Ficus shed foliage for a number of reasons. Moving a tree from a bright spot to a dimmer location can cause a shift in the flow of a growth regulator (auxin), which often triggers leaf loss. A real deficiency of any nutrient considered mobile in the plant (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium) or a culturally induced (antagonistic) deficiency can also cause shedding. Other factors are, chill - especially sudden chill, over or under-watering, insect herbivory, and disease pathogen are also major player in the leaf loss arena. To complicate things, it is also possible that something happened at the nursery where the tree lived prior to your acquisition of it.

If you could detect moisture in the soil on the day you watered, with a digit, you probably over-watered, which can move the tree toward a 'consequential dormancy' , as can under-watering. Where do you live and what is your plan for nutritional supplementation?

Al

Hi Al,

I live in zone 9b (Northern, CA). I fertilize with Foliage Pro- SuperThrive, but this tree hasn't received any yet. To clarify, I watered on Monday because it was dry quite far down using my wooden dowel and the pot was light. I did not water it when I brought it home because the soil was semi-wet. How should I move forward with this ficus?

If you are monitoring moisture levels with a wooden "tell", you're probably doing well insofar as watering intervals are concerned. If your tree can go more than a week between waterings, the grow medium is probably holding too much water to achieve best results. There are a couple of ways to help alleviate that issue if it proves to be a problem, so let me know how long your watering intervals are so we can correct if required.

A healthy root system is an absolute prerequisite to a healthy plant, and you simply cannot have the later w/o the former. You should be able to water a planting to beyond the point of saturation, at will, without having to worry that your soil will remain waterlogged so long that excess water in the soil will deprive the root system of oxygen, and in doing so limit normal root function and/or negatively impact root health. Water uptake (and therefore nutrient uptake) is an energy-driven process that must take place in the presence of oxygen, an element essential to the 'burning' of the plant's food (sugar/ glucose) that produces energy for roots' metabolic functions. Ideally, you would be using a grow medium that passively allows enough water to drain from soils that you needn't worry about root function/health issues. If it doesn't happen passively, there are ways to take an active role, which I alluded to above.

Water so you're flushing the soil with each watering. Water slowly so you're certain the entire soil column is saturated and at least 20% of the total volume of water used exits the drain hole. Do not allow to rest in water that exits the drain as the practice eliminates the benefit of flushing accumulating solids (salts) from tap water and fertilizer solutions from the soil. If you're flushing the soil when you water, fertilize about every 4th watering with a production level dose of Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. Keep track of how many times you have watered by dropping a marble, button, bottle cap, .... on top of the soil after each watering. When it would be time to add the 4th object, fertigate (fertilize + irrigate). You can keep track of all your containerized plants using this trick.

To go to Caring for Ficus in Containers, click me.

Al