Thanks for all the info guy. :) Hey Toni. Sorry about your violets. Thats a big hit to take. Luckily I only had 3 indoor plants at the time of the mealy invasion. I ment that my variegated rubber tree has reddish young leaves that turn white and green when they mature. It looks like yours where the top leaves are reddish but not the bottom ones. That is an impressive tree! I hope mine gets that large someday. My tree seems a bit slow growing. I had never seen the Crassulas at home depot before so when I saw them I had to pick a few up. They are so interesting looking. I also grabbed a really nice kumquat tree for just $23.(sounded like a steal to me) I've never had a fruit tree before but from what I've read they're one of the easier trees to grow here in southern California.

My personal experience with variegated ficus is limited because variegated plants arent as robust as their all green counterparts. I do have a F benjamina "variegata" forest planting that's about 15 years old and has never shown any hint of aversion to full sun here in MI. You probably already know that most plants conditioned to a low light site will show symptoms of sunburn (photo oxidation) if not conditioned gradually. Light Acclimatization The degree to which a leaf can 'acclimate' to changes in photo load is limited. IOW, you can't expect a leaf that emerged under a full sun light load to acclimate to light levels in a dim corner, any more than you can expect a leaf that emerged in a dim corner to acclimate to a full sun site; this, no matter how long you allow for acclimatization. Too, the plant's ability to adapt to higher light loads is greater than its ability to adapt to lesser light loads. Using a 1-10 numerical example (1 is low, 10 is high light) to illustrate: If a leaf emerges where the light level is measured at 5 units, it's range of adjustment might only be 3.5 on the low side, but 8 to 8.5 on the high side. Al

If you're watering while you can still detect moisture in the soil, especially in the top 3-4", you're likely over-watering. Use a 'tell' to 'tell' you when it's time to water. Also, plasmolysis (commonly: fertilizer burn) might be the underlying cause. If a plant is growing under very bright conditions and at the upper limits of what it's programmed to tolerate, (which they usually are, at greenhouse/nursery ops), moving them to a position with a reduced light load can cause fertilizer burn, even though the concentration of salts in the soil solution might not have increases. That the greenhouse fertilized when it potted you plant up increases the suspicion that fertilizer burn might at least be a component of the issue. More about 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

Hi Jesse, I’m wondering if you water thoroughly and fully. I would not bother with distilled water with this plant, but they do need a thorough watering when being watered—like gushing out the drainage hole like a heavy rainstorm would bring. I’d also agree—misting is completely unnecessary. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more arid area than Nevada and mine aren’t bothered by the dryness at all, despite their “tropical” origin. The bigger concern would be that your soil is *probably* not porous enough to properly (and rapidly) dry after a massive drenching. I’m attaching a photo here of one of my Ficus plants that I pulled up just to change out the pot I didn’t like. This is about 30 minutes after watering/draining. You can see that the soil is void of total wetness/sogginess but lightly damp throughout. The soil itself is good, but the additional perlite (pumice) aids in that a lot.