I am eager to read the answer to this as well. A tutorial would be excellent, and much appreciated. I, too, am inexperienced pruning-wise, and am not sure about terms like back budding. Also, I am confused when instructions mention the stem and the branches, as my ficus lyratas have only stems and leaves, as far as I can see. Thanks in advance!

I missed the 4th picture from the top, which shows the leaf arrangement to be 'opposite' (leaves arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the branch). Ficus leaves are alternate (arranged singly along the stem in alternating locations). So whatever it is, it's not a Ficus. Some good Samaritan who's better at IDs than I, will come along and tell you what it is. Your soil should be something you can water to beyond the saturation point (so you're flushing accumulating salts from the soil) without the need to worry the soil will stay soggy so long it affects root health or function. Your soil choice is probably going to have more impact on how easy/ difficult it will be to keep your new pals healthy. I'm not sure how much effort you want to put into learning about the importance of soil choice and it's impact on plant vitality; if you're interested this link covers it, and probably represents the largest step forward a container gardener can take at any one time. The goal for fertilizing containerized plants can easily be described. Ideally, we would work toward ensuring that all the nutrients plants normally secure from the soil are in the soil solution at all times, in the ratio at which the plant actually uses the nutrients, and at a concentration high enough to ensure no deficiencies yet low enough to ensure the plant isn't impeded in its ability to take up water and the nutrients dissolved in water. This goal is easily achievable using one water soluble synthetic fertilizer. You CAN use organic forms of nutrition, like fish/seaweed emulsions or various types of meal, but that makes it much more difficult to achieve the goal. I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 because it has ALL the essential nutrients in the ratio at which plants actually use the nutrients, and it gets most of its N from nitrate sources, which helps to allow plants in low light conditions to remain compact and helps keep them from getting leggy. Al

I am no expert by any mean but I think your plant is in shock! I would back off on the water (not sure about the need for misting neither). Mine was similar to yours when I 1st got it! It took about couple months for it to recover. It only dropped a few leaves and the brown spots stopped! Now it is doing great! already grew 6 leaves this season! Be patient and make sure it gets plenty of indirect/filter sun! Also go easy on the water; I found that they are much more tolerant to underwater than overwater. Here are some pics of mine

I think I might be underwatering the plant. With 5 cups of water there is only little water (1/2 a cup maybe less) that comes out of the drain. Could it be a mix of underwatering/new environment/winter dry air and not enough sunlight... ? Almost all plants in the Ficus genus are quite tolerant of low humidity, this, due to the fact the leaf cuticle (skin) is rich in natural waxes that limit evaporative water loss. That said, centrally heated homes in zones 7 and lower can be drier than the Sahara Desert in the middle of winter. While this might not be enough to cause the damage manifest in your plant's leaves, when combined with a compromised root system, it can be a severe problem, so it's very important to get a handle on the watering. Your problem might be related to the entire soil mass not getting moistened when you water. When this occurs, the smallest roots in the dry areas of the soil mass die. This limits water uptake, and the symptoms your plant exhibits. Part of the reason this happens COULD be related to the soil mass shrinking and pulling away from the container wall, leaving a gap through which the water you apply can move directly from the top of the soil to the bottom of the pot w/o moving through the soil mass. We often give little or no consideration to root health (out of sight - out of mind), but it's easy to gain some perspective on how important root health is when we recognize a healthy plant is not even a possibility unless the root system is healthy. The plant has some green vitamins [controlled release fertilizer (CRF)] grains on the top surface of the soil but the Plant Shop employee told me that it would help the plant acclimate to its new environment. The advice you receive is true in a roundabout way. An appropriate level of nutrients is always desirable; however, when you're not flushing the entire soil mass, CRFs continually contribute to the level of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution. I suggest you remove them, flush the soil, and start using a good soluble fertilizer. I have around 200 trees in pots and use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 for all of them - best I've found. If you're interested in why, just ask, but there are probably less technical issues to address at this point. Do you think the damaged leaves can be saved ? When leaves begin progressively losing ability to make food for the plant (photosynthesize), there will be a point at which chemical messengers will tell the plant the leaf is no longer an asset and should be shed. Leaves are not regenerative organisms like animals, which can regenerate tissues in the same spatial position during the "healing" process. This means the plant cannot replace the damaged areas on existing leaves. In fact, it cannot even replace the damaged leaves. Leaves that form as a branch extends remain on the branch until cultural conditions cause shedding. That type of leaf will always be a leaf only, but several cultural factors as well as pruning can cause a new branch can form from dormant buds immediately above the leaf or it's attachment point to the branch (leaf axil). In this ficus cutting ^ you see the beginnings of new branches in the axil (crotch) of both leaves. This occurred because the growing tip of the cutting was removed (pinched). I said all the above so I could say even though your spoiled foliage will always be spoiled until it's shed or removed, there are several strategies through which leaves can be removed so new branches will form where the singular leaf is/was attached. Hard pruning a healthy ficus can cause an 'explosion' of new growth. The Ficus below was pruned very hard in June; note the pile of prunings in the foreground: Same tree 2 months later ^^^ Same tree/same day as image above after pruning and wiring for shape. ....... how long till I get new leaves ? That depends on a number of cultural factors. If you can get the plant on the path to recovery soon, you should be able to do some hard work (repotting, root-pruning, and pruning of the top by mid-summer). If all goes well, and you stick to a plan, you should be able to complete the work in summer of '21. One thing you learn when working with trees is patience; however, that's not to say the the improvement in the tree's o/a level of vitality won't be made manifest in an increase in its eye appeal. Al