Thanks! :) Your rooted cuttings make a lovely little tree but I'm not sure it's gonna be happy in that glass for long. My plantlets haven't grown much for a good while, only they filled their pots with roots. Not sure if the same's gonna happen to yours but if they grow, there won't be enough space. And to flush the medium you need holes at the bottom. All my semi-hydro plants are in normal pots with holes and saucer/cache pot underneath. The ones in non-draining glasses are bromeliads and they only get sprayed with water every now and then. I just wondered, how come your mother plant has plain green and variegated leaves at the same time?

@JMJ 4Life Really sorry to learn about your tree. I assume some part of the root mass is fused, so the soil/root mass remains intact like so: If the answer is yes, unpot the plant and set the root/soil mass on a stack of newspapers, rags, old towels, dry sponges - something that will PULL excess water from the soil. Allow it to rest on the wicking material for an hour or two before returning it to the pot it fits. Use a wooden "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water, because with no water loss from foliage, the plant will require very little water. 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 plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips in order to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions - which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma and 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' (more reliable than a 'moisture meter'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) works better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half or in several pieces, depending on how deep your pots are. Sharpen both ends of each tell 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's tip comes out nearly dry. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

Timing is a primary consideration, often determining whether repotting or potting up is the wise choice. For you at this juncture, potting up if required is the wise choice. Repotting non-temperate plants, which includes removing all or most of the old soil and root-pruning, is best undertaken in the month prior to the plant's most robust growth period for a very high % of plants commonly grown indoors, yours included. That translates to July for you. While potting up can be undertaken at any time, you should probably avoid spring repots of Ficus, as the plant will most likely have the lowest energy reserve level of the entire growth cycle, ensuring a long recovery period and increased likelihood of susceptibility to insects and disease due to the additional weakening subsequent to repotting. Repotting is an essential part of maintaining all trees in containers, if you expect the plant to grow at or near its genetic potential. Repotting ensures the plant will at least have the opportunity to grow to its potential within the limits of all other cultural influences, while simply potting up ensures it will not. It is important to mechanically secure the plant so it will not move in relation to its container. A secure plant establishes/reestablishes in a fraction of the time that it takes for unsecured plants. If it was my plant, I would make some deep vertical cuts in the root mass with a very sharp utility knife, and score a deep 'X' on the bottom, or saw off the bottom 1/4 of the roots and pot up into a slightly larger container until next summer. Move the plant outdoors as soon as temps allow, acclimating it to full sun, & let the plant gain strength so it recovers from next summer's repot quickly. You might find this info about tending Ficus trees in containers helpful. And this thread that contains lots of info about trees in containers and repotting should have some info especially helpful to you. Good luck. ..... additional questions? Al

I'm going to suggest you read the info at the link I left, and concentrate on getting the basics right; and in doing so prevent the problems that will regularly need fixing as they arise. If you have questions, I can answer them there. This forum leans heavily in its discussions toward Ficus carica - the hardy fig grown for its fruit. Al Here is a link that might be useful: More about Ficus b in containers if you click me!