Al: Oh, I do indeed have more trees! I am a bit overwhelmed by the number of pots both in and outside of my home. I am an incurable collector. I could ask you questions about them all day. . . Back in March, you answered several of my questions about making the gritty mix when I was just embarking upon that adventure. I put a few plants that were on death's doorstep in the mix then. A few didn't make it (a draceana among them), a few are thriving (the aloe and spider plant love the mix!), most have held steady and are starting to show signs of growth (shefflera, swiss cheese philodendron). So I do have a sense of the patience required when repotting before the optimal time. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of undertaking things at the right time. It's been nice to practice with the mix, learn about it's water retention, and begin to tweak it for my needs before I moved my most-beloveds into it. This week I chopped an enormous floppy jade back to it's thick base and put it in the mix. Looking forward to that development. Also a favorite cactus whose name I don't know; it's about four feet tall, main stalk about 3-4" diameter with five stalks coming off the main, so maneuvering it was an exciting project. I was nervous about that one, but glad I did it when I got in there and saw how cemented the roots were in the hardest soil I've ever dealt with. I have a ficus lyrata (fiddle fig) that also reaches the ceiling, so I'm using your advice to give it a new shape. I'm planning on following roughly the same timing for it as for the elastica. I have a very big Bloodgood maple in a pot that's too big to move. I'd love to get that back to a manageable size, but it has just leafed out beautifully and I'm thinking that it is not the right time for that. Your comments are welcome. My other big question involves conifers. I have a very sick Wilma Goldcrest Cypress, and some kind of arborvitae (I think). I've noted that you don't recommend bare-rooting these, but cutting wedges. Is that correct? What about timing? Okay, I've rambled enough. As you can probably tell now, I'm addicted (like many folks I've read on this site). Thanks again for your help. I'm really enjoying learning about the plants, seeing their roots, and giving them conditions to thrive. blessings, brenda

robin98, I asked about this in another thread (Ficus Trees in Containers IV) and Al shed some light on this for me! Since the new growth we're seeing is an entirely new branch instead of a continuation of the original stem, it's normal for the first leaves to be small and get successively larger as the branch grows. Andrea, That is a very cool looking rubber tree! The answer I found for mine wouldn't be applicable to your entire plant though, so that's a new mystery entirely! Maybe it is just a random gene mutation?

First, what's occurring is called 'bud blast', which can be broadly described as the aborting of buds before or so on after opening. Deficiencies of the immobile nutrients are a common cause. Major changes in the amount of light and water the plant is acclimated to, but over or under-watering can also be causal. Radical temperature, cold air from air conditioners or warm air from heat sources can either cause buds to be aborted, and night to day temperature changes can cause condensation within the bud sheath, which can cause the bud to rot. Chemicals/fumes from gas/diesel engines or ethylene gas from any source can cause bud blast. Aphids and thrips can feed on buds or cause infections that cause them to abort. Humidity too low or plants too close to supplemental lighting are often issues, as is chemical damage related to EC/TDS (salt levels). And sometimes, often infuriatingly, the issue is often idiopathic or remains obscure. I think directing your prophylactic efforts toward maintaining those cultural practices the plant approves of, particularly soil moisture levels, temperature, and fertility. Make sure the fertilizer you're using includes all nutrients essential to normal growth. If you have any suspicions that water/condensation in buds might be an issue, first, don't mist or spray the foliage with water. After the bud erupts, you can try carefully peeling back the bud sheath, which will help prevent water or condensation from causing rot issues. If you find aphids/thrips, treat appropriately. I can't be more specific w/o seeing the plant. Often, though, in cases like this and given a list of potentialities, the grower is able to eliminate a goodly number of possibilities and concentrate on the more likely of the causes. This question comes up quite frequently, so I think I'll save this reply as a word document and use it in threads that might benefit from the info. Good luck! ~ Al

With the vernal equinox behind you, your Ficus should be losing its tendency toward winter lethargy and starting to 'think' about growing in earnest. That urge will continue to grow as the summer solstice approaches, then start to diminish again as days shorten and temps grow cooler in autumn, until they slow so much in winter one might think they have enter a situational dormancy, but they won't have. Ficus are capable of growing as robustly in winter as in summer. The reason they don't is, indoor conditions (low humidity, often cool temps, low light) aren't in the plant's sweet spot. As a result, the less than ideal cultural conditions are temporarily limiting. IOW, they don't allow the plant to realize as much of its genetic potential when compared to the summer months. Your plant does need regular nutrient supplementation. Nutrients are the building blocks that allow the plant to grow and keep its systems orderly, so I would suggest you start fertilizing with a product the plant will like. In the US, there is a product called Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. It works extremely well for Ficus for a number of reasons. I use it for everything I grow, with only a modification here/there for a very few plants. "I read that variegated plants often need more light then no variegated ones." That is sort of true. Because there is less chlorophyll in the lighter part of the variegated leaf surface, the plant is unable to produce as much food (plants make their own food in the form of sugar) as their all-green counterparts. The problem is, chlorophyll is natures sunscreen for plants - it protects them against the same harmful rays that cause sunburn in humans; so, while the plant would need more light to keep up with other all green plants, it can't tolerate as heavy a photo load as green plants. I have a F benjamina 'Variegata' forest planting I've been working on for a few years. In summer, it's outdoors in full sun with mid-afternoon protection. Yours should be ok and very happy outdoors as long as temps are above 15-16*c. Your plant should actually tolerate full sun indoors (through a window, but you would need to have a fan moving air during the middle of summer days to protect against over-heating - different than sunburn, but still a potential problem. The planting in the image is growing in my basement currently. The cuttings I stared around the perimeter will be tall enough this year so they look natural as a part of the composition, so I expect the next shots I take of it to look much better. Maybe try using a wooden dowel rod sharpened in a pencil sharpener as a 'tell', to 'tell' you when it's time to water - much more effective than a water meter, which doesn't really measure moisture levels. It measures electrical conductivity, so the level of dissolved solids (salts) from tapwater and fertilizer solutions has a big influence on how it reads. I'll leave more about using a tell below. This is about growing Ficus in pots. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al