It's important to keep the roots hydrated during the repotting procedure. Allowing fine roots to dry for even a few minutes can kill them, so a tub/bucket to dip the roots in frequently, or a hand spritzer is the order of the day during repotting procedures ...... and now you know that repotting Ficus is better done in Jun or early Jul. This link will take you to lots of basic information about maintaining trees in containers over the long term. This one will help you understand the importance of soil choice to your ability to get all you can from the growing experience. This one discusses a sound nutritional supplementation program. If you haven't already read it, this one discusses how to maintain Ficus, specifically, in containers. Best luck. Al

Well ...... 150-200 feet? ;o) As long as you're able to keep it viable and provide the cultural needs the plant wants, the height of the ceiling will ultimately limit the height of the tree, unless you do it first - much to be preferred. You really only need to cut the tip and last leaf off the branch to force back-budding, and now is a great time to do it - so get after it!! ;o) If you take the growing tip + 2 more leaves, then strip the bottom leaf & put it in damp perlite in bright light (not full sun) it will root for you. "My debate about repotting this plant is that it always looks so great so why rock the boat." My car still has oil in it - why should I change it? I'm at the grocery store, but I'm not hungry - why should I buy food? We change the oil to keep our car healthy for the long haul; and we buy food to stockpile for the short term because reason tells us that though we may not be presently hungry, it's a good bet we soon will be. If you do your preventive maintenance on healthy plants, they hardly notice the minor indignities we deal out, but if that plant was allowed to slip from stress to strain, we have a more serious problem and a much longer recovery. To me, doing regular maintenance on a Ficus in the summer and having it completely recovered, growing robustly, and full of energy reserves when fall comes makes soo much more sense than skipping maintenance, discovering the tree is struggling and in trouble in Sep, and then trying to decide the best strategy to help the plant limp through the winter under strain. Al

Dear Amber, Just to reassure you, as Al (Tapla) is too modest a fellow to toot his own horn; but his recommendations have been a great help to LOTS of us here. While his recommendation may sound dramatic, you are in the best possible hands when it comes to Ficus care in particular. Al is a kindly, very knowledgeable fellow who shares his knowledge generously w/ any who cares to read & learn. Over the years I've benefitted greatly from reading his posts. He is variously known here for posts on Ficus Care, Soil Mixes (a VERY popular discussion of his which has helped LOTS more people) & the Perched Water Table (my personal favorite) which has been especially helpful to me & my Hoyas. I found it exciting to see the plants behaving exactly as he predicted. I expect you'll have a good experience w/ whichever of his good counsel you choose to follow. Hi Al, Sorry I haven't gotten back to you of late, but as usual, I'm appreciating you & your fine efforts from afar. (PG) Karen

Hi again @tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA) ! I cut a square of mesh from an onion bag I had, worked great, thanks! You were right, not much root development, so I made sure to trim only a little bit and was able to repot late Friday night. I waited until Saturday morning to flush with water and then set it outside on my fire escape. Unfortunately, the fire escape is the only place I could leave my plants outside. A couple of further questions: When will it be okay for this guy to get direct sun again? I haven't watered it since Saturday. When should I water next? Or better yet, does it need to stay moist while it is getting acclimated? 2/3 stems are slanted. Should I stake them straight up? In one of the pics below, I circled the "wrinkling" that appeared on 2 of the stems while in the previous soil mix. Is this due to salt pulling water from the stems? How could I help the 2 stems recover from the trauma? Does this mean the roots will no longer take up water? Does this mean the roots are vulnerable to sunburn? Hypothetically, if I would have removed the bottom leaves, which were the first to show signs of salt/mineral trauma, would that have slowed down the traveling of the salt/minerals upwards? I am asking this because 1 of the 3 stems does not show any signs of wrinkling on its' stem. This stem also had a combo of more root development and fewer leaves. Not sure if there is a correlation there but I found it interesting and wanted to see if anyone could chime in with the science behind what is going on there. In another picture below I circled I think is called the apical meristem (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong). This stem in particular is in the worst shape of the 3. I noticed the shealth was extremely crunchy and hard - - Is this also a result of the salt/mineral build-up? Or a nutrient deficiency perhaps? Or is it the surrounding environment that causes this in plants? The plant doesn't have any signs of shock from the repot (yet). I am holding my breath but so far, so good. I apologize for all of the questions - - I am just very curious! Thanks for reading all this if you have made it this far lol roots: roots cont'd: my outside oasis aka fire escape: close up after the repot: What does the shriveling circled below mean? too much of a slant here? Should I stake it straight up? Crunchy apical meristem(?) :