I think that you have a 'wait and see' situation going on, Curtis. If I were you, I'd be darned if I'd toss that nice looking plant to the curb. Let's see what other advice comes your way.

Oh I agree with Dori. It looks like your plant was in pretty good health before it was hit by the chill, so it should have a fair amount of energy reserves to push a new flush of foliage. I wouldn't remove anything that was still green. Because your tree will temporarily be using more energy than it can produce, it's almost as though it changed from solar power to battery power. IOW, it was prolly just plugging along and holding its own or back-sliding (in terms of how much stored energy it had in reserve) just a little through the winter, but getting MOST of its food (energy) from current light exposure. Because the photosynthesizing surface has been drastically reduced, the tree will tax energy reserves ('battery power' - stored energy) more severely. If you can put up with the appearance for awhile, I'd make a wager your plant will be on the way to a full recovery soon.

You prolly understand that you won't need to water as much as before. Only water when the plant needs it. Hopefully you're using a soil fast (free-draining) enough that you can water thoroughly so a good portion of the water applied exits the drain hole.

If you need to talk more about the cultural wants needs, you can ask or just search the forum. Ficus l. is pretty much like the other Ficus species except that it might rebel a little against full afternoon sun (outdoors).

Good luck - sorry for your misfortune. :o(

Al

Thanks guys
Al, I was hoping you would see this thread :)
So I think I'm just going to hold on and see what happens.
Was planning on putting it outside this summer in a shaded spot. Do you think I will have to do some drastic pruning when vigorous growth starts back up?

Do you think I will have to do some drastic pruning when vigorous growth starts back up?

There really is no way to tell @ this point. 'Wait and see' from upthread, along with trying to make cultural conditions as favorable as you can, is about all you can do. Since you're able to post pics, there's no reason we can't take another look in late May or June to see how to proceed with any pruning that might be helpful.

Take care.

Al

I would certainly wait and see and never give up hope until it is obvious the plant is dead. And since it did not get below freezing it is most likely alive.

I have a small Parodia magnifica cactus which fell off the windowsill last summer. The top was damaged, marring the appearance. I decided to basically cut the top off and see what happened. For some time, the cut section was soft, so much so that I almost tossed it thinking it was rotting. But the cut eventually callused over, and two new pups sprouted from opposite sides of the cactus. Sometimes, just when you think a plant is dead, it surprises you.

For most tropical plants, and certainly for Ficus, severe injury and death can occur from chill injury at temperatures as high as 45-50*. That a tropical injured by chill wasn't exposed to temperatures below freezing isn't sufficient to conclude that a plant will live. 36* is easily cold enough to kill the plant if the temperature drop was rapid - say from near 75* to 36* in a matter of hours. It's the rate of temperature decrease, not that the plant was not exposed to temps below freezing that determines viability or the severity of injury.

People often tell of leaving their Ficus and scheffs outdoors inadvertently, and their being exposed to temperatures in the low 30s with no immediately detectable ill effects. This is because the temperatures were probably falling slowly and the plant was able to adjust physiologically to a change it wouldn't have been able to adjust to had it been rapid.

Al

kaktuskris - very interesting story! maybe there is hope :)

Al - I'm hoping since mine was indoors in my brick house that the drop in temp was slow, also thinking that since it was in my south window may have helped to raise the temperatures atleast during the daytime.
Okay so I've read some of your posts about pruning and you seem to be the resident bonsai expert so wondering if you can answer this question via a really horrible drawing (try not to laugh)
so the branch on the left is what I would have hoped for had there not of been a need to prune but what I'm wondering is when you make a cut in a stem does that mean the new growth will not grow completely vertical? what i'm trying to avoid is the image on the right

again, try not to laugh...haha
{{gwi:73416}}

Just as Al said about the temp dropping rapidly.....Could some damage have been done by increasing the temp drastically? It sounds like it was only slightly damaged until you raised the temp the next day and watered it. Is it possible that it got used to the low temps and so the sudden raise was too drastic?
I assume that the temp dropped medium-slow, because no one's house could fall that low in an hour or so..I mean...at least it doesn't seem too likely. But even if it was shocked from the increase in temp, there's really nothing you can do now except wait (like everyone else said) and I betcha it'll pull through.

Daw - sudden drops cause inelastic cell walls through which phenol(ic) compounds leak and cause chill injury like shown in the photos above. The damage is caused only in the period when temps are falling. Rising temperatures increase elasticity in cells not ruptured. This doesn't repair or reverse the injury, but it reverses the trend.

There are degrees of 'sudden', too. A 35* temperature drop over a day or two is still sudden to a plant, even though it may not seem sudden to us. It isn't, however, as drastically sudden as a 35* drop over a couple of hours. The later, drastically sudden example would be much more likely to cause injury severe enough to kill the plant than the former. I agree that it's likely the change occurred over a couple of days - several days & the plant will likely be fine.

Keep in mind that all tissues are not equally resistant to cold. Twigs are more cold tolerant than leaves and well-lignified branches are more resistant than twigs, so even if leaves die off, it doesn't mean all is lost. ;o)

About the sketch:
You're asking how to modify the effects of directional pruning. Tip prune the branch on the left. New branches will begin to grow from the axillary buds (they're dormant in the pic) ;o) at the base of each leaf. Choose the branch that 'wants' to grow the closest to vertical after it is established. When it IS established, cut off all vegetation (leaves and branches, but not the main stem) above that near vertical branch. You'll be left with the old trunk with a new branch growing nearly vertically and a bare stem above that branch. Now tie the new almost vertical branch to the old stem and it will be vertical again. Let me know if I confused you. It's easy to show you, but difficult to explain.

Al

Ahhh okay.
Typically when you tip prune on ficus does it usually produce one single new branch or several? How far down will the dormant buds be activated? Does removing all vegetation from the new branch help it to grow faster?

Typically when you tip prune on ficus does it usually produce one single new branch or several? How far down will the dormant buds be activated?

It sort of depends on two things that usually, but not always, go hand in hand - the time of the year, and the tree's vitality/energy level. If you were to prune in Jul-Aug, at the peak of vitality, likely all the latent axillary buds would be activated on that branch behind the pruning cut, and in some cases, it can even stimulate additional bud activation on other branches - especially if you tip prune several branches @ once. If you prune when energy levels are low, the tree is more likely to back-bud with less proliferance. It may even send up/out only one or two weak branches/branch until cultural conditions improve, or at least until energy levels are increased.

"Does removing all vegetation from the new branch help it to grow faster?"

... looks like you misunderstood. You only remove vegetation from the part of the trunk that extends above/beyond the new leader. You can even peal the bark off if you want, and kill it. It's only purpose after you remove the vegetation is to provide something (like a stake) to tie the new leader to so the 'line' of the branch/stem stays as straight as possible. A bonsai guy would prolly just wire it into position. Got it? ;o)

Al

Totally get it now!
Thanks Al
So look for a post from me this summer with pics and more questions :)

Good luck. ;o)