Toni is right in advising you to inspect carefully for insects - particularly scale and mites. Scale are evidenced by small bumps on leaves and stems/soft branches. They can be removed mechanically with a toothpick or other such object. Mites will leave a yellow residue or can be seen if you hold a white piece of paper under leaves and tap branches to dislodge them. They will look something like moving specks of fine pepper on the paper. Even though it's apparent your problem isn't due to under-fertilizing, I would like to take a second to point out again, that the advice to "never fertilize a sick plant. You cant feed a sick plant into health ..." should not be given as a blanket statement. There are so many instances where the plant is struggling or in decline from a nutritional deficiency that the ONLY way to reverse the decline is to fertilize. I have pointed this out a number of times on this forum after similar statements. I may not understand you correctly, but it seems as though you are saying that because you have watered in a particular manner for an extended period, that it eliminates the idea that the problem might have arisen as the result of watering methods. Since the effects of salts from fertilizer and irrigation water are accumulative and take time, it would be a little like saying, "I've been tossing a few pennies into this jar every day for over a year and it's never been full; so it can't be overflowing." It sounds like a high fertility/salts level is a very likely suspect - especially if you can eliminate a pest infestation. Fertilizer stakes/strips don't fertilize just one area of the container. The fertilizer is soluble & dissolves in water. The water diffuses in the soil and the entire root mass is fertilized - as long as it is damp. Farmers often side-dress their crops so fertilizer can disperse in the soil as water diffuses, and the self watering containers with a fertilizer strip on top seem not to lack in fertilizer dispersal - even tough they are not top watered. You didn't mention how root-bound the plant is, or how long it has been since the last repot (potting-up). Tight roots can also cause the symptoms you describe. Al

Update: The ficus which can be seen in the middle of the first image died a few days after posting my first message in this thread. The one in the back of the first image is really thriving now. Since it was the healthiest, I decided to give it special care. It was quite frustrating to see them barely survive, so I read about anything on ficus benjamina care I could get my hands on and made it a challenge for me to get the healthier one to grow. It had artificial lighting as a supplemental light source for the past two weeks and it's like the plant exploded with new growth. In the end it seems like it was a matter of light, which it apparently was just waiting for. It's growing like crazy now. If there are interested people here, I could post some new pictures.

Trees typically shed parts as a reaction to stress or strain, and the removal of living parts causes varying degrees of stress. Consequential dormancy and its accompanying shedding of tree parts (leaves/branches) is a normal reaction to drought in Ficus benjamina, and older interior leaves would be first affected. It is also possible that the leaves that were shaded before the trimming experienced some degree of photo-oxidation (sunburn) and were subsequently shed by the plants, but the 1-1/2 month interval between exposure and shedding is a bit long for it to be from the sun, though I would still consider it as a possibility. Were the top surfaces of the leaves a silver color at any point before they were shed? Al

Dale, I looked at my ficus growing outdoors. Both in the ground and in pots. None are making new leaves. I will include pics and apologize for not posting sooner. The holidays are very busy. My guess, and it is truly a guess, is that these trees stop growth with the shorter days. They only variable would be light. All my trees, both in the ground and in pots are healthy but not producing any growth. I'm guessing they rest during this period. I see leaf buds but they have not developed yet. Maybe cut back on the light to prevent new growth. The growing conditions might not be ideal for a Spring flush. That seems to be the only difference from trees growing outdoors and inside. These grow all over Florida and the weather has been extremely warm for this time of year. Yet there is no new growth. The only difference is shorter days.This pic shows the mature leaves. You can see leaf buds on the tips. They have been this way for over a month despite record-breaking warmth (80's).This gives you an idea of the size of the ficus growing in the ground. AnotherNo new leaves but very healthy. This one has been in a pot for about 5 years. It started out as a bonsai but I potted it up to let it get bigger. It grows in full, Florida sun,No new leaves. Maybe you could figure out the reason for the leaf loss. I'm guessing it has to do with the light levels. Possibly let the tree rest until Feb/March. Hope this is helpful, Jane