Pete, I hope you don't mind a long post, but I want to share my little successes story in case it inspires you to take a few steps. My benjamina is still in standard potting soil (until i repot next summer), and is badly rootbound and had lost all of those proximal leaves Al talked about. It had way too little light for a few years, was watered with hard water, rarely even tried to put out new leaves, and when it did they usually dried up before they grew. It was in a lot worse shape than yours before I decided to do some research about how to help it out. After after using info from a lot of Al's/tapla's posts for a month, my poor benjamina has gone from a depressing waif to a bit of a maniac. Each branch and side branch has at least three new full sized leaves as well as two or three additional leaves that are just coming out. The new growth extends at least a few inches back from the ends of their branches, and even better, several new sets of leaves have appeared in the middle of the plant on completely bare branches and dead looking twigs. The silly thing is putting out enough growth that the soil is dry three or four days after watering, instead of the two+ weeks it did before. Here's what I did, which took almost no money and very little time: I flushed it thoroughly with lukewarm filtered tap water, ending with a few rounds of R/O water from a grocery store machine, drained thoroughly using the tilt method, gave it a diluted dose of MG general purpose fertilizer, and drained it again. Then I moved it right in front of a window and added 12 hours of light from bright white and daylight bulbs in movable lamps. From then on I've used sharpened dowels to tell when the soil at the bottom feels completely dry before watering, water with diluted fertilizer (but see below) until about a quarter of what I gave it had drained out, and do the tilt thing to get as much water out as possible. AL/tapla, since we're talking about struggling rootbound benjaminas, I have a question: I bought Foliage Pro on Amazon, and yesterday I was about to fertigate the larger benjamina and schefflera, both of which are badly rootbound, had lost their proximal leaves, and before last month hadn't had fertilizer in a loooong time, when I noticed this on the FP bottle: "To Correct Mineral Deficiencies: For rootbound or deficient plants, use 1 tsp. per gallon of water for 2 or 3 waterings." I thought this described these two plants perfectly, so I went ahead and gave them the stronger solution of FP. Was that the right thing to do? Should I follow the instructions and use the same concentration for the next few waterings? Lenore

If you're watering when you can still feel moisture in the top SEVERAL inches of soil, you're likely over-watering; this, because the top few inches of soil can be dry and the bottom few inches completely saturated. Use a 'tell' to 'tell' you when your plant needs water. More on that below. It's a cut/paste job of a reply I wrote and saved, so forgive the odd formatting. It's also not getting all the light it wants. Your plant will tolerate/enjoy full outdoor sun, and would reward you for siting it there. Your tree should be acclimated to a full sun position if you don't think you could tolerate seeing all the leaves fall off from sunburn before it puts on a new, pristine flush of foliage. You should start fertilizing after a couple of weeks, and read up on how to repot so root congestion doesn't become a major limitation. These articles should be helpful: Growing Basics About tending Ficus in pots. Using a 'tell': Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

