First question for you. When you were working with the roots, how long were they exposed? Did you keep them wet using a hose or water bottle the entire time?

Hi Dave, The roots were exposed for about a half hour, maybe 45 min. I sprayed them occasionally and kept them under a wet towel intermittently. The soil was ready to go, I did the "keeper" stems first, altho I planted the "excess" in another pot. The "excess" seem to be doing better, but they were more heavily pruned and watered (more like my old style). The big keeper pot has had a nice wet wick though. Last night I watered it heavily, since it has been a week...and it was something to try :-( Can't tell if it helped at this point.

if you don't want to loose whatever leaves you have left, you need to fully tent the plant in plastic to create terrarium like setting. don't to tempted to prune more.

let it start growing some leaves, don't mess with it: let it be for a year perhaps - then you will see what is clearly dead and can be cut off and do any other shaping.

it can recover even if all leaves are lost - but it might take 6 months before growth starts. keep it warm, do not overwater - it will take much less water without leaves.

is botanicare coir fine particles? it's called coir dust or coir peat when it's fine.

if it's fine you need to know that it remains damp longer then regular peat, but still provides aeration to the roots even while damp. don't be tempted to pour water into it if it's still damp: check with chopstick/dowel.

if you tent the plant you prolly won't need to add anywater for a month : the pot is huge and you have no fine roots left to absorb water readily.

it would be nice to put the pot on heat to stimulate root growth - but of course it's too large.

is there a plastic liner or you have it planted directly in ceramic pot?

if it were mine i would split it into 2 smaller pots, plastic and then they can fit on a heat mat, still tented. and then you'll have a chance to reorient your inward facing branches without having to trim them.

In one of the images you posted, your hands look dusty and you're working on roots. My guess is that you lost a lot of roots that otherwise would have been ok if the roots were wet during the entire repotting process. I wouldn't bother tenting, but I would take advantage of the loss of leaves to do a hard prune of the top. I know that goes against the conventional "you should never prune the top of the tree at transplant time", but root pruning and transplanting are different things. If you remove a large fraction of the roots (especially if there was additional loss of roots due to their drying during the repotting), and the roots are unable to supply enough moisture to the canopy, you run the risk of the entire tree collapsing.

If you have a lot of buds on the tree that look like they want to open, you can even defoliate the tree entirely. I have at least a thousand ficus repots under my belt, and very often nearly defoliate my trees at repot time if the root reduction is to be severe, or soon after, ....... and I can't remember the last time I lost a ficus.

If you prune it hard, keep the soil moist/damp - never wet/soggy, the drought response should run its course. As long as the buds remain green, your tree will be ok. Putting on a new flush of growth is expensive in terms of energy outlay, so it will be important to guard against anything that might cause additional loss of foliage in the near future.

Can't say how the soil will perform, but if the kitty litter says "clumping" anywhere on the bag, or it's scented, that's a problem. Coir has less loft than peat, and compacts badly when it's a significant fraction of a medium, even more so when watered from the top. Obviously, how your medium performs is going to have a notable impact on on how quickly and to what degree the plant is able to recover. Moving it outdoors into shade and out of the wind (if temps allow - above 55*, please) will make a mountain of difference. Clay (terra cotta) is a better choice for pot material, from the plant's perspective. It will stay cooler in the summer and affords much better gas exchange, which is a plus under any circumstances, but especially if you suspect your medium might be too water-retentive.

Al

Petrushka, I won't be able to tent because my ficus it is too big for any clear plastic bag I have :-( But thank you for the ideas.

As far as too-dry roots, should I have just sprayed them more? Or should I have pruned less off the roots in the first place, and maybe kept some of the soil around them? They didn't have all that much mass, and I did wonder about that. My husband kept telling me, don't cut its roots!

The kitty litter contains *only* bentonite clay, and NOT clumping, NOT scented. Keeps its form when soaked, frozen, and thawed.

Al, I would feel very good about pruning. I don't see buds, but the tree-lets were in good shape and putting out new leaves before...before I tried to help them.

Questions:

--Are you talking about topping them above a branch? Won't that get me two shoots/trunks at each cut, or a funny joint? Would I choose one branch, wire it up straighter, and remove the other? Will that joint be strong enough?

--Cut back a third in height? More?

--If I take off the slender little twigs and actual branches that now go the wrong direction, will the trunk put out completely new growth from old wood? It seems like it might....

--Would it be better to repot it (them) into a different soil or is it too late?

This the soil mix I made today, which I could use tomorrow to repot. I was attempting to come *closer* to 5-1-1 but with some Turface added:

[5 parts?] 3 cf Gro-well Soil Conditioner (composted forest product, sure looks like the composted pine fines photos to me...at least closer than coir???)

