Deb

Are you saying it hasnÂt put on any leaves since you moved it indoors for the winter?

My narrow leaf ficus grow, but very slowly, during the winter in a greenhouse with minimum lows set at 38 degrees. With warmer temps you have in the house and decent light, your plant should have lots of new growth by now.

randy

It probably dropped it's leaves because of light shock. If it was getting a good amount of light outside and then you brought it directly into the low light condition of your house it gets shocked and looses its leaves. If the plant is otherwise healthy it should start to leaf out again if you put it in a warm somewhat sunny location. It will probably not leaf out out in regular house lighting conditions.
Turtle

Turtle

Have to disagree with you.

If I can root salicifolia cuttings in my house over the winter, surely a tree with a root system already established can grow leaves under the same conditions. Why is it recommended as an indoor tree if it wonÂt grow indoors? If a tropical weed like a ficus canÂt push out leaves under warm conditions inside a house, there is something wrong.

In habitat in the Yucatan, IÂve seen very small ficus growing under the upper canopy. It can be darker under a thick jungle canopy than in a south facing winter window. How on earth can those young trees grow if you think light is the most important factor? Temperature is probably more important for growth than light intensity.

I agree light intensity is critical to maintaining healthy growth in keeping a tropical bonsai looking good. A zone 7 south window should be kicking tail and taking no prisoners in the winter.

randy

Why would you ask for help then argue about it ?

I also have many varieties of Ficus in various stages of development. Some times they will drop leaves when you change their environment. Over watering will also cause the same condition. Remember these are just opinions based on the information you provided.

JR

JR

I don't understand your question. Deb is the one who asked for help, and she isn't arguing about anything yet because she hasnÂt responded.

Who are you referring to?

Changes in light level are not going to make a ficus drop leaves. Changes in temperatures and humidity will.
When I hear Deb has willow leaf ficus that has been leafless all winter, I instantly think it is too dry in the area where the plant is located.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have it in the best possible light in my apartment, it's not quite warm enough here yet to put it outside but I will do that as soon as I can. I will also try putting it on a humidity tray and see if that helps, it is rather dry in there.

Thanks again,
Deb

Randy-
It is not the low light itself that causes leaf drop it is the drastic change in light conditions. There is MUCH less light inside your house than outside even in a window. Also I was not saying that light is the only factor just AN important one.
Mark-
changes in light level WILL cause leaf deop on ficus. You need to slowly decrease the light before you bring it inside to avoid this.

Changes in light level will also affect the shape, and size, of the leaves and internodes of ficus. In strong light ficus tend to have small, down-pointing leaves with short internodes, while in low light they tend to have larger leaves, longer internodes and lay flat (parallell to the ground)
Turtle

Did you fertilize it after brining it in? If it has no leaves yet, is it still alive? Will it bleed if a small cut is made? I have brought ficus in from the out doors suddenly and they have not lost leaves at all. But I made the mistake of fertilizing one after I brought it in and it lost almost all leaves, but they started to grow back after some weeks. I agree Ficus are like weeds and are hard to kill. IF the tree still bleeds, it will probably live. Don't fertilize it until it has much new thriving growth.

I found something in my search to stop the leaf drop problems I was having with my ficus benjamina and it may help you as well. Ficus trees are NOT phototropic. Which means unlike many plants, they can't turn their leaves to face the light. Instead, they drop leaves and regrow new ones that are positioned correctly. This means that doing something as simple as moving your plant a few feet or rotating it to give it even lighting can cause leaf drop.

For example, in my apartment I have my ficus on the wall opposite my eastward facing window. When I brought it home it started dropping leaves immediately (that was to be expected, shock, change of water amounts etc.) But when it continued to drop leaves I thought maybe it wasn't getting enough light so I moved it next to the window where it began shedding leaves even faster. I put it back on the wall opposite the window and have left it there and within 2 weeks it began to sprout new leaves. Many of the old leaves continue to drop off despite the fact that they seem otherwise healthy.

Basically, when you get a ficus, decide where you're going to put it and LEAVE IT THERE. If you put it outside for the summer, expect it to be nude a month after you bring it in for the fall or winter. Try to avoid direct sunlight especially next to windows as windows tend to concentrate infrared light which creates an extremely dry environment. If you want it next to a window be prepared to mist it several times a week.

Ficus need medium light. They can't tolerate either of the extremes. And when watering, you want to be sure to let the soil dry out a bit between waterings. Also, ficus are fairly susceptible to root rot so be sure they aren't sitting in a puddle of water.

I'm not sure I agree with the medium light thing. They can tolerate and thrive in full sun. What do you think they get in habitat? They are an upper canopy tree.

I keep them under shadecloth here so I don't have to water them twice a day in the summer.

randy

Randy,

How are ya...for the past couple years I have taken my 2 ficus trees inside..the only 2 tropicals that I have. I loose nearly every leaf off of them, almost like they go dormant like my temperate trees. The buds all looks fine, but I fight scale all winter long. This happens to the one ficus exotica that I posted to the forum a few weeks back.

When summer comes I put the ficus back outside and they do fine...what am I doing wrong? I have the trees under a 400 watt metal halide and the temp never goes below 70 degrees. I am very open to suggestions why this might be happening...

Matt Ouwinga

Hi Matt

I do one thing that helps all container plants I bring into the house. I find the largest, deepest plastic tray for those terracotta "houseplant" pots and put a couple inches of gravel or small river stone in them. You can keep quite a bit of water in them to help with humidity, as long as the water level is lower than rock level. Bunching your trees helps. I keep light levels low and allow them to stay fairly dry to simulate the dry season most tropicals might experience in habitat. IÂm not a big fan of winter growth for most things. Light intensity is not good enough the support real strong growth, but a zone 7 south window with lights on timers can kick but.

I would think scale is a dry climate pest. I will see them on occasion in the winter on a few plants. Plants outdoors that get a regular drenching almost never have a scale problem here.

My tropicals experience a cold dry winter in the greenhouse. My minimum temp is set at 38, so I see some complaining. Mainly from very shallow potted items. Deep potted stuff will continue to grow even under those conditions.

As a whole I think tropicals as much tuffer than most people think. They baby them too much.

randy

I think it is possible to bring ficus inside from outside and not have them loose their leaves. I have been doing so for years with mine and they never loose many leaves. I bring them inside when it is still warm and put them directly in front of an open south facing window. When the weather gets cold they stay all winter about one inch away from south facing windows. They do fine and rarely loose many leaves. The bringing in and out is a gradual process, and they get turned regularly when inside.

Willow leaf are known to drop leaves at any little change. I'm in the far north Detroit so mine drop there leaves when i bring them in for winter and will drop them again as spring hits its crazy.They will have no leaves at all maybe 2 months of the year but always comes back.Mine take awhile to set new leaves sometimes so long i fear they are dead, it takes up to a month. I've heard so many leaf dropping stories with willow leaf ficus it must be a problem for every1, I though it was only in the north.

Good luck , NorthernBonsai