I never clean with anything except water. Good choice. I had to treat the ficus for spider mites and used a spray, but washed it off the next day because I was concerned for it harming the leaves (the spider mites have been eliminated). Some of the spoiled foliage, could be attributable to whatever you used if it wasn't specifically formulated for plants, so it would be good to file that thought away so you can access it next time an insecticide is needed. The things that are sticking out to me from your comments are sunlight and nutrient deficiency. I have it placed pretty far from a window because I was worried about too much sun, so I will move it closer to the window where it gets more ambient light but still nothing hitting the leaves. Your plant won't be harmed by direct light unless you introduce it to long periods of direct sun before it's acclimated to the increase in photo load. Most plants can thrive in direct indoor sun that arrives through a window, which reduces photo loads by at least 30%. The greater issue is passive (solar) heat gain, which can increase leaf temperatures to intolerable highs. This can be fixed in most cases by using a fan on a timer, such that it turns on during the period the plant is receiving direct sun. There is a boundary layer of still air that surrounds leaves. Still air is an excellent insulator, so the boundary layer insulates the plant from heat loss - it holds heat in the leaves. When a fan disrupts the boundary layer, it allows heat to dissipate into surrounding air, which generally renders high leaf temperatures to the list headed 'of minor concern' I will also give it some food. I haven't fed it since I got it because, again, I heard these plants were pretty sensitive and I was afraid of over-fertilizing it. I feed all year long, though I use a weaker solution strength in the winter because I know I'm going to remove from my trees all lanky winter growth every June. That way, since all summer growth will have shorter internodes, I know my trees will be as full as can be, and as compact as they can be. You might consider getting in the habit of pruning hard in June, then pinching throughout the summer. Stop pruning and pinching in autumn and allow the tree to grow wild for the winter; then, prune hard again, removing the lanky growth from the previous winter. Do you have an opinion on espom salt use for plant and if it would help or harm in this case? Epsom salts contains only sulfur (S) and magnesium (Mg) ..... oxygen to, which isn't germane to the point I make). Since S is very rarely lacking in container culture, the only reason to add Epsom salts would be for its Mg content. Increasing the soil's cache of Mg can only be a benefit to the plant if 1) there is a true deficiency of Mg in the soil/soil solution, or 2) if the amount of Ca in the soil is at toxic levels such that the level of Ca in the soil/soil solution is preventing uptake of Mg - creating an "antagonistic deficiency). The overwhelming majority of hobby growers cannot accurately Diagnose a Mg deficiency or a Ca toxicity. In the case where there is no reliable diagnosis of a Mg deficiency, application of Epsom salts is much more apt to be limiting than a plus. Generally its bad form to dose your plant with elements or compounds aimed at increasing the level of only 1 or 2 nutrients in the soil/soil solution, and bad thinking to add more of this or that because you read somewhere that a particular nutrient is for root growth, top growth, or all around good health, it must follow that more is better. Plants take up nutrients in a ratio that varies only slightly, for the most part, there ARE exceptions. Whenever you skew a favorable ratio of nutrients by adding an access of one or more, there is no potential for good to come of it - only the potential for limitations. Best way to fertilize is, select a fertilizer that very closely mimics the ratio at which the plant actually uses nutrients, use a soil you can flush often without concern it will remain soggy for extended periods, thereby limiting root function and/or root health. My experience is, if a grower commits to using a soil that doesn't fight tooth and nail for control of YOUR plants' vitality, and uses a high quality fertilizer (a large part of the Houzz/GW members use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6) you'll start your journey ahead of more than 95% of the growers who have been trial-and-erroring it for many years. There is simply no replacement for gathering the knowledge that allows you to avoid the mistakes you're bound to make by feeling your way through in the dark I think you're on track with the overwatering for my 'bachia. I was having issues with some of the older leaves and suspected root rot, but when I took it out of the pot to check I realized that the lower soil was staying pretty wet even though the top was very dry (roots look great, fortunately). So I've cut way back on watering and it seems to be doing well. Will need some time to tell if it helps the spotting on newer leaves but fingers crossed!! You might find what follows helpful. Using a 'tell' is much better than a digital device (a finger). Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

It's sort of hard to imagine this was a case of serendipity, for the planting, so I don't think it was broken on purpose or by chance. Initially, there were 2 plants, each with it's own trunk and root system. Where the trunks fused is an example of a process called inosculation. When done purposely, it would be called an approach graft. Here's an example of an approach graft used where a trident maple tree needed a branch where there was none, so I put one there. I allowed a branch on the tree you see to grow long, and removed most of the leaves along the branch so it would be thin and flexible. I cut a groove in the tree to expose the cambium, then removed bark from the scion so the cambiums lined up. I then stapled the branch in place and covered it with grafting tape. The following spring, the stub was cut flush to the trunk. This is a Ficus benjamina I started approach grafting about 20 years ago. Ain't she purty? Actually, I know it's very ugly and it's still a work in progress, but here it is after defoliating and wiring it last weekend: No way to be sure w/o asking the grower, but I'm thinking the root system of one of the trees in your planting became infected with one of the fungi commonly grouped under the umbrella of damping off diseases. When it became evident one of the trees was infected, the grower noted the inosculation and reasoned rightly that the living trunk would support the part of the infected tree distal to (beyond) the point of inosculation, and severed the trunk. It's not unusual for adventitious roots to form on trunks of Ficus when it's humid. Also, the flow of the growth regulator that stimulates rooting (auxin) is polar, meaning it only flows downward. When it gets to the bottom of the stub, it collects there and becomes a built-in rooting aid. Though you can't tell, this ^^^ is a root-over-rock schefflera on which one of the mature roots died. The mass you see is what resulted - same thing you're seeing on your tree. This ^^^ is the view from the opposite side. You already know the living trunk is fully supporting what is essentially the approach graft or scion. The adventitious roots hanging in the air supply no resources to the graft at all. If your tree was my tree, I'd use a fine bladed saw (hack saw) and cut through the stub at the lowest point of fused tissue. I would then spritz the wound with cold water to stop the latex from oozing, clean up the wound with a razor knife so there are no fine threads of bark or sapwood tissue hanging from the wound site, dry it with paper towels, then paint over the wound with waterproof wood glue, being careful to cover the wound and any exposed cambium at the edge of the bark, but try not yo get any glue on the undamaged bark. I use the snipped off end of a zip tie as a glue spreader and it works like a charm. Painting over the wound decreases the size of the wound by eliminating desiccation and dieback of the bark at the wound site, and promotes rapid healing. BTW - it would be best for the plant if you were to rid it of the support and the ties that are biting into the bark. They will soon be restricting flow of photosynthate (food) and other bio-compounds to the roots. While I see no visual evidence that the missing trunk was killed by a constriction, you might look things over and see if you think that could have been the cause. Al