Anyone good with weeping figs?

[tryme]

I've had about 3-4 now and they all die within 6-9 months. The one I got now is on it's last legs. It has rocks in the bottom for drainage and is tapped around another plant pot so it's even higher off the floor. It's shedding leaves. They firstly go crusty then fall off. Even leaves that look "healthy" sometimes drop off. I don't know what im doing wrong.

 

[Julirs]

Usually it is a light issue. I rotate mine out of the cage (again lucky in Florida)-I set them outside and they regrow their leaves and then I put them back in the cages again. Schefflera does so much better in cages.

 

[Lizardlover]

Haha i do that too Juli

 

[addicted]

Mine does great inside of the flexaruim, we have very cold climates in Canada during the winter so rotating outside is not an option for about 8 months of the year. I have 2, 5.0 UVB bulbs for my cham and the ficus seems to do very well under them. I'd suggest either getting a double bulb fixture for your UVB or adding a plant grow bulb in another fixture.

 

[Miss Lily]

Lily had a small ficus at the front of her cage, but took it out when I got her a new Schefflera for Christmas. (She does have other plants in there too). I seem to have the opposite problem!! It was fine while it was in the cage, but now it's on the windowsill in the kitchen it keeps dropping live leaves as well as dead ones. Not much help to you I know - just thinking it might have something to do with the colder weather we've been having? Or maybe its a combination of heat & humidity changes in/out of the cage.

I also have a larger ficus (from B&Q) in the conservatory that Lily sits on in the summer, and that has been out there in the cold all winter with next to no water (cos I forget to water it! ) and it hasn't dropped a single leaf since the summer!

 

[tryme]

Maybe it's being over watered from misting. Plants really aren't my thing. Apart from pothos. I have 3 and one cutting and they are all growing strong.

 

[Miss Lily]

Where did you get your pothos from? I think there were some in B&Q once but it was growing up a thick stump thing that was covered in coconut fibre! Didn't think it would be any good as it wasn't very tall and certainly not bushy and 'branchy' enough. Do you just stand yours in the cage, or does it have vines on it that your cham can climb on?

 

[tryme]

yeah that was prob it..often labled as scindapsus. Mines grown out really well, they start to try and climb up everything else in your enclosure etc. He climbs UP the pole piece to it alot and often on the leaves.

 

[Miss Lily]

Ok thanks! I'll have another look next time I'm in B&Q.

 

[tryme]

Wyvale has them often too. Depends on the time of year I find. I've got two hanging and one climbing. + a cutting

 

[tryme]

I think it's a goner now. It's deff on its way out. Bloody plants.

 

[luevelvet]

I just found a little book I purchased maybe 15 years ago on how to keep Ficus trees alive indoor. One thing that seems to stay consistent, the more they're moved around, the more stressed they get and rop their leaves. This has shown to be true regardless of it's current conditions. I've seen many Ficus trees indoor, in the corner of a room, with very little light, doing wonderfully. Once they've been moved to the opposite corner, with just about the same light etc... they dropped all leaves.

My Ficus Alli has been the most resilient plant (from HD none-the-less) I've ever owned. That along with the schefflera that is about as old as me (30) which I have some cuttings rooting now and will be using in our Juvenile Meller's enclosure.

I've kept many ficus trees in my day and have come to learn they are very fickle in regards to being bothered but once established and left alone, will thrive for a long time...

Luis

 

[tryme]

Do they often drop all leaves first then re grow then? And I mean ALL leaves lol