Have week to fix: Stressed ficus to be left in minimal care conditions

8 years ago

In sum, I have two indoor B. ficus
trees at a property near Phoenix Arizona. The situation is I am only
able to be here during summers (this year was cut to just a few weeks
due to some family health issues). Originally a neighbor was tending
them - and the trees were thriving better under their care than mine.
They moved from the area, and now there is a person checking in on
the property weekly. I gave him the same instructions I gave my
neighbor, but for the past 3 years, the trees have slowly been
declining/dropping leaves & branches dying back. While I water
until it drains from the pot, I realized that I had not flushed the
salt from them in a number of years, so I was hoping that was the
problem. When I did a web search, I found some wonderful discussions
on soils and flushing here that Al had posted. I checked the soil and
it is a loam. Probably a garden soil. I don't remember. I up-potted
these trees 10 years ago now. No, I'm not done yet - there are more
bad things, I am surprised they are still alive. I was using Schultz
fertilizer on them periodically. My neighbor was using it
consistently (probably why they did so well), and when the caretaker
took over, I just put in a tree fertilizer stick. In addition, we put
a UV coating over the windows so I know the light levels are somewhat
less than they used to be. Finally, when following Al's flushing
instructions, when I pulled the plants from the pots to let them
drain, they had never grown from their original soil into the loam
(yes I am sure it is because it held too much water). Since one
tree's roots is now residing in a plastic bag vs a pot, I'd like to
do something with them ASAP (panic!).

I am only here for a week, and I'm not
sure how much I trust the caretaker anyhow (who admits to a brown
thumb). I really like the trunks on them and I have never seen
anything like that before, so I'd really like to keep them alive and
not too stressed. I'm trying to decide what to do at this point. I
can up-pot to a smaller pot (yes that makes sense though it doesn't
sound it!), then do something better next summer. Or I can fully
replace the dirt in the bigger pots and put them back in there. In
addition I am not sure what to do for soil considering 1) I need to
give the caretaker a schedule or use one of those watering probes to
decide when to water. 2) I don't have time to find the supplies for a
fast draining soil - though I can certainly set up a wick and/or or
do a perlite/MG combo (note, The house gets up to 90 when we are not
here, plus being in the desert it is super dry, so very fast draining
soil may very well not be the right choice anyhow given the
circumstances) 3) I'd like something where I can add a slow release
fertilizer and not need to trust the caretaker to worry about it. I
am thinking since we are normally here in the summers, I can
fertilizer when we first get here and when we leave? Or use the
Schultz while we are here, then add the slow release when we go?

My other issue is tree growth. The
trees have (somehow) grown up to 7 ft and I'd really not like them to
get any bigger - just fill back in. I'd presumed they grew so much as
they had filled in the pot, and the pot coupled with pruning branches
back would be the growth limiter, but apparently that is not the case
(I have pruned branches quite a bit – though not sure if I did that
right either). Any suggestions/pointers to past discussions I have
missed would be extremely appreciated here too.

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Comments (7)

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
Gosh, I'm not sure what to tell you. Maybe knock some soil off the roots (keeping them moist while you work), grab a bag of potting soil you hope is less water retentive, mix it with 2 parts perlite to 1 part soil and mix in an appropriate handful of Osmocote Plus 15-9-12 or Dynamite 18-6-8 and hope. How often will the housekeeper be checking the property/trees? It would be a shame to lose them.

Al
Kristin Caufield
Original Author
8 years ago
I will give that a shot and set up a wick. I will see if I can track down those fertilizers too. I've been watching rcates post to see what she manages to find and will call a few local places too.

I have some sisal outdoors and indoors pothos planted in the same loam. The pothos seems ok (it's been growing in it for 10years too) but this is the second set of sisal I planted because the first ones died. Now I know why! Thank you so much for all the information you have posted on here! I will be repotting at least the sisal soon too. The loam will go in the garden where it belongs!

To answer your question, the caretaker will be coming over weekly - how often do you think they will need to be watered?
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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
"..... how often do you think they will need to be watered?"

Not sure - too many variables, and the interval between waterings is going to vary. Best to get him (caretaker) on the stick. That would be the stick used to test the soil deep in the pot. I don't think they would need to be watered any MORE than weekly. If the house has a RO water system, he might be able to figure out an appropriate way to water in small amounts, unless the soil gets too dry & hydrophobic. There is just sooo many variables that are going to come into play. You'll probably end up depending on the caretaker's skills or luck to pull it off.

Al
Kristin Caufield
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
No there is not an RO system. I'd thought about running an irrigation line to them but if something went amiss...

Here is what I've used. I found what I think is pine bark fines (about fingernail sized chunks) so I did a 1:1:1 of mix of MG, perlite and the pine. I know one person in one if the soil discussions said they had success with a 50/50 MG/perlite mix - I figured this would be even lighter, yet the extra soil would hold a bit more water so between the heat and very dry air it could go a little longer between watering. From what I have read this mix will have broken down in a few years and need to be redone anyhow. Hopefully things will be more settled by then and I can care for them better.

I was thinking to do the gritty mix on the outdoor sisal/Agave since I found where to get materials via rcates post. But time is now an issue and I still have a ton of things to fix before I leave. Do you have to screen the material?
Kristin Caufield
Original Author
8 years ago
Well, the second ficus (that was doing better) had filled up the pot, and while not root bound, could use a root trim back. Maybe I should ask under this post (http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1875793/badly-compacted-ficus-benjamina-how-agressive-can-i-root-prune) but its old - though I can ask there instead if its better place/more posts (?)

Anyhow, you had mentioned cutting back the roots when the plant was doing better, so I am planning to let it be for now and figured I'd let it go until spring (which will give me time to educate myself on how to best trim roots and the canopy ;)) . In that post you mentioned pruning the roots on father's day and the canopy around the 4th of July - what is this based on? Temperature? Day length? I was just wondering if it would apply to the desert since it gets warmer much sooner than the rest of the US.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
8 years ago
No need to screen the mix you described for the ficus, but anything that makes manifest the idea that the more perched water eliminated the better will be your plants' opportunity to realize their potential, should be screened to appropriate sizes. Since the main reason for using the gritty mix is the absence of perched water, it wouldn't make sense to go to the effort/expense of making it, only to cut corners that ensure the soil would have the same inherent limitations that other more convenient soils have. IOW, if you skip screening out the fines, you might as well just make a larger batch of the 5:1:1 mix and use that, then reevaluate somewhere down the line when you're not so pressured by time.

The Father's Day - 4th of July time frame is a good guideline that's easy to remember. Farther south the window widens some, like from Memorial Day to mid-July. The timing is based on the plant's desire to grow, which is controlled primarily by photoperiod and temperature. You want to complete the work early enough that the plant has fully recovered before the short days & cool temps come, but not so early the plant isn't fully awake from it's winter lethargy.

Al
Kristin Caufield
Original Author
8 years ago
The gritty mix was for the potted outdoor sisal. I may just get some pumice and amend what it is in (on closer inspection, only the ficus was in loam soil) not sure why they aren't thriving - but a project for another day :)

The ficus already seems to be happier - its putting out new leaves! Based on another post from you, I trimmed just the tips off in the leggiest one to see if I can get it to fill in.

Thank you for all the information! I really appreciate the time and help you have given! Gotten the what's down & trying to figure out the why's ;)

Have week to fix: Stressed ficus to be left in minimal care conditions

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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

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Have week to fix: Stressed ficus to be left in minimal care conditions

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tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)

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