Fig Tree with no leaves left

kim_m

I received an 8 yr old Fig (no specific species provided) for Christmas. It started dropping leaves, and upon closer inspection (2 weeks later) I notice scale insects all over the branches. I spent several hours removing with tweezers and sprayed once (thoroughly) with a horticultural oil. I've been misting every night and it gets bright western exposure sunlight, six feet from patio doors. The last leaf fell off Monday, I've removed most of the branches because they were dead. I've scratched a bit of the bark and there is some green below. The few new buds wilted and dried up. There are no signs of bugs. Please help!! Is it dead? THanks! Kim

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TreeBay

I don't know where you're located, but here in Northern California, my fruiting fig does go into a "deciduous" behavior mode when the cold winter sets in.

It may require the onset of spring and warmer weather to bring out those leaves. Don't overdo it with the misting and watering. A plant without leaves doesn't use a lot of water.

In the meantime, if stem shrivels, that is a bad sign, though.

Regards,

Matt

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kim_m

Thanks for the advice! My fig is indoors and we live in Cleveland, Ohio. I've been watering every 3-4 days now after checking the soil. The compost is little orange and black chips which makes it difficult to tell if the soil is dry or not.

What kind of soil are you using, you mentioned compost and when i think of compost I think of soil not good for bonsai due to drainage issues.

erubeck

I have several figs that have responded well to artificial light. I use 4 75W incandescent bulbs about 2 to 3 feet over the trees and they have thrived. I recently repotted several of the smaller ones that had grown together in one pot. After separating them, a couple began to lose all their leaves. They were the ones with the least amount of roots so I took off all but a few leaves and they are now sprouting new ones. The temperature is a constant 65º F and the soil is regular potting soil. I keep the soil moist but not wet. I don't let the soil dry out as much with the newly repotted plants as I do with the more mature rooted ones. I believe they key is to have very well drained soil. I put each plant on a screen over a 5 gal. bucket to water them and then let them drain well before putting them back under the lights. I don't let the pots sit in any water.

So far so good. I also watch them closely for spider mites and spray them with Kelthane when I find any.

Hope this helps.

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Regards,

Ed

erubeck

Sorry, I forgot to mention in the previous post that the 75W bulbs are full spectrum grow lights. I got them from Home Depot for about 5.95 each.

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Regards,

Ed

Literati

I had a Ficus too little that got really dry over a winter break at work and dropped all of its leaves. I watered it for 2 months without any leaves. I put it outside in the spring, and it grew back 100%. As long as you can bend the branches and they give a little and don't break, keep watering it. I try not to give up on a tree till all of the branches are brittle.

Soildoc

Ficus leaves dropping off seems to be common. I have several that are inside, under grow lights with a warm temperature. Should be pretty good growing conditions yet some of them drop leaves and some don't. I can't figure out what is causing it but in the spring, I put them all outside under diffuse lighting and they recover just fine. After a couple of months, I can't tell which ones dropped their leaves and which ones didn't.