Also, I should be clear, the leaves are turning soft, dark, and leathery and then curling up and falling off.
Should I remove the leaves as they begin to curl or should I wait 'til the next day or so for them to drop on their own.
Also, I've flushed the soil once since I got it, about 2-3 weeks ago. After the flushing, the plant was still producing new growth, but as of a couple days ago, that new growth is twisting up and turning dark.
Help me put together a plan of action to save this little guy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic of my sad, sad fig.

Hi, it needs a lot more light, as strong as you can give it, for up to 16 hrs/day. Many people hang a high wattage fluorescent 6 inches over their trees for that time. It also needs proper humidity, not an occasional (and useless) spray, but a wide tray of stones under the pot keeping it just above the water in the tray. Ficus drop leaves when light levels drop, but will come back if treated well. BTW, it's not necessary to let the whole mix get dry between waterings, but the mix should be at least 50% fast draining grit.

Also, we have about 57% humidity out here, since it's the Bay Area and fog is more common Rice-A-Roni and Trollies.

Thanks Larke!
The place where it's at gets 5 hours of head-on sun from 12pm-5pm (more during the early summer). It gets indirect reflected light from 8am-12pm and 5pm-7pm. It only get lamp-light from sundown until about 11 or so.
We have pretty high humidity where I live, often over 50%, but I'll put in a rock tray today and see what happens.
What should I do about the leaves? Take 'em off? Leave 'em?
There's a picture too, in the second post, so you can get an idea of what you're looking at. It's a rocky soil mix that drains quite well.

I wouldn't worry so much about light, from what I can see in the pic (secondary and third branches look like they are dying) it looks like you are under-watering it. I'd forget about the skewer and use a finger to dig in the soil and see how wet it is.
Also, you may be watering but not enough to really soak the soil well (leaving dry areas). You could have been under-watering for quite a while -- roots will begin to die back and you won't see the effects of this right away.

Ficus are pretty tough plants, which make them pretty good for beginners.

Thanks!
Yea, I think FB got a little dried out over the summer since it was so hot...
What about fertilizing? How often should I?

First, not that it's particularly important, but your tree isn't F benjamina, it's F. retusa, aka F. microcarpa. It looks like most of the branches have live terminal buds, so with good light & some TLC, it should bounce back - as long as it wasn't badly stressed when it shed its foliage, and has some energy in reserve. You might consider pulling it from the pot it's in and potting up into a larger pot so it can recover.

It needs a LOT of pruning, but it would be better to wait until after the tree regains some vitality to do anything radical.

How often you should fertilize depends on how freely your soil drains, your watering habits, and how robustly your tree is growing. If you water copiously when you water, and you should, try a full recommended strength application of a soluble fertilizer with a favorable NPK ratio every 2-3 weeks after the plant recuperates and is growing strong. Increase that interval to 3-4 weeks if the plant is sort of resting over winter, and now while it is bare of foliage.

It IS a good guess that your plant is exhibiting a drought response from under-watering, but they react in the same fashion when over-watering or a high level of salts in the soil/soil solution is in play; so, blame whatever best fits ..... after shouldering your share. ;o)

Al

Thanks for the response!

Is potting up an option given the state it's in, or should I wait and see if it recovers more before I try doing that?

Hi, give it a few weeks to recover and let us know how it goes. Good luck!

Potting up is always an option, but along with potting up goes the responsibility of watering appropriately. Large containers that give roots room to run are wonderful for restoring vitality, but you don't want to trade the + of better health/growth for the specter of root rot because you kept the soil too wet.

You sort of have a tough row to hoe here. Your plant SHOULD be at the point where it has more energy reserves than at any other point in its growth cycle, but you can see it's severely stressed and will be calling on energy reserves it may not have to push a new flush of growth. Bright light, soil temps of 65-70*, the extra soil volume, and good watering/fertilizing practices should bring your tree back from the brink, but it's unlikely your tree could tolerate another defoliation in the near future.

Good luck.

Al