Hello!! I am having the same issue with my Ficus Bonsai. Just 3 weeks ago, I moved from my home into my dorm, and I brought my bonsai with me. Since then, he's been losing leaves, and its been getting worse!! (Theres leaves with dark spots, and leaves with dimples) At first, I assumed it was travel shock, but would travel shock last for 3 weeks? I have been watering when the any of the top inch of the soil gets dry, should I water more? Less? The pot has drainage holes at the bottom, but its sitting in a white pot so water might not be able to escape as easily. There's space on the sides- should I poke holes in the sides? And finally, my last note, is that I noticed some white substances it gathering at where the roots meets the ground, should I be concerned?

Thank you for overwhelming reponses. I will get the garden safe tomorrow and will try to get a few photos before I do as well. I wanted to do some research first and well I am a single mom of 3, and it can get pretty hectic around here. I have found gardeing to be a peaceful respite from all the chaos. There are two critters I can't figure out what they are. They look similar in there coloring. One is about 1/2 inch long gray with horizontal dark grey/black stripes and spots sorted of muttled coloring (I guess) the others are the same coloring but small rounder kind of beetle like. I only saw one of the first but several of the latter both were on the undersides of the leaves of my peony. They didn't move or jump when I was inspecting them, they kind of have a prehistoric look to them. I don't know. To walmart in the morning...

The leaves could be mite damage, especially if where it was previously sited was a low humidity environment. You might need a loupe or magnifying glass to see them; or, you could do the paper test. Any sign of stress, any time the plant presents symptoms, is a call to action. Stress symptoms are visual proof the plant is dealing with cultural conditions at or beyond the limits Mother Nature programmed it to tolerate. The grower's only job is to identify the source(s) of stressful conditions and remedy those conditions to the best of his/her ability or to whatever extreme that grower deems appropriate. Any advice to repot 'in spring' should be qualified. Early spring is a terrible time (worst part of the growth cycle) to repot Ficus and most other trees (other than citrus and other fruiting trees) commonly grown indoors. The reason is, during winter these trees normally have great difficulty producing enough food (plants make their own food [sugar/ glucose] during photosynthesis) to keep up with the rate at which they burn the food during the dark phase/ respiration. After a long winter of low light conditions, your tree will likely have depleted nearly all it's stored energy reserves and will be 'running on empty'. That is not a good time to ask your tree to tolerate the stress of a repot. Your tree will have regained considerable energy reserves and will be approaching the peak of it's ability to make food (longest days/ brightest light) just before the summer solstice (June 21). That is the best time to repot Ficus other than the hardy fig, F carica. An early spring repot ensures a very long recovery period during which the plant will be most vulnerable to insect predation and disease pathogens; whereas a mid-June repot normally ensures shortest recovery and best ability to deal with insect herbivory and disease. Not only that, you'll enjoy the satisfaction of making allowances for your plant's weak periods and taking advantage of the most robust part of its growth cycle. That a plant is stressed is not sufficient to withhold fertilizer. If it needs fertilizer, it needs it. You'll find plenty of anecdotal advice not to fertilize a weak or sick plant, but you'll find that advice nowhere in scientific literature. It's a horticultural myth. I've been practicing bonsai for about 40 years, and have many Ficus in my collection (40 or more), so I'm intimately aware of their wants/ needs and quirks. If you want to make a plan and get your fertilizing/ pruning/ pinching/ repotting planned out in advance, I'd be happy to help if you like. None of it will be difficult, I promise. I also have some reading you can do (here at GW/ Houzz) if you like. Ficus benjamina forest planting, all from cuttings from the same parent tree. I'm waiting for the most recent cuttings I started to grow another 6" or so Al

Leaves on lower part of Ficus tinke are yellowing, browning, and/or falling off. What have you been doing about nutritional supplementation? ..... fertilizing regularly? Nutrients are not food; rather, they represent the building blocks plants use to increase their mass. Plants make their own food, sugar/ glucose, during photosynthesis. Some nutrients are considered to be 'mobile' in the plant. This means the plant can borrow nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium from its (usually older) parts and use these nutrients to fuel new extension growth. Part of this equation includes the shedding of leaves and sometimes entire branches after the plant has reclaimed what it can from the leaves being shed, if the scarcity of nutrients is severe enough. The shedding/ chlorosis could also be the result of a decrease in photo load (light level) or under/over-watering. So, make sure you're watering correctly (so you're completely saturating the soil and flushing it as you water), and use a "tell" to "tell" you when it's time to water. See 'Using a Tell' below. Also, make sure you're fertilizing regularly, every 3-5 times you water (depending on the season) is about right. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 works very well for ficus, and provides complete nutrition from a single source. The top of plant looks great. That's because the plant is genetically programmed to spend about 2/3 of the food/energy it creates during photosynthesis, on the top 1/3 of the plant. Is there anything I can do to protect the plant from losing more leaves and looking too leggy? That's actually 2 questions. Stop leaf loss by making sure all cultural conditions are in the plant's sweet spot. Some contributors blame everything on stress, but have no idea what is causing the stress. Stress in itself is no big deal. EVERY single plant growing in a pot is stressed to some degree, I guarantee it. Stress is caused by cultural conditions not being in the sweet spot, but it's reversible. Strain is different. It is caused by the plant operating at or beyond the limitations it's genetically programmed to tolerate. Damage caused by strain is not reversible, but in most cases the cause of strain can be eliminated and the plant can return t o normal growth, within the limits of the damage caused by previous strain. Appropriate light levels and fertility, proper watering and fertilizing, an appropriate soil, favorable temperatures, ......, all these influences collectively provided in the sweet spot, will stop leaf shedding except that which is caused by natural senescence (aging). "Leggy", is either a function of the plant's genetic coding (in this case, not) or being subjected to light levels much lower than the plant wants or will tolerate. Long internodes (space between leaves), thin stems, and large leaves are marks which serve as witness to t he fact the plant is not getting enough light. Al