[1 part?] 4 gallons Perlite

[1/2 part?] 2 gallons of coir (peat moss substitute? ...feels similar to peat moss in texture...and that isn't very large proportion of it...)

[1/2 part?] 2 gallons of MiracleGro Potting Mix (peat moss substitute)

2 C Osmocote

5 small handfuls of gypsum (~1/2 C?)

[2 parts?] ~1 cf Turface MVP

Thanks to everyone for the advice,

Nonny and ficus-friends (well, trying to be their friend)

As far as too-dry roots, should I have just sprayed them more? Or should I have pruned less off the roots in the first place, and maybe kept some of the soil around them? They didn't have all that much mass, and I did wonder about that. My husband kept telling me, don't cut its roots! Even if you use a soil that allows you to use a much larger pot than you could use (effectively) when using a water-retentive medium, a ficus will usually colonize the soil to the degree the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact - so it doesn't fall apart when you pull it from the pot. That's how I judge when a plant would benefit from a repot ..... but I'm using a high quality medium. I said that so I can say, if it's been more than a year in the same pot and the soil wasn't fully colonized by roots, there's something amiss. The plants might be reacting adversely to one or more of your soil's ingredients, or to how it's structured. In container media, that there is nothing phytotoxic (poison to plants) in the soil and how favorably (to the plant) the soil is structured are the most important considerations. It's not the soil's job to provide nutrition, that's your/our job. The soil's job is to provide a ratio of water to air that doesn't prove limiting to the plant, and it's better for the plant if you err on the side of more aeration than needed than more water than needed. The former is only limiting if you can't keep up with the plant's water needs. The later is a limitation any time you water appropriately - to beyond the point of saturation. This is a ficus repot of a F benjamina v "Too Little":

After most of the soil has been removed:

After all the root work was done. Note I kept only fine roots, the workhorses that do the lion's share of the heavy lifting:

Repot completed - 90% of the top (branches and foliage) removed.

It's pretty apparent I'm not too bashful about removing huge %s of roots, and the only trees I've ever tented were junipers of one species that I had grafted Shimpaku juniper (a variety of chinensis) branches to. I often tent hard to root cuttings, however.

Even though conventional "wisdom" says you shouldn't prune the top of the plant to balance the volume of roots to shoots, those of us who collect trees in leaf from the wild or transplant/repot trees in leaf know it's foolish to think one size fits all. It's very often requisite that a significant fraction of the top be removed if the root system is weak or you judge it insufficient to support the top mass. After a few repots, you'll get better at making that judgment.

The kitty litter contains *only* bentonite clay, and NOT clumping, NOT scented. Keeps its form when soaked, frozen, and thawed. OK, good. Was there a lot of dust in it? Fine bentonite forms a slippery, slimey paste that expands when it gets wet. I use it in Kokedama and in the dams that must be built to hold soil on top of tree plantings on flat stone slabs

Al, I would feel very good about pruning. I don't see buds, but the tree-lets were in good shape and putting out new leaves before...before I tried to help them. Be patient. You can always take it off (branches) - harder to put it back on.

Questions:

--Are you talking about topping them above a branch? Just saying that's something you COULD do if you like - not a suggestion, just an observation. I do it all the time on very large plants.

Another "story". Imagine how tall this tree was when I chopped it back. Does it look like a bonsai? No?

Much better - right? No?

this spring after repotting into training pot:

Taken last Fri as it comes into leaf:

Won't that get me two shoots/trunks at each cut, or a funny joint? No. The top branch becomes the new leader and the branch below it gets restrained. You'll prune it so it's growing horizontally. Changing a branch's position from vertical to horizontal also significantly changes the amount of energy that flows into that branch. The tree will always pay more attention to the branches growing vertically. Would I choose one branch, wire it up straighter, and remove the other? See what I just offered. Will that joint be strong enough? ;-) This is a tree in a put, you're not going to hang a tire swing off the branches or a chainfall so you can use it to hoist cars. It'll be fine.

--Cut back a third in height? More? Whatever you like, but wait until the tree recovers. For now, just prune the branches. I can help guide you in that process.

--If I take off the slender little twigs and actual branches that now go the wrong direction, will the trunk put out completely new growth from old wood? Yes. There are already dormant buds immediately distal to the point where every leaf that was ever on the tree was attached ...... and if that's not enough, the tree will form adventitious buds at random if it's healthy and really likes it's growing conditions. It seems like it might.... You're right.

--Would it be better to repot it (them) into a different soil or is it too late? I don't have a good sense about what kind of job your soil will do. I'm not at all a fan of coir. Every experiment I ever did with it ended up with the plants in coir or CHCs faring nowhere as well as plants in pine bark and/or peat. Even in view of the fact I was using appropriate work-arounds for several of coir's shortcomings.

