No pic, please try posting again

Sorry not sure what happened but hopefully the photo is there now.
Thanks for the advice I will get scraping (gently) when I get home, where I have leafy areas new leaves are coming through nicly which im guessing is only a good sign, im not sure how there grown but looks like theres 3 trees interwined, so my 1st thought was only 1 tree was alive but at the bottom all the trees have growth. Asuming its all alive will all the leaves naturally grow back in the right conditions or is there something I need to do?
Thanks

If it were mine,I would likely put a dry cleaner bag(big lightweight clear plastic) over it after spraying the inside with water in order to give it way high humidity,but Al is a regular poster here who is a bit of a ficus guru and before I say any more I'd like to see what he would have to say. :)

What a good idea, I dont have any dry cleaning bags but I can certainly rig simular up, ok so unless im advised otherwise that is what ill do, Im going to move it to a summer house so it should also be warmer and brighter with not to much direct sunlight, so with the misting of the bag would you mist the inside of the bag so its pretty much wet all over a couple of times a week and not worry to much about misting the leaves directly?

The plant is probally under shock

Not really shock I could be wrong but its been a steady decline in leaves over 4 years lol, was healthy when I bought it but once I forgot to water it then I got leaf loss and the years following its lost leaves slighty faster than its grown them, maybe its steady shock? Or bad gardening by me, my other ficus tree was shocked you can see it in the background, it came from the garden center into my office then bam it was literally like ahhhhhh and it dropped all its leaves very quickly but that's another story.

what kind of light do you have it in? are the branches brittle? It looks light starved. AL definitely is a Ficus God and he should be able to help you. But i say in the mean time if there are any branches that are brittle and dead to go ahead and remove them. I also would figure out if its in low light. Ficus is a High light plant. Dont stick it into direct sun without acclimating it to the new light conditions. Hopefully AL will chime in with information and questions about the roots and soil. Good Luck!

That makes sense because it isnt the lightest room it was in a corner by the tv, It got some light but probably not enough to thrive, so yeah sounds the biggest culprit, ive temporarily moved it by the window but will move it to a summer house and use the humidity method given to me by asleep in the garden unless advised otherwise, I will also try and acclimatise it to the new light levels when I move it.
Thanks

That makes sense because it isnt the lightest room it was in a corner by the tv, It got some light but probably not enough to thrive, so yeah sounds the biggest culprit, ive temporarily moved it by the window but will move it to a summer house and use the humidity method given to me by asleep in the garden unless advised otherwise, I will also try and acclimatise it to the new light levels when I move it.
Thanks

hah! Looks almost like my ficus alii did after a few months of ownership! I bought mine for $5 on clearance in Fall 2010 in North Dakota. I was renting a single bedroom in an old house near campus, and put my ficus near the corner that had two tiny windows, and plenty of DRY heat :-/

So, I moved out of that apt February 1st, and I was SURE it was going to die. The next place I lived had a big East-facing sliding glass door, and I put the plant next to that, and I think that slowed it's leaf drop quite a bit. Summer came, I stuck the plant outside in hot & very humid air, with lots of sunshine, and it did great, and grew new leaves.

The next winter, it did not have any leaf drop. My guess as to why? A lightbulb. By this time I had a lamp that had a single spotlight lamp, which contained a CFL. I kept that CFL bulb on from the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to bed (so usually 15-20 hours of lightbulb light), and probably 6" away from the closest leaves. My ficus is still alive today.

I wouldn't say it is thriving at all, but it's not lost more than a few leaves a year, and I'm quite happy about that. It puts out leaves in the summer/fall when it's sunnier and gets outside humidity. I really do believe that one lightbulb kept that plant alive. Now I have a 3-spotlight lamp, that gets pointed at the ficus and my herbs and palm. I need to change the soil & do root pruning--it's still in its original pot + soil.

My ficus is 4 separate plants woven together, with two of them having the most leaves and branches, one slightly less, and one that has like, maybe one branch (lowest) total--I can't believe it didn't die off completely.

I never checked to see which branches were truly dead and which ones were not, when my ficus was dropping leaves. I'd rather not stress the plant. Later on, in the summer, I remove the dead branches (it was much easier to tell at that point where the growth was never coming back).

Anyhow, I recommend you find a spot-light lamp to point at your ficus, and move the ficus +lamp to a sunny window (some people say they don't like direct sun, but in North Dakota/Minnesota, that has not been a problem for me). Give the remaining leaves on your plant a CFL bulb 6-10" away if you can, and give them that light all day long.

