Hello Nina 😀 thanks for the kind words! Yes, watering can be bit tricky with these plants, but once you accept they actually need very little water they become super easy to care for. Just remember, dry, crunchy yellow leaves falling off means underwatering and soft leaves falling means over watering. Happy gardening 🌱
@Nina Esterhuysen OMG same experience here, the plant leaves are falling so I started to pour more water to them because I thought they're not having enough and then one time my sister caught me and she was very angry to me, told me I am the culprit why her plants are dying. Haha.. I can't believe her so I came to research if this plant hates water and booom found this and some others videos saying thesame as my sister told me. 🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️
Soft, yellow leaves falling off is then overwatering, right? What to do if this happens? I inspected the roots and found some signs of root rot, cut away the dark roots and repotted the plant with really little watering... Leaves yellowing still appear, but I also see quite a bit of new growth... Confusing.
Thank you so much! My Benjamina has started to have brown spots and the leaves were turning yellow. I’ve been watering her once a week, and your video has made me realize she doesn’t need that much water! I’ll slow down and make sure I check the top 1” and place my whole finger in as well (though I have tiny hands sooo lol).
I have multiple ficus, and some I turned into bonsai. I use a free draining soil for the bonsai (lava rock, pine bark, pumice, perlite etc...) For the non-bonsai ficus that is in a normal planter, I used sifted organic soil. Basically taking all the peat and fines out of the soil helps it drain much better and dry within a week.
Our Ficus was planted through a purpose-built hole in the concrete slab foundation of our custom home (prior owner did that). It's right next to a sliding glass door and there's a large dirt garden area just outside. The sprinkler outside in the garden broke and flooded the ground. The Ficus leaves turned yellow, then very dry, brown, curled up, fell off. There was a 'bubbler' head sprinkler at the base of the tree - no water came out due to the pressure stolen by the broken sprinkler in the outside adjacent garden. "The tree's dying! I gotta water it, the leaves are brown and dry and dead, it needs water!" I fixed the outside sprinkler head and that restored water pressure to the bubbler. Within 4 minutes, a pond of water manifested at the base of the Ficus! It hit me - "this tree shares the same ground area as the outside garden, which got water-saturated by that broken sprinkler head. The Ficus is dying from too much water!" I haven't watered it for a week, and after watching your excellent video, I'm not going to water it until it shows more signs of life. Very counterintuitive - "too much water drys the leaves and turns them brown and they fall" .
It's been about 25 days since I've watered mine and it's about 10% - 20% moist in the soil still, dropped 15 leaves. I think it's because the soil holds on to water for too long
I think I am overwatering also. I have two ficus benjaminas, both inside two different rooms but both west facing window or door. Is the sun too intense at the end of the day when it is directly in the sun through glass?
My ficus has been doing great--in a very large, heavy clay pot on my patio. It got totally soaked in the hurricane-like rains we had in Southern Cal. Anything I can do to dry it out?
Thank you! I’ve just repotted my Benjimina due to signs of root rot. The soil was too wet. My question is when the compose is brand new from the packaging, what is the general time before watering? I assume the compose contained some moisture already? It feels that way. Thanks.
I have this huge plant in the front room and its leaves are sticky. I noticed the branches of the plant have Scales on it. I am spraying "NEEM oil RTU" spraying on it and cleaning the tiny scales from the branches. I repotted this plant in summer from a small container to this huge one and I spry painted the outside of the container in Golden color. I do not know what is causing the plant leaves to go "Sticky" like this. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
Interesting. I have a question regarding the changing a site where the fig is placed... some people say it will drop the leaves just by moving it in a different location. I have mine outside during summer but will move it inside for the colder months. Does it need a lot of sun, it will be very dry inside ,do you have any suggestions? This is a new braided trunk plant for me and I don't want to mistreated. Thank you. I am in zone 8a in Texas.
