Ficus benjamina will tolerate all manner of indignities when it has been growing with vitality because they are a genetically vigorous plant. You can even prune it back to a single main stem and it will put on a new flush of branches & foliage. Such is NOT the case with plants that are growing under stress or strain.

You need to correct the conditions stressing the plant (light, temp, watering habits, accumulated salts, collapsed soil - a few) and allow the tree to build some energy reserves before removing food-producing workers (leaves). W/o leaves, the tree is unable to make food, so your short range strategy is to maximize photosynthesizing ability. Leave the leaves on, and give the tree good light.

In awhile, when vitality is restored, you can prune any branch with 5 or more leaves back to 2 healthy leaves. New branches will emerge from leaf axils & your tree will soon be much fuller. Moving the tree outdoors and into full sun as soon as night temps are above 55* is your best approach. You can also move the tree outdoors when it's warmer and indoors when chill threatens. Cool temperatures impede this trees ability to photosynthesize and return to normal ability is slow.

If you have other, specific questions, I'll try to answer.

Al

Hi, Al, sorry, I only just realized I had this response. Unfortunately I can't put the plant outside (or even open a window), but I will do my best to help it revive. What do you mean by collapsed soil? Presumably that it has been compacted by repeated waterings over time? And the salts issue I understand can be resolved by a good heavy watering?

Thanks!

Also, what is the definition of "when vitality has been restored"? When will I know that it's strong enough?

Thanks again.

A soil collapses when the particles it is made from break down and become very fine or nest tightly together so that they form mostly micro-pores, which hold water much more readily than their larger counterparts, macro-pores. Soils with a high percentage of micro-pores often remain soggy for extended periods, increasing the likelihood of root rot issues, due to a lack of available O2 and a build-up of CO2 in the soil. These are soils you tend to water in sips that never exit the drain hole, instead of large doses that do exit the container, carrying away dissolved salts.

Can the salt issue be resolved by heavy watering or flushing? Yes, but maybe no. Flushing the soil is certainly the best way to rid your containers of accumulated salts, but if the soil has collapsed, you may risk a situation of prolonged saturation and root rot.

Your soils should ALWAYS drain freely enough so that you CAN water copiously at every watering w/o the risk of soils remaining saturated so long that roots are at risk. If you cannot water this way, you are growing in an inferior soil and operating under handicap.

To understand vitality, let me first tell you about vigor. Another contributor, who is a great fan of the late Dr. Alex Shigo will appreciate seeing this small lesson, and it is just wonderful information - it made a huge impression on me. Vigor is always a genetic trait and can never be increased. It is a measure of a plant's ability to resist strain. Vitality is the gauge of a plant's ability to grow and adapt to the cultural conditions it finds itself in. Expecting a plant to increase in vitality w/o improving cultural conditions is a fruitless hope. Correcting adverse cultural conditions will improve vitality, but vigor will be unaffected. That's why I choose carefully between those two words when I write anything of vigor or vitality.

You will know that vitality has been restored when the plant begins growing in earnest. Leaf nodes near the center of the plant will activate & produce more branches as extension of existing branches increases. A noticeable increase in o/a plant mass will always be manifest in this vigorous plant during its active growth period when vitality has been restored. ;o)

Al