Beginner needs help with ficus benjamina

wendyjcs

I hope this is an appropriate forum for this...

I received a FIcus Benjamina tree as a bereavement gift from co-workers. Because my home is quite dark (north windows) and has little available floor space, I've decided to leave it here at work... but I DON'T want to have my co-workers watch me kill it. I love houseplants but have never tried a Ficus. I've done research and realize this can be a difficult plant to grow, but I'd like to try. It is about 4'4" tall. I water it when it begins to feel dry (not much since I received it June 14). It is in a smaller plastic pot (10" dia) with drainage holes, placed inside a larger clay pot.

I work in a basement office, which is air-conditioned. The plant is directly under a fluorescent light, but the light is at typical office ceiling height. I have also brought in a non-fluorescent grow lamp (small, 60 watt, about a foot away, and pointing into the lower interior of the plant where the leave have been dropping (and I hope the powers that be don't make me remove it as a fire hazard!). The top still has quite a few original leaves; these are dark and larger; I believe it was well-acclimated to the fluorescent light at the flower shop. It has slowed its leaf dropping since it arrived, and started to put out a few new shoots, mostly nearest the grow light and on the top.

The big problem is every Monday I come in and find mostly green leaves have dropped (about 8-10 leaves). I'm sure it is because on the weekends the lights are turned off and it is cooler in here. I can't leave the grow light on on weekends; this place has strict rules, and I don't want to be responsible for a fire in an empty office! (So far as long as I remember to turn it off when I leave it should be OK.)

The question: I know Ficus does not like change. Will it eventually adapt to cooler, darker weekends interspersed with brighter, warmer days? Or should I really try to find a spot at home where I can control the atmosphere a bit more? Again, our home is dark, somewhat drafty because of our forced air heating and cooling, and I don't really have any room for a floor tree, not to mention a grow light! And I'd love to enjoy it here at the office--I spend more time here anyway, dang it, and it adds to the atmosphere here...

Any thoughts?

Advertisement

The_Greenman

Newbie here, so take what I say with a grain of bonsai soil (if you don't like grains of salt). I'd say take it home and possibly put it outside. What are temps like there where you are? Humidity?

I think the continuous fluctuation will keep it from stabilizing and keeping leaves. I have a dwarf ficus and had it indoors for a while with air conditioning (although I did supply a humidity tray) and it just did terrible. Since I put it outside in 70-90 degree temps it has done pretty well recovering.

Greenman

Cathie

Hi, you obviously can't keep it outside where you live (certainly not year round!), but the thing is that unfortunately, your office conditions are about as bad as they can be for the tree. You say you only have north light at home, but plants can adapt surprisingly well to low light, and if you were to find just a foot or so near the window to keep it, and use your grow light right up close (6" isn't too close and 60w is nothing to a ficus) in early and late a.m. + p.m., it might be better off, as you can control the conditions more effectively. Don't panic now because ficus lose leaves like mad in new places, and can take weeks (if not longer) to start producing again, but the trick is to put them in the brightest place you do have, water well but only when more of the soil than less of it's dry, especially with low lighting (use an unvarnished stick of wood left in the soil like a dipstick every day to judge wetness til you're sure of its needs) and to put its pot on stones in as wide a (likely plastic - $1-2 at Wal-Mart, etc.) drainage tray as will span the foliage spread, fill it with water, but never ever enough to touch the pot so roots won't wick it and rot. I think that with patience you can be successful, so do give it time. And this is just a thought of mine - lots of people will give you things in life, but not every thing that's given is necessarily practical or desirable for you to keep, and if for some reason you feel the plant's just not suitable or whatever, I'm sure if you were to ... give it away, no one would think badly of you at all. You don't have to prove anything to your friends... you already did that by accepting what was a very nice gesture, and that's what counts. Good luck with it if you decide to keep it though.

wendyjcs

Thanks for the replies! Right now outdoors it's 80's and quite humid, but since it's Wisconsin, I'd hate to acclimate the poor thing to outdoor conditions and then drag inside and force it to reacclimate yet again, in September, to overdry "winter in Wisconsin" indoor conditions... I'm sad to remove it from work because I really love to have plants at work and it IS sending out new shoots, but since today is the 4th, I'll bet tomorrow it will have shed more leaves since the office was dark. So I guess I'll disrupt it again, take it home, and hope it doesn't hate me too much. I could try the north window (it's huge, but unfortunately has 2-foot eaves) and a grow light. The room that faces north has our hot tub; it oughta like that humidity. (Unless it hates the hot tub smell. we'll see, I guess.)

OR... We also have an angled skylight on the other side of that room (totally away from the window), but it's rather small and the actual light-emitting opening is a ways up (a good 6 feet or so). The tree wouldn't get direct sun most of the time, but it might get a bit on long summer days. If I put it under the skylight, I'm not sure where I could put a grow light. Would it be OK, d'ya think, to have a grow light coming at it from an angle, at a lower height than the tree itself? Or maybe I wouldn't need one?

