Spot wilting on a ficus benjamina

Sailor_Jerry

Greetings all!

This is my first post, and as you can see I'm already asking for help. I appreciate any advice I can get, and hopefully can return the favor at some point. I've searched for info, but my problem is either to generic to sort, or to obscure to find.

I got into bonsia about a year ago, and have a fair amount of experience in general gardening and residential horticulture. I've done a lot of reading and research and have ten trees (more if I count saplings). I'd call myself a somewhat well-informed beginner.

I have this ficus benjamina I got a couple of months ago at a really, really good garden center. As opposed to most places I see mallsai for sale, the staff there is pretty knowledgable about growing conditions, tree types, soils and so on. I had been keeping an eye on this particular tree for about a year, and when it was marked down I pounced. It's somewhere over 12 years or so old, has a trunk about 1.5 inches wide and plenty of aerial roots. Total height is around 18 inches, and the leaf mass is about the size of a basketball. Of note, it *is* a trunk chop, and I assume was grown in the ground to thicken up initially.

Anyway, things have been going great, I love it and my wife does too. Today however, I noticed that one little spot from one particular branch appears to have just up and died. The leaves dried out and fell off and the twigs are bone dry and brittle. There's a crappy cell phone pic attached for what it's worth, but if you've seen one ficus dry up you know what I mean.

Here are the ambient conditions it's in:

- Indoors, constant temp of about 64 - 68.
- About 60/40 grit/organic soil as far as I can tell
- Immersion watered when the top half of the soil is dry, about weekly
- Fed a half strength 20/20/20 soluition every two weeks
- High indirect sunlight for 6 - 8 hours daily
- Rather dry furnace air (I really gotta get a tray for it, I know)
- Not overly rootbound, there's slack enough to get a finger in all around the edge of the pot
- There's another ficus growing in the same room, this braided Ikea monstrosity I had to rescue from my mother who is a certified horticultural serial killer. It's got the same thing going on, dead leaves on one branch.

I suspect that there are mineral deposits from the water around at least one of the roots. That's my working hypothesis anyway.

If some of you more experienced hands could help clue me in I'd really appreciate it. I love this tree and don't want it to croak on me.

Thanks again!

PS: Yep, those are Christmas ornaments on it. That's the price I have to pay for keeping indoor trees.

Attached Images

ficus wilt (2).jpg (45.4 KB, 41 views)

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ALDEVAUX

When a single branch from a tree dies off, it means that the sap flow has been cut off and prevented from flowing into the xylem vessels of that branch.
Look carefully at the base of the branch to see if it is not completely girdled by a wound that can be caused either by an insect, a fungus canker or something like a mechanical bruise or burn.

Sailor_Jerry

Wow, you seem to be absolutely right. There IS a wound of some sort around the base. Great to know that there's not some more systemic maledy in effect. What's the best course of action for the affected branch; should I cut it off and seal it, or just leave it be?

ALDEVAUX

Yes, cut it off and make the cut into healthy tissue to make sure there is no parasitic organism remaining from the affected branch. It's a good insurance to put a sealant on the cut, if you have some, although the tree can do it by itself especially Ficus sp. which have a white gummy sap.
I forgot to say that a branch can also die off when its leaves do not get enough light for photosynthesis. You will often see this in nature from trees that have branches which are in the middle of the canopy.