Awesome - thanks! Al gave some brief advice about this tree on a different thread of mine (regarding my large jade). You can see that I removed about 90% of the trees top mass in the picture above. I can show you pictures of a half dozen more that had similar or even more severe treatment if you like. Point being, now is a good time to prune or repot, but not both and not for much longer - it's getting late for the Steeler's fans. Allowing the plant to continue to grow more leaves at the ends of branches is just going to make it harder to chase the foliage back (closer to the trunk). ..... no need to train the low branch further downward unless its current position is an optical illusion. If you prune that branch back to tiny branches so there are only a few leaves on the whole thing, you'll get back-budding back at least as far as the distal aerial root, which I assume you want to keep, and more likely all the way back to the trunk; then you train THOSE new branches that occur. If every leaf that is on the tree right now were to remain viable indefinitely, none would become a part of the composition. The branches that will make up the composition are yet to pop. Also, the top is already very heavy and hogging all the energy. If you don't prune/reduce it to remove the heaviness and to slow it down, you're going to get a LOT of dieback on lower branches because the tree is genetically committed to its top third unless you trump that by pruning. You need to reduce the top third significantly to strengthen the middle & bottom third of the plant before your only recourse is a chop and a do-over. So he seems to be indicated at least a moderate prune of the top, but not sure if chopping major branches would be going too far. At this point, I removed a few small branches and cut off the growth tips. Also, not sure if he is indicating that I should cut the growth tips on the lower branches to get back budding, or just let them grow.

yeah the picture of the roots was after i pruned them.there was a fair amount of very long and kind of... mushy... roots so I think that was the problem. i added a good amount of pumice to the bottom of the pot and the did a layer of pumice/cactus soil mixed and then the cactus soil. fingers crossed. the black sap actually started before the leaf fell off and then i noticed it come from the spot where the leaf was. when doing the root pruning I also pruned some of the leaves and one branch toward the top of the plant - and the sap from those was white. but.. the area where the black sap was coming from still looks pretty diseased and feels a little soft. the current state of things:

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

The leaves could be mite damage, especially if where it was previously sited was a low humidity environment. You might need a loupe or magnifying glass to see them; or, you could do the paper test. Any sign of stress, any time the plant presents symptoms, is a call to action. Stress symptoms are visual proof the plant is dealing with cultural conditions at or beyond the limits Mother Nature programmed it to tolerate. The grower's only job is to identify the source(s) of stressful conditions and remedy those conditions to the best of his/her ability or to whatever extreme that grower deems appropriate. Any advice to repot 'in spring' should be qualified. Early spring is a terrible time (worst part of the growth cycle) to repot Ficus and most other trees (other than citrus and other fruiting trees) commonly grown indoors. The reason is, during winter these trees normally have great difficulty producing enough food (plants make their own food [sugar/ glucose] during photosynthesis) to keep up with the rate at which they burn the food during the dark phase/ respiration. After a long winter of low light conditions, your tree will likely have depleted nearly all it's stored energy reserves and will be 'running on empty'. That is not a good time to ask your tree to tolerate the stress of a repot. Your tree will have regained considerable energy reserves and will be approaching the peak of it's ability to make food (longest days/ brightest light) just before the summer solstice (June 21). That is the best time to repot Ficus other than the hardy fig, F carica. An early spring repot ensures a very long recovery period during which the plant will be most vulnerable to insect predation and disease pathogens; whereas a mid-June repot normally ensures shortest recovery and best ability to deal with insect herbivory and disease. Not only that, you'll enjoy the satisfaction of making allowances for your plant's weak periods and taking advantage of the most robust part of its growth cycle. That a plant is stressed is not sufficient to withhold fertilizer. If it needs fertilizer, it needs it. You'll find plenty of anecdotal advice not to fertilize a weak or sick plant, but you'll find that advice nowhere in scientific literature. It's a horticultural myth. I've been practicing bonsai for about 40 years, and have many Ficus in my collection (40 or more), so I'm intimately aware of their wants/ needs and quirks. If you want to make a plan and get your fertilizing/ pruning/ pinching/ repotting planned out in advance, I'd be happy to help if you like. None of it will be difficult, I promise. I also have some reading you can do (here at GW/ Houzz) if you like. Ficus benjamina forest planting, all from cuttings from the same parent tree. I'm waiting for the most recent cuttings I started to grow another 6" or so Al