Whattaya think, north window with eaves, or skylight? All the other rooms in our house are too small (already crammed), and tend to have fans going year-round to help keep hot air/cold air mixing.

I really wouldn't want to give it up... all the people I know are less plant-oriented than I am, and would probably kill it... I feel like I've picked up a stray puppy or something, ya know? ;-) I've already become quite fond of it--temperamental or not. It actually seems to have a fair amount of spunk; it started putting out those new shoots only a few weeks after it was moved to my office.

Thanks and wish me luck.

Cathie

Hi, wherever the most light is balanced with humidity (hot tub) or humidity tray anywhere. You may not need the grow light, but if you can swing it to work, it's probably better than not. Be ready for the new shoots to complain, but hopefully not be the last.

Jonnyseed

Hi Wendy-

To be completely honest I don't think putting it in a north window is going to be sufficient, and the skylight sounds iffy. A ficus benj. can survive (not thrive) if given an abundant amount of light...which is not the same as sunlight. So, if there's a bright spot you could find for it, it would probably be happier. If it's putting out new shoots, that's great, but that doesn't necessarily mean that once those shoots open, the leaves won't drop off again.

Your best bet as far as I'm concerned is to find a site outside for it. There's a few reasons for this: sun will be available and you'll be able to moderate the amounts; your ficus will thank you for this Wisconsin humidity and warm temps, and; air circulation (wind, breeze, etc.) is vital for most any plant.

Now, all of these conditions can be replicated indoors, with the use of grow lights, a humidifier/humidity tray, and a fan on low, but, it's still not as good as the real thing. Don't worry about having to move it indoors for winter -you can cross that bridge when you get to it. My ficus live inside in winter in the best conditions I can provide for them, which is nothing special believe me; they slow down their growth, drink less water, and sometimes even throw their leaves at me, but when they get back outside for spring, they perk right up again.

If you do decide to put it outdoors, you're going to need to acclimate it to sunlight over a period of, say, two weeks. Just take it step by step until it's in mild to part sun. Watch how much water you're giving it too...water it thoroughly when the top inch or so of the soil is bone dry. Keep us updated and good luck!

-Jonathan

Cathie

But then she's going to have to worry about heavy rains and wind when she's at work, and I don't think she's repotted, thought about repotting into a bonsai mix, or even into bonsai at all - the tree was a gift out of the blue in her life, and not necessarily the start of a new hobby, nor do I imagine she wants to go out and spend money on serious supplementary lighting just for it now.

rockm

"Right now outdoors it's 80's and quite humid, but since it's Wisconsin, I'd hate to acclimate the poor thing to outdoor conditions and then drag inside and force it to reacclimate yet again, in September, to overdry "winter in Wisconsin" indoor conditions..."

GET THE TREE OUTSIDE NOW. It will love you for it and you won't have to spend any more money on artificial lighting. Ficus will do quite well outside in full sun all day in your area in the summer. They are tropical species and can take temperatures much higher that 80's. They LOVE humidity. Heavy rain ain't gonna hurt it if it gets full sun. It will probably drop some leaves with the shift outdoors, but they will soon be replaced with smaller tighter growth. Leave it outside until temperatures drop consistently into the low 60s or high 50s at night in the fall. Then bring it into a well lit location in the house--not a windowsill--windowsills will kill plants as the weather gets colder, as they are drafty and/or experience much wilder temperature swings than other locations in the house. Somewhere beneath the skylight--IN THE WINTERTIME-- will be great.

Such "summer breaks" outdoors will recharge the plant enough for it to tolerate a long winter indoors. Indoor conditions are very very difficult for any plant. Humidity levels--with air conditioning and central heating--are comparable to that of a desert. There is virtually no air circulation--no, central air doesn't provide enough circulation. Plants need ALOT or air circulation, wind doesn't hurt them. Light levels indoors--even in well lit areas-are never adequate--even with supplemental lighting. To overcome that lighting deficiency requires very expensive Halogen lighting. Cheap "Grow lights" can help, but they've got to be mounted within six inches or so of the top of the tree and even then, parts of the tree lower down still won't get enough.

Indoor conditions stress plants out much more than being outside in warm weather. Keeping bonsai (of any kind) indoors is vastly more difficult and stressful on the plant that keeping them outside. Don't make the mistake of thinking that bonsai should be coddled. Coddling them kills them...

Repotter

Let me add just one little thing. About two weeks before bringing your tree indoors, move it to a shady area outdoors so it will help it to adapt to the lower light it will get once indoors.
This will ease the moving shock.

Hector

__________________
http://www.tellys.com

http://www.Fourseasonsbonsai.com
The original Four Seasons Bonsai Club of Michigan.
Our guest master in August is Pedro Morales.
Tellys Greenhouse, 3301 John R road, Troy Mi. 48083

Four Seasons Bonsai Club meetings monthly.
Troy, Michigan

"Anything is possible when you don't know what you are doing"................someone famous I think.