This the soil mix I made today, which I could use tomorrow to repot. I was attempting to come *closer* to 5-1-1 but with some Turface added: There was no image. It would be great if you could come up with something that resembles one of these, or even a combination:

[5 parts?] 3 cf Gro-well Soil Conditioner (composted forest product, sure looks like the composted pine fines photos to me...at least closer than coir???)

[1 part?] 4 gallons Perlite

[1/2 part?] 2 gallons of coir (peat moss substitute? ...feels similar to peat moss in texture...and that isn't very large proportion of it...)

[1/2 part?] 2 gallons of MiracleGro Potting Mix (peat moss substitute)

2 C Osmocote

5 small handfuls of gypsum (~1/2 C?)

[2 parts?] ~1 cf Turface MVP

If you think you have a medium that drains reasonably well and will be adequately aerated if we get rid of the perched water, using ballast can make a very large difference by nearly eliminating all saturated soil with as very simple trick of science.

This explains how it works.

Al

Al, I am amazed by the photos of your ex-tree-now-bonsai. I am even more amazed--and encouraged--by how much sense your advice makes with physics and biology (such as I understand of it). It helps so much to know WHY. It would help more if I were better able to remember things, but still, I am encouraged in my hope that I can someday help something grow better instead of worse.

So, Strike 1 was not spraying the roots enough while they were exposed. Your further comments suggest that my ficus was not ready to be repotted. There was a group of roots but by no means did it fill the container or come out as a whole. Strike two. But it didn't seem as happy as it used to be. I might have been watering too much in during the year of upheaval of moving. Or too little for Arizona, even for indoors. Although the soil seemed slightly moist when I went to repot.

Meanwhile, as of yesterday afternoon I have very heavily pruned my 5 little trunks.

I hope not too heavily pruned. I took off any twiglet that wasn't where I would want a branch or was close to another. I took off branches that would have to go eventually anyway and didn't have many leaves left on them (=less healthy at this point?). I took one large fork that started way low (7-8" from ground) and didn't have a clear winner for future leader. So I thought I would prevent competition that wastes resources. I kept a few other large-ish branches that could easily come off later but had some robustness still left in them (I thought).

The trunklets have lost another couple dozen leaves over the night since this photo.
The soil feels moist and "dowels" moist starting about four inches down.

About clay litter dust in the current soil. The kitty litter was thoroughly mixed and rinsed, 2 gallons of litter at a time in a full 5-gal bucket, and decanted five times. The water was first opaque and at the end by no means clear but you could see through it, more or less. (I did *not* do that to the Turface I just used for new soil... It didn't look terribly dusty. I hope I didn't miss that step.)

About future trunk strength. I will break it to my cat: no tire swing from the top of the Ficus tree. She can play with the wicks instead.

About ballast. If I understand correctly, adding ballast would require repotting, so why not repot into better soil?

About soil, current v newly made. The Soil Conditioner in my newly made soil is chunkier than coir by lots, and claims to improve soil structure in clay (but that's advertising, I know...altho I don't hear that ad for coir or peat moss...). It may not be as chunky as the dark pieces in your first photo. This is it so far:

It is kinda like your 5-1-1 plus 2 more parts Turface (5-1-1-2):
5 pts composted forest product (that's the only ingredient; photo up above in my first post)
1 pt Perlite
1 pt peat/coir mix
2 pts Turface MVP

So, what if I added to
5 parts of the above 5-1-1-2 mix
2-3 more parts Perlite
2-3 more parts Turface MVP
Then wouldn't I have something that would behave almost like gritty mix? Maybe? ...Or, maybe better than the current potting mix it's in with its 5 parts coir?
The peat/coir/forest product component would have its influence much diminished, no? Would it be enough to get out of danger of overwatering?
And would my poor little trees rather stay in possibly bad soil or be transplanted again? Transplanted quickly, but I know every bit of soil will fall off those roots.

One more note: Overwatering was my favorite way to kill beautiful plants, back when I was a woodland gardener in northern New England. But since the symptoms of root death are the same for whatever cause, in NM and Arizona over the last six years I have been able to also kill them by drought...because I think surely I am overwatering. So it would be worth major chlorophyll to me and mine to not be able to overwater. OTOH, I live just north of Tucson and right now, in April, I am watering outside pots almost daily. Daily watering is really not feasible for me; outside pots will be on a drip system. Watering twice a week is feasible indoors, especially if I don't have to worry about remembering whether I for sure did or did not water the day before yesterday. I do well with African Violets :-\ I had done well with the ficus until now, but repotting is always a problem for me.

OK, thanks again. I will proceed according to advice and ability. Nonny.