What about ficus Benjamina planted outdoors. I have two about 8 feet tall planted last Spring. Both have been dropping lots of leaves this winter and are becoming quite thin on the inside closer to the trunk. The leaves are yellow and brown. The outer parts of the foliage look normal. I struggle with how much to water. There are flower bedding plants around them and so I water those every few days. Then the trees have a drip system and I run that once to twice a week for about an hour at4 gallons per hour. As I write this I’m thinking, yeah too much. How can I save them? Do you think I am overwatering? I really don’t want to lose these trees. By the way, I am in Southern California at a zone appropriate for this tree. Thank you!
Depending on the size of the pot, your medium, and how quikcly your medium dries, you may need to repot it asap to stop the roots from rotting. When you repot, if the roots are brown and mushy then I'm afraid it's gone, but if there are healthy white roots or growing tips then you good to go with repotting into moist, not wet soil. Good luck!
My ficus started to drop her leaves after several years. So I just decided to cut them all off and see what happened. I set her in a bright spot and also trained LED lamps on her 24 hours a day. Within a few weeks, buds started to appear. A few months after that, she had a full crown of lush foliage. These plants are pretty hardy as long as you give them the right conditions. I've done the same with an older ficus recently, as it was starting to look a bit tired and it's already starting to bud. For pruning, just cut to the shape you want, discarding any dead branches, You can tell if the branch is dead as it wont leach any of that sticky white substance. And be sure to fertilise it every couple of weeks.
I gave it every week, but I noticed the plant weeps and many leaves have dropped. Now I will do what you do... Thank you for this!
Wow! I definitely am overwatering then. Thought the leaf drop was because of not having enough water so this is super helpful. Thank you :)
Hello Nina 😀 thanks for the kind words! Yes, watering can be bit tricky with these plants, but once you accept they actually need very little water they become super easy to care for. Just remember, dry, crunchy yellow leaves falling off means underwatering and soft leaves falling means over watering. Happy gardening 🌱
@Nina Esterhuysen OMG same experience here, the plant leaves are falling so I started to pour more water to them because I thought they're not having enough and then one time my sister caught me and she was very angry to me, told me I am the culprit why her plants are dying. Haha.. I can't believe her so I came to research if this plant hates water and booom found this and some others videos saying thesame as my sister told me. 🙆♀️🙆♀️🙆♀️
Soft, yellow leaves falling off is then overwatering, right? What to do if this happens? I inspected the roots and found some signs of root rot, cut away the dark roots and repotted the plant with really little watering... Leaves yellowing still appear, but I also see quite a bit of new growth... Confusing.
I water mine monthly and it has loads gree new leafs I put mine near a sunny window and it loves it there
Thank you so much! My Benjamina has started to have brown spots and the leaves were turning yellow. I’ve been watering her once a week, and your video has made me realize she doesn’t need that much water! I’ll slow down and make sure I check the top 1” and place my whole finger in as well (though I have tiny hands sooo lol).
I have multiple ficus, and some I turned into bonsai. I use a free draining soil for the bonsai (lava rock, pine bark, pumice, perlite etc...) For the non-bonsai ficus that is in a normal planter, I used sifted organic soil. Basically taking all the peat and fines out of the soil helps it drain much better and dry within a week.
Our Ficus was planted through a purpose-built hole in the concrete slab foundation of our custom home (prior owner did that). It's right next to a sliding glass door and there's a large dirt garden area just outside. The sprinkler outside in the garden broke and flooded the ground.
The Ficus leaves turned yellow, then very dry, brown, curled up, fell off. There was a 'bubbler' head sprinkler at the base of the tree - no water came out due to the pressure stolen by the broken sprinkler in the outside adjacent garden.
"The tree's dying! I gotta water it, the leaves are brown and dry and dead, it needs water!" I fixed the outside sprinkler head and that restored water pressure to the bubbler. Within 4 minutes, a pond of water manifested at the base of the Ficus!
It hit me - "this tree shares the same ground area as the outside garden, which got water-saturated by that broken sprinkler head. The Ficus is dying from too much water!"
