Bald Ficus

PrettyInInk87

PrettyInInk87

New Member
I just went and picked up a "ficus" (what I was told it was) and it seems like it's still alive but just dormant. How can I bring it back to life and have any of you been successful in bringing back a ficus tree. I'm not quite sure if it is one since the trunk looks different from the Ficus I already have.
 
hmm, did you have to pay for it? So it doesn't have any leaves?

Oh ya, the trunk can look different depending on the age. I have two Ficus bonsai trees and the trunks look quite different.
 
Me, pay for it? Nooooo... Lol! :D No I didn't. I ran across an ad about free plants so I got right on top of it. The dude mentioned he had a ficus tree so I had to go take a look at it. When I got there I was quite disapointed... He did tell me he thought it was dead so don't know why. Lol! I didn't want to come home empty handed so I brought it with me in hopes of bringing it back. I squeezed the trunk a little and it feels soft and wet so I don't thnink it's dead. :confused: I'll post a picture in a few minutes.
 
What are the temperatures there right now? Is the ficus indoor or outdoors now? I wont worry about it, if you can see some buds/eyes on it, about at the roots of the leafs.
Pictures would def. help :)
 
If its not dead it will come back with the right care. I have 4 different varities of ficus and all the trunks vary quite a bit. Hope that helps
 
First thing I would do is re-pot it with some "good" potting soil. You don't want to go bigger than 2 in from the pot it was in and feed it with miracle grow. The only bad thing about ficus is they don't like to be moved, so if it's doing good and you move it, they drop their leaves. So you would want to put it in or near it's permenent home. Maybe get a grow light to hang over it. IDK
 
I agree with the they dont like being moved haha, but it takes a while for their leaves to fall off, i got my ficus in august and it was doing awesome in my parents house... brought it to guelph, almost all the leaves have dropped from it now, i dont know if i watered it too much or if it was just from the move, im going to prune it and see if i can stimulate some growth at the bottom instead of it growing from the top if it comes back
 
As a floral designer, maybe I can help. If you stick your finger into the soil and it's bone dry, water your ficus. It's better to be dry than over water. They don't like drafts or to be moved a lot. They love sun, so natural sunlight or a grow light is necessary. Some growers "braid" the trunks of several ficus together to get a really cool look going. Losing a few leaves a day is no big deal.
 
Well, since it's leaves have already dropped, re-pot it now in a large (probably at least 10"-12" if you want it to grow like a tree for a large cage/free range) pot and ad some plant food. Get a cheap grow light (the coil kind works just fine, even some of the plain old energy saving bulbs) but get one that is at least 2700K (just look for a number followed by a K, the bigger the number the better.) set it over the plant and let it start to grow on it's own. Be sure to trim off all the small branches that are on the bottom half so it will grow upwards. Don't over water it or it will just stay dead. A small layer of gravel in the bottom of the pot covered by screen helps keep the roots from staying too wet. They usually only need to be watered once a week or so. That's how I get mine to come back to life after I kill them...
 
I hope you are able to bring it back, but even if it is dead it will still make a great cage decoration... lotsa branches/twigs to climb with no pesky leaves in the way!
 
Ricardo said:
What are the temperatures there right now? Is the ficus indoor or outdoors now? I wont worry about it, if you can see some buds/eyes on it, about at the roots of the leafs.
Pictures would def. help :)
Click to expand...

I"m not exactly sure how cold it gets right now here but the tree was kept outside. I'm thinking it gets about 50 somthing during the night... I have the tree outside to see if some nice sun will do it some good.
 
theresaintucson said:
As a floral designer, maybe I can help. If you stick your finger into the soil and it's bone dry, water your ficus. It's better to be dry than over water. They don't like drafts or to be moved a lot. They love sun, so natural sunlight or a grow light is necessary. Some growers "braid" the trunks of several ficus together to get a really cool look going. Losing a few leaves a day is no big deal.
Click to expand...

When I brought it home last night, the pot was dripping with excess water. I'm guessing the dude was overwatering it but who knows.

The trunk isn't braided, it's more of a solid trunk... Man, I just took some pictures but I can't find my thingy that goes into the computer to upload them :mad: I saw it last night!
 
Jimturner said:
I hope you are able to bring it back, but even if it is dead it will still make a great cage decoration... lotsa branches/twigs to climb with no pesky leaves in the way!
Click to expand...

Can I really put it in like that? It looks kind of ugly lol!:p As soon as i'm able to i'm going to post some pictures. Thank you EVERYONE! :D
 
Ok, here are a few pictures of my "ficus" which I now don't think it's one but I don't know. What do you guys think it is? I don't want to put something in Hughs cage that will make him sick.:)

IMG_0211.jpg

IMG_0210.jpg

IMG_0212.jpg
 
if you bend the twigs, are they hard and snap, or soft and supple...
if soft and supple still then much of the plant can come back to life, i suggest repotting it into somethign with ALOT of vermiculite, while they like water they also need very good drainage.

also full sun in san diego right now is good, bring it in if it goes under 50.

i have had one plant that stays out year round, drops half its leave in the winter, comes back 2x bigger after the winter is over. i had one i thought was dead, but kept it anways, it came back pretty strong.. so its all a matter of how you wanna treat these plants.
 
Awesome, do you know if it's a ficus? I tried googleing pictures to try and find out what type it was but had no idea. I was thinking of putting it in Hughs cage the way it is but want to make sure it's safe first.

edit: Oh and I pinched the trunk of it and it still feels soft and moist.
 
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