Also, make sure you don't have any hot air blowing/rising on your plant. I have forced air heat and I make sure my plants aren't in the immediate path of that hot (dry) air. And when I had baseboard heating, I tried to keep my plants a distance from that too. Homes are hot & dry and not nice places for humidity-loving ficus, but keeping them away from the heating vents helps a bit.

Good luck! I really thought mine was a goner, but it wasn't. I hope the same is true for yours! :-)

Thanks i think ill need it, i can imagine yours would of looked great with 4 trees woven together, im taking it out the flat completely and moving it my parents green house, i was going to use there summer house but going to use the green house instead, im going to try the bag trick to get alot of humidity, i heard also they dont like direct sunlight but to be honest i live in the uk so i doubt it will be to much of a problem lol i have trimmed off all the dead branches now, it was quite easy to see given the advice, it looks abit tragic now because i trimmed 2 of the 3 trees down and left the 3rd tall because of the growth up there, i couldnt bring my self to cut off any greenery..
any chance you could show me a pic of how yours is doing?

rikyrik, if I mentally rotate the image clockwise, the right side seems bereft of leaves.
Provided that the cause of leaf loss has been identified and corrected, I would start at the top of the main stem and gently scrape the bark to see if there is any green (living) tissue underneath. If there is none, I would repeat the exercise a few inches down at a time until I do find some green. I would then remove the dead portion. I would do the same for the lateral branches and cut away the dead portions.
Bright light and careful watering should induce new growth.
I posted the above in your thread on the "Foliage Plants" forum.

Sorry for the pic I uploaded from my phone, ive done alot of trimming, nearly everthing with no growth was dead im going to move it this week hopfully.

If you want to reverse the decline, you need to take a proactive stance and eliminate the condition(s) causing the decline. Maintaining the status quo would likely seal the plant's fate.

When did you last pot up a pot size?

Is the soil still moist at the top when you water?

Are you fertilizing? With what? How often? What strength?

What kind of light is the plant getting?

What temperature is the room the plant is in?

Have you checked carefully for insect infestations - especially scale and mites?

Al

So your Al the Ficus guru people have been telling me about, well nice to meet you.
Pleasantries over and down to business then.
I potted up about 2 weeks ago as we are slowly moving in to spring, I have a moisture meter so I wait till the soil a few inches under the surface is just bordering dry. I use baby bio fertiliser, 5-10 in a ltr about once twice a month.
We have just had a prolonged cold winter in the uk and the flat can get cold.
The light isnt brilliant to be honest id say average light conditions, I was living in my previous flat with better light when I bought this Ficus. It was at a rock bottom price but it looked healthy when I bought it, ive read garden centres do that when I plant is unwell or old but im sure it was healthy and well. Looked it.
Following previous advive ive trimmed off branches and will pop it in a green house in a humidity bag, from the picture above would you recommend cutting the top off level with the other 2 trunks?

rikyrik - in a green house in the UK it will not need any special humidity measures imho. Under our conditions I think the plastic bag idea would end up producing a mouldy plant. But I wouldn't put it out there until the weather warms up a bit and I certainly wouldn't leave it there over the winter unless it is heated. I think it should be OK in your flat if you put it into the brightest spot you have. Unless your flat drops below about 5 degrees your Ficus may sit quietly but will be fine. It's not so much cool temps it doesn't like but fluctuations. I rescued a Ficus benjamina from work which was infested with scale and had hardly any leaves. I cut off the dead bits, repotted into houseplant compost, wiped off the scale, watered it well and put into a glass porch. It soon took off. Light, good compost and water. (For US readers rikyrik will know what I mean by compost, it's what we call mix or medium). Potentially a nice plant you have there.

Every plant is potentially a nice plant, but it can never reach its potential unless the grower is able to eliminate the cultural conditions imposing limitations.

Your ficus won't tolerate temps below about 16* without going into steady decline because they are increasingly inefficient at photosynthesis as temperatures drop below that mark. This means that they will rely on stored photosynthate (energy) for extension of roots and branches. Any time a plant is using more food than it's making, it's dying, unless the trend is reversed. They PREFER temperatures from about 21-29*, and very bright light. They should tolerate full sun where you are, as long as it's accompanied by good air movement, so I suggest you get the plant outdoors as soon as (and if) temps allow. A greenhouse would be helpful, especially if you're dealing with a compromised root system, which you almost certainly are.

When you water, are you flushing the soil thoroughly - or are you watering in small sips in an attempt to avoid root issues resultant of soggy soil?