I haven't watered it for a week, and after watching your excellent video, I'm not going to water it until it shows more signs of life.
Very counterintuitive - "too much water drys the leaves and turns them brown and they fall"
.
It's been about 25 days since I've watered mine and it's about 10% - 20% moist in the soil still, dropped 15 leaves. I think it's because the soil holds on to water for too long
Thank you!
I think I am overwatering also. I have two ficus benjaminas, both inside two different rooms but both west facing window or door. Is the sun too intense at the end of the day when it is directly in the sun through glass?
Thankyou so much, very informative video! 😊
Is it OK to leave the water in the bottom?
What does it mean when the leaves start to droop?
I water mine every ten days and it's doing fine
My ficus has been doing great--in a very large, heavy clay pot on my patio. It got totally soaked in the hurricane-like rains we had in Southern Cal. Anything I can do to dry it out?
Thank you! I’ve just repotted my Benjimina due to signs of root rot. The soil was too wet. My question is when the compose is brand new from the packaging, what is the general time before watering? I assume the compose contained some moisture already? It feels that way. Thanks.
I have this huge plant in the front room and its leaves are sticky.
I noticed the branches of the plant have Scales on it.
I am spraying "NEEM oil RTU" spraying on it and cleaning the tiny scales from the branches.
I repotted this plant in summer from a small container to this huge one and I spry painted the outside of the container in Golden color. I do not know what is causing the plant leaves to go "Sticky" like this.
Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.
Interesting. I have a question regarding the changing a site where the fig is placed... some people say it will drop the leaves just by moving it in a different location. I have mine outside during summer but will move it inside for the colder months. Does it need a lot of sun, it will be very dry inside ,do you have any suggestions? This is a new braided trunk plant for me and I don't want to mistreated. Thank you. I am in zone 8a in Texas.
What about ficus Benjamina planted outdoors. I have two about 8 feet tall planted last Spring. Both have been dropping lots of leaves this winter and are becoming quite thin on the inside closer to the trunk. The leaves are yellow and brown. The outer parts of the foliage look normal. I struggle with how much to water. There are flower bedding plants around them and so I water those every few days. Then the trees have a drip system and I run that once to twice a week for about an hour at4 gallons per hour. As I write this I’m thinking, yeah too much. How can I save them? Do you think I am overwatering? I really don’t want to lose these trees. By the way, I am in Southern California at a zone appropriate for this tree. Thank you!
I with Nina... I have overwatered my 30yo ficus and is looking sad. How can I save it?
Depending on the size of the pot, your medium, and how quikcly your medium dries, you may need to repot it asap to stop the roots from rotting. When you repot, if the roots are brown and mushy then I'm afraid it's gone, but if there are healthy white roots or growing tips then you good to go with repotting into moist, not wet soil. Good luck!
Peroxide
What if we eat leaf by mistake
If you’re still breathing I would recommend not eating another one
Hi. My ficus has dropped all of her leaves. This is my first ficus so I’m really not sure how to prune her. Any tips?
My ficus started to drop her leaves after several years. So I just decided to cut them all off and see what happened. I set her in a bright spot and also trained LED lamps on her 24 hours a day. Within a few weeks, buds started to appear. A few months after that, she had a full crown of lush foliage. These plants are pretty hardy as long as you give them the right conditions.
I've done the same with an older ficus recently, as it was starting to look a bit tired and it's already starting to bud.
For pruning, just cut to the shape you want, discarding any dead branches, You can tell if the branch is dead as it wont leach any of that sticky white substance.
And be sure to fertilise it every couple of weeks.
Mine too after 3.5 years. It’s root rot. Sadly i lost her. 😢
@@Aprilhojazz I had one where half the damn thing literally rotted off. Dried it completely and it somehow survived.
It's a tropical tree, so give him hot humid conditions, well draining soil and as much direct sun as possible, it will thrive.
Direct sun? That doesnt sound right,
@@csabraxas Take a cutting and try it.