Hi Julianne, we're just back from a trip to Singapore, loved the Garden by the Bays, the Supertree Grove, the Cloud Forest, the street plantings in general - so many plants we try to grow as house plants seemed to be growing on steroids out in the open in your city, loved it!

Anyway, as for your ficus : having it in a chunky well draining well aerated soil mix in a pot with drainage holes that you can water thoroughly when you water, then leave to dry out well before you water again, is key with these plants.

Plus giving them lots of light! Those corporate plants are routinely changed out for the next lot of healthier plants, so you really have to ignore how they're kept.

Just like those pictures in house design magazines, they're staged for a few hours of a photo shoot, they don't represent good positions to grow plants in.

There's a lot of good information from experienced people on this forum. I don't know your level of interest, but you can certainly find help here if you want it :)

Hello,

as I mentioned in your post on the fig forum, you really need to drill holes in that pot or put it in a different pot.

The soil type also matters a lot.

the brown on the leaves is a sign of over watering. The cup of water every 4 days, no drainage hole will definitely cause that. Since the nursery Ill advised you with a couple things, their soil choice is probably also questionable.

U can grow plant in pot without holes, but that need a precise adjustment. Half glass of water every 4 days as the nursery said might be work well if only 1 person doing that. If other person accidentally giving more (from their mineral drinking water maybe) , that could be trouble. It's always better to use double pot so inner pot able to remove excess water through it's drain hole. If i were you, i'll cut death root inside and repotting.

Hello Robin,

Thanks for your advice and kind words about Singapore! Yeah, now that we're trying to grow indoor plants of our own, it's so bittersweet to see all the plants by the road just thriving away!

Good point about the staging in interior design magazines and corporate plants too.

Thanks also to Dave & Gudang for your advice on over-watering and checking the pots. I doubt there is an inner pot inside as I don't see it. For now we will reduce the watering, and only water a little when we can feel that the soil is dry. Unfortunately it's in a retail shop environment, the whole thing is pretty heavy, and we don't have the expertise or materials to repot it on our own. We may look into engaging another garden/nursery to help, though it may be tough to find a credible one! Any advice on what we should ask for specifically, in terms of soil and drainage etc?

The plant actually had an even rougher spell a few weeks ago with loads of leaves dropping and yellowing. Since then, it's improved and the rate of dropping has gone down, although we're eager to see it get even better.

Any advice on what the droopy leaves mean?

Thanks again for all your help -- much appreciated!

All the foliage symptoms you describe - yellowing leaves, drooping, browning, dropping - are caused by the roots not being happy. They need oxygen as much as moisture, but in a closed pot the bottom layer becomes saturated and anaerobic when you water, and roots in that zone die back. Then as the soil dries the plant puts its energy into regrowing those roots, only to die back again at the next watering.

Also in a closed pot any excess or unused minerals and salts from fertilisers and water will build up, with nowhere to be flushed out. This can cause imbalances and toxiticies and interfere with the roots ability to absorb water by exerting an osmotic pull the other way.

You may be able to reduce these negative effects by not watering until the soil at the bottom of the pot dries (as judged by inserting a wooden chop stick or skewer, like checking a cake), watering very sparingly when you do, and using mineral-free water like rainwater or distilled water to reduce the mineral/salt buildup.

Doing all that may keep it alive for longer but it's not going to be thriving, and FLF's with all their big leaves don't look good if they're not thriving. Plus you'll get sick of worrying about it - takes the fun out of it!