You need to get to a point where you are sure the level of salts (dissolved solids) in the soil solution is something the plant can tolerate. If you aren't there or can't get there, you can't expect your plant to recover. Then, you need to be able to flush the soil on a regular basis. By far, it would be best if you were using a soil that allowed you to flush the soil at every watering without concern for root issues related to soggy soil, but even if you aren't using a soil that allows you to water properly, there are things you can do on a regular basis that allow you to flush the soil. This can be important to the point of being critical, and a high % of the problem plants being discussed on this forum are suffering from either a very high level of dissolved solids in the soil, or a badly skewed fertilizer ratio that is causing problems with uptake of nutrients that have antagonistic relationships with other nutrients. That means that too much of 1 nutrient can make it difficult or impossible for a plant to take up another nutrient. For example, too much phosphorous in the soil (a very common malady) makes it difficult for plants to take up iron, potassium, calcium, copper, and zinc.

Everything STARTS with the roots. The roots control what the top CAN do, with a healthy, attractive plant being impossible w/o a root system that is healthy and functioning with minimal amount of impairment.

The first thing I would do is flush the soil the next time the plant needs water. Because you're probably using a water-retentive soil, you probably can't do that w/o taking some precautions. I don't know how much you want to learn, or how much you're willing to do to bring the plant back from the edge. I can help you with directions and some reading that should put those things in perspective that will allow you to avoid the most common pitfalls hobby growers find themselves facing. Are you up for that?

Al

Thanks for the replys.
Yes I do I tend to only water about less than half a ltr at a time for fear of overwatering and causing root rot. Yes please I appreciate advice.
I did read about flushing the roots when i was reading about palms (dont worry my palms are not on the brink of death, yet!) I didnt follow it up because well my indoor palms are in single dectrive pots, sorry going off topic, so to flush i litrally take the plant out side and poor alot of water on the soil letting it all drain through?

rikyrik - by all means take it outside to water but don't leave it outside at the moment. It's far too cold. I wouldn't put it out until at least June here, if you are going to.

Click this embedded link for an overview of growing in containers that should help you avoid most of the major pitfalls that you're probably dealing with now.

Click this one for information on how to deal with and reduce the negative impact of excess water retention in your media.

To flush the soil, first wet it thoroughly & let it rest for 10 minutes or so, then pour room temp water through the soil in a volume of water equal to at least the volume of the container the plant is in - do that 5-10 times - the more the better.

If you can unpot the plant so the root mass remains intact, do that, and then set the root/soil mass on newspapers or an old towel. That will drain excess water from the soil very quickly - within 10 minutes or so. Then return the plant to the pot and wait for it to dry down to where it needs water. At that time, fertilize with a half recommended strength dose of a soluble fertilizer in as close to a 3:1:2 ratio as you can find (24-8-16, 12-4-8, 9-3-6, are all examples of 3:1:2 ratios).

Hopefully, by mid to late June you'll be able to repot the plant into a soil that drains well. Undoubtedly, it would benefit significantly from the repot and a change to a well-aerated and free-draining soil.

Your soil choice and getting the light right are the issues from which the most serious issues are likely to arise. If you're serious about wanting to become as proficient as possible at growing anything in containers, you need to be serious about gaining an understanding of how to make your soil work for you, instead of against you. In the end and simply put, your abilities as a grower will always be defined by how well you're able to identify and eliminate those factors that are limiting your plants. To have an almost perfect plant, you need to have all factors close to perfect, because if everything is perfect except one pesky factor, it will be THAT factor that limits your plant, and nothing you can do, other than improving the limiting factor, will make a difference.

Growing well in containers is very easy if you shoot for the sweet spot instead of trying to grow plants at the limits of what they are genetically programmed to tolerate. If you find the sweet spot, you can grow almost everything well. If you don't, you're limited to being able to keep alive those plants that tolerate the less than ideal conditions.

Al

Thanks Flora will leave it a few weeks then make the move :)

Thanks Al for your time and expert advice, its much appreciated.
I will certainly try and follow your advice and do what I can, if my Ficus improves I will post some photos up.

Rikyrik

To Al
Ive had a quiet hour so ive gone to your links you put up in your last post and read them both, wow ive learnt alot, very interesting stuff.
Really id like to "repot" most of my plants and root prune and plant with non water retaining soil. I think if I tried I would kill them being a total novice, ive potted up enough times but thats easy, how risky is repotting and root pruning?, id like to with my Alii but also with 2 1m+ Areca palms and 1 smaller parlour palm. Id like to point out that my palms are alot healthier than my poor Ficus although both my Areca are on a very steady decline, my parlour is very healthy apart from a few browning tips on only a few fronds.

bare rooting large plants is a VERY messy procedure. you have to do it in water, else you damage too many roots. we are talking buckets here, if you are indoors. and even with a bucket a large palm would be a killer. don't do it, unless you have access to outside area and a water hose . and then it will be still ultra messy. if you try - do a small plant first, so you know how. and don't do a very sick one either - just smth simple to start.
are palms sensitive to root disturbance? better find out. if they are - they'll be sulking for months...
by the way, i'd cut that spindly trunk some more - just to the last cluster of leaves. it'll never grow out gracefully otherwise.

