Weeping Fig Dropping Leaves
Plant: Ficus benjamina variegata (weeping fig)
How long have you had the plant? 1 to 6 months
Concerns:
I’ve had it for a few months but its leaves have been dropping off a lot in the last month or so.
Light Situation:
How do you determine WHEN to water: I wait for the soil to become just slightly dry.
Describe HOW you water: Bottom watering
What fertilizer do you use? I have not used fertilizer
When was the last time you repotted? I haven’t repotted.
Darryl
Thanks for all the details! Here’s my assessment and recommendations:
- This plant is called “weeping” for good reason: you should expect some degree of leaf drop. But there is a more obvious reason why your plant will experience significant leaf drop – its current light situation is 100x less (yes, a hundred times less) than where the plant was raised. If you use a light meter on this spot, I estimate the light levels would be 50 FC most of the time. The commercial nursery where Ficus are raised typically gives them 5000 FC most of the day. Most indoor spaces will not have anything close to this level but during the warmer months of the year, Ficus will do well outside in a partially shaded area. If you only have indoor space for the plant, it needs to be right in front of your largest and sunniest window for the least amount of leaf loss (and there will always be some leaf loss)
- When your plant is in a better light situation, you should use fertilizer on a regular basis – my recommendations here.
- When your plant is in a better light situation, the water usage will be faster, which means you will be watering more frequently. You can continue with bottom watering if you want but I find it to be too time consuming. Pouring to evenly moisten all part of the soil is sufficient.
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Wow. You’ve given so much advice on your fig tree. And you go to great lengths to keep it growing well. Thank you.
I had the same problem and I fixed it. First of all, I use a wooden chop stick to check moisture. Put the pointed end all the way to the bottom of the pot. Try near the edge of the pot, then closer to the center on the other side of the pot. If the stick comes up clean, your plant is very dry. If you get a half inch of moisture, time for water. If the stick is wet halfway to the top of the pot, wait a day and test again.
I water my fig from the top and wait til water drips out the bottom. If nothing, then I lift the pot and tilt it slightly in each direction. If some water drips out one side, then I know the other holes are plugged up, so I take the chopstick and push up a half inch in each hole, then water a small amount until I see an even drip.
Now, if you haven’t checked your fig’s root ball, gently remove the pot and take a look. If the roots are clean and no black mush, then it has good roots. But are there a LOT of roots around the root ball? If that’s the case, you may want to repot in the next size pot, where there’s about 1/2 all the way around that you can fill in with fresh potting soil. Always microwave a bowl of potting soil until it’s good and HOT, then let it cool before you use it. Why? To prevent fungal gnats, bad bacterial and other pests. Professional nurseries always sterilize potting soil before using, which is what you are doing with the microwave.
If the fig isn’t all roots (also known as “root-bound”), then you aren’t watering often enough.
Next, after I water my fig, I put a very small amount in the saucer (less than 1/2 inch) and I give fig 2 minutes to drink it up. If fig doesn’t drink any, then it’s got enough water from the top. If it drinks up the water in saucer, that means its root ball is big and watering from the top isn’t enough by itself.
Finally, I mist my fig with distilled water EVERY DAY. If I miss a day or two, it’s doesn’t mind. But the more I mist it, the more leaves it gets. Why? Because weeping figs are rain forest plants in the lower canapy (not the tall trees that form the upper canopy over the forest. That means weeping figs get a little bit of sunlight and a LOT of moisture dripping on them, plus a fairly humid environment.
There’s hope for your fig. Mine looked a lot like yours before I learned how to test for moisture and started misting. For sure, there are plants that should not misted and most plants only need misting once or twice a week. But until your fig grows a lot of leaves, mist it every day. And be GENEROUS with the mister.
If this doesn’t help, then you should move the fig to a new spot. Some plants that don’t do well in one room might flourish in another.
So far, I haven’t put a humidity tray under my fig (a big saucer with some gravel filled with water). The plant sits on its saucer in the middle of the tray, which keeps the bottom of the pot dry and allows the plant to get extra humidity as the water evaporataes. But, my fig sits behind a couple calathea on a chest in my bedroom in front of a window facing east. I adjust the window shade so only a small amount of sunlight comes in and then, in the afternoon, when the sun has passed to the western side of the sky, I open the shade all the way. In the winter, I have a floor lamp with a 470 lumen 4000 kelvin LED light that’s pointed away from the plants.. The lamp is only a couple feet from the chest, which is as far away as I can put it because the bed is there. It gives just the right amount of light to keep fig happy all afternoon and evening.
Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss more about your fig tree.
All my best, Marti 🙂