When Ficus b is moved from dimmer to brighter, it rewards you with back-budding & better o/a vitality. When you move it from the greenhouse or a bright location to a location with "... a decent amount of indirect sun (when its sunny) for half the day while the 6' gets about half that", the trees normal reaction is to shed leaves. I've explained the mechanism many times, so I won't go into the physiology of why this occurs. The light you describe may be enough to allow the tree to survive, but it's not enough to allow it to thrive - it just won't be happy. Ficus b appreciates full sun, unless it's variegated, in which case it may need some protection during the hottest part of the day, depending on where you live. Ficus b leaves have a very thick cuticle, so there is no reason to mist this plant, and misting is ineffectual anyway. I grow well over a dozen, maybe 2 dozen perfectly happy Ficus b plants indoors and out that never see a drop of water on their foliage other than rain. Water established plants when the soil is dry to the touch at the drain hole, or wait a day or two after the soil feels dry. If you're watering so a good amount of water passes through the soil and out the drain, you're watering correctly. If you're concerned with the soil remaining wet too long and the root rot that can accompany that condition, you need to take a closer look at the soil the plant is in and perhaps plan on repotting into something more forgiving before summers end. Once the current canopy is done shedding, new leaves will appear, but the weeping habit of new branching as it extends will be much more pronounced than old branches grown under more intense light, unless you get the plant into better light. Good luck. Al

Hi, I dont think you should worry yourself about one leaf falling off here and there on a plant. It happens. Plants just shed old bottom leaves at times and grow new ones. Sometimes it can be from stress, disease, under or overwatering or temperature fluctuations too. As long as the rest of the plant looks healthy dont sweat it. Jen

I'm up here in the Bay Area, and mine is in a pot. I had a similar experience until I started fertilizing, mulching with compost, and watering it more regularly with an automatic drip system. I've since seen a great improvement. Still drops some leaves, but the tree looks much much better. I'm no expert on it, but that was my experience-- feed more and water more. I water mine 3 times a week for 1/2 each time. Of course, mine's in a pot. Oh, and I've also been getting more flowers,so that was a good point too!! Good luck. :)

Old post, I know. Being badly root bound tends to cause loss of proximal foliage, which consists of leaves close to the trunk and inside of the canopy outline. This causes a pompom, or as you mentioned, a clipped poodle look. If, when you removed the tree from the pot and potted it out, you didn't open the root mass and correct roots that have a distinct tendency to be problematic when grown in a pot, it's still probably horribly root bound. Ideally, when moving a plant from a nursery can into the landscape, the problem roots should be fixed. Roots which are girdling, encircling (which can become girdling) crossing, growing straight up or down, or roots which are j-hooked or growing back toward the center of the root mass should all be removed. The planting hole should then be back-filled with native soil - especially true in clay/ clayish soil but not so much a hard and fast rule in sandy soil. Al