First, resist cutting ANY green stuff off your plant until you're sure it's well on the way to recovery. Your plant's ONLY source of food (fertilizer is not plant food) is its leaves. Plants use energy from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air, and water, to manufacture their food. 6CO2 + 12H2O + light = C6H12O6 (glucose) + 6O2 + 6H2O Cutting off any additional foliage is something your plant can ill afford at this point ..... so please don't do it. And if you get into a well-considered pruning rhythm, the plant will reward you by growing out gracefully.

Root pruning isn't difficult if you go about it correctly. Here is a link that will explain the basics. The idea behind my advice is to get your tree to the point it will tolerate the root-pruning it undoubtedly needs before it can begin to come into its own. I want you to START the root work by simply sawing off the bottom half - 2/3 of the roots, then bare-rooting the remaining root mass, followed by correcting problem roots. It's really easy to learn how to take advantage of a plant's strengths, and to avoid undertaking operations during that period of the growth cycle (when the plant is at its weakest) that leave the plant vulnerable. That's why I'm not telling you to repot the plant right now. Odds are good the additional stress is more than it can tolerate ...... so let's not gamble with the plant's viability.

Everyone TELLS me you can't mess with a palm's roots. I highly doubt that to be true, given the number of plants with fibrous root systems I've successfully root-pruned and repotted. I have pretty good instincts when it comes to plants, and my guess is that you'd need to avoid entirely bare-rooting the plant, but there's still a strategy that covers that type of repotting. I think I'm going to need to invest in one of the palms "you can't root prune" and see for myself how well they do or don't tolerate it. I don't grow them because they make poor bonsai candidates, and as such don't interest me. Still, a plant that sulks for months (not likely in my estimation) before it finally takes off is much to be preferred to a plant that sulks for the rest of its life because it's limited by root congestion.

Al

"here" they recommend as little root disturbance for palms as possible, even no need to cut circling roots in the container! it seems to be a knowledgeable fl palm growers site.

Thanks petrushka.

I have a few questions to Al, if ok?
I think ill avoid repotting palms for now but I will go ahead and rootprune and repot my ficus when I can and then go from there. So when I remove all soil from the ficus rootball and prune how might I rebuild the roots with soil, maybe prepare a pot with soil and dig a well then fill in? I always layer the bottom 1/5 with stones/broken tiles etc for better drainage but reading your articles I am to understand the all that will do is rase the perched water level?
I have another question about my Areca regarding your practices, or maybe 2. If more apologies lol
Ok so id like to definatly flush there roots I have a slight problem there tho, the containers there in are sealed singular pots so no drainage holes which I know is bad (or maybe not) to be fair they've done better than I thought, had them over a year with a cold winter and there looking green and healthy with new fronds growing slowly, I say they are on a slow decline because I occasionally lose a frond. The problem is how can I flush them? I thought about maybe moving them to a more practical pot/saucer set up or drilling holes in the bottom of the pots there in and get saucers? The roots are not close to the bottom so I wouldnt hit them with a drill bit, I mentioned earlier that the pots there in might be better for water drainage. I was curious 1 day about there roots and wanted to take a look at them so I could figure out how best to water them propely, anyway so I gently pulled the Areca out of the pot to investigate, I found that the root ball in this case root cube was only 50% of the depth of the pot and the last 50% was empty soil so could that mean that with such alot of empty soil below the root mass could that lower the perched water level far below the roots abit like your wick or raised bed method? Will it work that way?
Last questions (sorry) can you not buy fast draining soil? If not could you mix in things to soil like crushed down pottery for example?

Over the years, as I work on roots I work toward maintaining a fairly flat root mass, with the roots radiating from the trunk of the plant pretty much horizontally and all at the same ht level. For the ficus genus, I cut back the heaviest (chunkiest) roots the hardest because over time that helps to even out the amount of energy that goes to various areas of the plant, which helps to prevent weak areas that can die or be shed unexpectedly by the plant. I actually make a mound (cone) centered under where the trunk will exit the soil. I then sort of gently twist the plant into the mound, which helps to ensure there are no voids or air pockets under the trunk. Then. I thoroughly work the fresh soil into the roots with a tool like the white nylon one in the picture
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but a wood dowel sharpened in a pencil sharpener but with a slightly rounded tip also works well.

