever see about 1 cup or 2 worth of water drain out after a watering. Should I use more than 2L??

Regarding the soak process, do you mean to fully submerge the entire pot right to the top in a tub of water?? Gonna have to tarp everything off. Sounds like a flood :)

I actually have the Miracle Grow 24-8-16 for it already so will use that at 1/4 as you suggest. It's a very small amount.

I would suggest not to water by schedule or by quantity. Water when it is dry and then water well. Watering well means - water slowly and evenly on the surface and let a good 20-30% flows out. And about once a month flush the soil as I described.

In your case I suspect the soil became so dry that it became hydrophobic. It happens to peat based mix. It actually repels water when it becomes too dry and does not wet the soil. Near the bottom where there are lots of roots it may wet quickly but in the rest of the soil. And the only way to "reset" the soil is to dunk the pot in water and let it slowly soak in.

Remember to feel the weight when it is fully watered and drained. That is your reference point going forward.

1/4 strength of fertilizer is safe during winter. If you start seeing new growth then you can bump it up. During peak growth period in Summer you can even go 2-3x the max recommended for a short period.

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions and explanation! I'm going to do the soak tomorrow. Small issue though, we have a whole house water softener. Is that ok to use for the dunking process in the tub and maybe the last one with distilled water from a jug? I normally water with that rather than tap or Brita.

Water softener is a no-no for plants. Very high in salts especially sodium salts that is particularly bad for plants. Is your water very hard? Can you use the water straight from the supply before the softener? Distilled water should be fine or even bottled water. But all that can get pretty expensive.

The water is very hard in our region so softeners are installed at the supply... and I have no access to it. I'll just have to buy a few big water jugs, no biggie. I'll assume Brita filtered water isn't sufficient.

If the water is very hard to begin with Brita is not going to do much. Once water softener is use the water is high in sodium salts. So using it after water softener is not to do any good either - for the plants.

If you can start collecting rain-water. The best free water you can get. You can also collect snow and melt it. Some members do that. I collect rainwater and store in big containers (barrels actually). Some use RO filtered water. But those gizmos apparently do not work well when water is very hard.

Great. Now that you sort of know what a well watered pot weighs you will better sense of when to water again.

Did fertilize too? If not next watering give it a 1/2 strength fertilizer and thereafter every 2 weeks or so at 1/4 strength. Around March/April you may see new flush of growth - may be earlier too. Then you can start bumping up the fertilizer strength and frequency.

You have plenty of time to collect your ingredients for repot. Get more than needed. Find a new pot that is 4 inches larger in diameter. It will allow more room to grow and add some stability to the plant.

Yes, I gave it about 1/2 strength fertilizer, though I did use about 3/4L more water this time around so maybe it's closer to 1/4.

I'm sure the garden centres will start to open by the time I need the pot and potting ingredients. I just need to do some more research on what I need to buy and how much I'll need to fill an 18" pot.

To be consistent mix the fertilizer in water first and then use that to water the plant. Any left over can be stored (in a dark place) for next time. Anything that flows out is a waste, I know, but it should not be much if the fertilizer is only in the last watering. Anyway hope the plant responds a bit better this time.