I'm not being critical, only observing that a pot with no holes becomes progressively more limiting as the planting ages - true even if you were able to furnish water in volumes that would normally be perfect, which would be a task extremely difficult in a drainless container. Pots w/o drain holes are something I would encourage you to avoid if at all possible. You CAN grow healthy plants in a container w/o a drain if you play close attention to detail and everything else is perfect, but unless you're very aware of how to deal with the adversity, you put yourself at a considerable disadvantage.

You can help to eliminate some of the perched water a planting CAN hold if you mix rocks or other nonabsorbent chunks into the soil that occupies the bottom of the pot, but the best results will be had when using soils that are airy enough that there is no advantage in employing that strategy.
{{gwi:5807}} If the overturned pot in 'D' was bricks instead, the PWT would still be the same ht, but the bricks would significantly reduce the amount of soil in the portion of the pot that's CAPABLE of holding perched water, and in doing such could be helpful to plants in water-retentive soils. Understanding the concept explained explained in this thread will go a long way toward getting you over the hump when it comes to growing in containers.

Roots aren't a plant's Achilles' heel, but they certainly CAN be the conduit by which soils that drain poorly and hold insufficient volumes of air limit plants from moderately to critically. You'd be very surprised at what kind of (root) treatment a healthy plant will tolerate and quickly rebound from. I took this plant from a root mass that occupied well over 1.5 gallons of soil to a volume of roots that would EASILY fit in well under a teacup with nothing in the way of any sort of adverse reaction. The key is to get your plant healthy so it will tolerate whatever work you might have in mind, do the work at a time most favorable for the plant, then let it recover fully before asking it again to rebound from necessary for its extended well-being but stressful in the immediate. Unfortunately, doing some things in the immediate that are stressful are requisite investments in the plant's future. You just can't allow nature to take its course when it comes to container culture if a healthy attractive plant for the long term is our intention.

If you have the inclination, read the info at the link I offered, then ask any questions you might have, or ask for clarification of anything that might seem murky to you.

Wishing the best for you .......

Al

Thanks.
So i cut the roots on my Alii. I took the bottom 1/3 off and removed as much soil as i could before re potting. I see what you mean about perching water, the top of the soil was dry but the bottom of the rootball and a bit of soil below that in the pot was wet, shows how hard it is to water properly, for me anyway lol, i have a moisture stick but never used to go to deep with it but now i think i will.

Also id like your opinion on my new Ficus i bought today, I believe its a Benjamina. I went to buy other stuff but couldnt resist buying it. Ive read up about it but it didnt say about water it after moving, should i water it or wait abit to avoid shock? its in a light area away from direct sunlight. Any other tips you might offer to avoid shock?
I feel with a few tips i should be able to keep it healthy.
Ill post a photo next.
Thanks

New Ficus :0

You shouldn't have repotted a plant as weak as the Alii until it healthy enough to tolerate the work. I mentioned that in my post above, that, "The key is to get your plant healthy so it will tolerate whatever work you might have in mind, do the work at a time most favorable for the plant, then let it recover fully before asking it again to rebound from necessary for its extended well-being but stressful in the immediate." Hopefully, your plant will tolerate the added stress, and you moved it to an appropriate soil.

The benjamina looks fine, but the upper 1/3 of the plant needs pruning to restrain its top growth. If you don't, the plant will use about 2/3 of its energy in the top 1/3 of the plant, which means the bottom 2/3 will only get 1/3 of the plant's energy. That's just how they grow, and you need to understand that in order to change its growth habit and keep the plant full. If you keep it where it is, it's going to defoliate almost entirely, and then grow poorly and lack vitality due to insufficient light. Light diminishes by the square of the distance from the light source, so a plant 10 ft from a window gets 1/100 the light of a plant 1 ft from the same window.

Al

I must of misread somewhere.

So should I water the benjamina right away?
Thanks for the tip there ive moved it closer the window.

Water on an 'as needed' basis unless you're using a soil that allows you to water on a schedule. To tell when the plant needs water, use a skewer or wood dowel stuck deep in the root mass. If it comes out clean & dry, it's time to water.

The link I left you above about the basics has a LOT of information in it about watering. I'll leave the link again so you have the opportunity to review if you like.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: See the part about watering

I wasnt sure if watering right away might increase the shock of a new environment, Ive been abit rushy on here lately, apologies :)

Thanks alot for your help

Slow down - put yourself on tree time instead of on people time. Make sure you understand what you're doing and the likely results before you move ahead. Learning by experience is a very slow way to learn. Using your experience to validate what you've already endeavored to learn is the fastest way to a green thumb.
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Al