Help! New unfurled leaves on F. Religiosa aren't growing to their full size.

Ujjawal Roy

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I think i now know the trouble, the pot it was in was holding too much water at the bottom even after draining the extra water the bottom was still wet. Maybe this was causing the roots at the bottom to rot. Re-potted it in an inorganic soil mix, hopefully it'll get healthy soon.
 

HorseloverFat

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I think i now know the trouble, the pot it was in was holding too much water at the bottom even after draining the extra water the bottom was still wet. Maybe this was causing the roots at the bottom to rot. Re-potted it in an inorganic soil mix, hopefully it'll get healthy soon.
Good catch!! These conditions create situations that kill many trees.

🤓
 

Graft

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Just to confuse matters (because I can!) I don't think Ficus grown indoors particularly like direct sunlight. In the Rain forest they sit UNDER the canopy. I have a healthy ficus benjamina (not bonsai) that i grow indoors all year round it is sited about 3 metres away from a NNE facing set of patio doors. It gets about 1 hour of direct sunlight first thing in the morning and the rest is "borrowed" light from the patio doors. Also to add to comments already made it is very easy to overwater ficus. I found that out to the trees detriment when I first had it. I would water it the same amount of water every week without checking if the tree actually needed it. Always water to the needs of the plant. Oh! and don't forget to feed it once it has recovered! Good luck.
 

Ujjawal Roy

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Choosing a good pot is equally important, as important as choosing a good soil mix. These stupid pots have the drainage holes higher than the lowest portion of the pot and thus water sticks around them for a couple of days and i was thinking my soil is draining quite well so I should water it daily.
Good catch!! These conditions create situations that kill many trees.
 

Ujjawal Roy

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Just to confuse matters (because I can!) I don't think Ficus grown indoors particularly like direct sunlight. In the Rain forest they sit UNDER the canopy. I have a healthy ficus benjamina (not bonsai) that i grow indoors all year round it is sited about 3 metres away from a NNE facing set of patio doors. It gets about 1 hour of direct sunlight first thing in the morning and the rest is "borrowed" light from the patio doors. Also to add to comments already made it is very easy to overwater ficus. I found that out to the trees detriment when I first had it. I would water it the same amount of water every week without checking if the tree actually needed it. Always water to the needs of the plant. Oh! and don't forget to feed it once it has recovered! Good luck.
It really depends on the type of ficus, there are ficuses that are bushes and are under the canopies of the larger trees receiving filtered sunlight but in my case it's a f. Religiosa and it's quite a big tree and more over its semi deciduous so it likes the sun quite a lot or I think it should. We have many of these, here, in India and they stand in full sun, in temperatures well above 40°c.
 

HorseloverFat

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Choosing a good pot is equally important, as important as choosing a good soil mix. These stupid pots have the drainage holes higher than the lowest portion of the pot and thus water sticks around them for a couple of days and i was thinking my soil is draining quite well so I should water it daily.
For now, until repotting, a slight “tilt” would greatly help...

🤓
 

Graft

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It really depends on the type of ficus, there are ficuses that are bushes and are under the canopies of the larger trees receiving filtered sunlight but in my case it's a f. Religiosa and it's quite a big tree and more over its semi deciduous so it likes the sun quite a lot or I think it should. We have many of these, here, in India and they stand in full sun, in temperatures well above 40°c.
Well I DID say that I would confuse matters!
 

HorseloverFat

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I would do that everytime I watered the tree and still it stayed wet ☹️
Hmmm.. if you are intent on KEEPING that pot.. a small layer of non -absorbent “pebbles” or “rocks” or straight perlite at the immediate bottom, or around those “impressions” where the water “pools” may help..

I have some pots that I had made and fired while still learning of drainage dynamic that I am CERTAIN (Through observation) will have this Same problem.. 🤣 ... They just occupy space.. empty. 🤓
 

Oleg

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Two thing I can contribute.
1/ I use a single (only one I can get here) systemic fungicide without issue but this year I had tried it at bud break on several species to combat perpetual problems from the outset eg. powdery mildew on white oaks, I was apprehensive about using it on such young soft leafs. I found it deformed the growth of the maturing leaves on several, I looked into it and it is normal in some species, depends on the match of which fungicide on what plant.
2/ I repotted this last spring from a very sandy well draining soil (watered every two weeks due to waxy leaves) because it had basically stopped growth, to an all inorganic soil lava, DE & river stone, watered daily now and I have never seen it grow so well! Getting rid of the organics was the right choice, but watering less may have helped too, though the leaves do not look to be the same waxy ones a benjamina has.
For what it's worth my benjamina loves the sun but does okay with a good defused light, it just grows slower. It grows aerial roots in our humid summers and loses them in the dry central heat in winter. When it was in the sandy mix for 20 years it still only needed watering once a week to 10 days in the dry of winter. Also I did not use this fungicide on the benjamina I have never used anything other than water and fertilizer but I see deformed leaves from time to time, just a couple, no big deal but I don't know why.
Good luck but it looks like you might have found the problem.
 

Ujjawal Roy

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Two thing I can contribute.
1/ I use a single (only one I can get here) systemic fungicide without issue but this year I had tried it at bud break on several species to combat perpetual problems from the outset eg. powdery mildew on white oaks, I was apprehensive about using it on such young soft leafs. I found it deformed the growth of the maturing leaves on several, I looked into it and it is normal in some species, depends on the match of which fungicide on what plant.
2/ I repotted this last spring from a very sandy well draining soil (watered every two weeks due to waxy leaves) because it had basically stopped growth, to an all inorganic soil lava, DE & river stone, watered daily now and I have never seen it grow so well! Getting rid of the organics was the right choice, but watering less may have helped too, though the leaves do not look to be the same waxy ones a benjamina has.
For what it's worth my benjamina loves the sun but does okay with a good defused light, it just grows slower. It grows aerial roots in our humid summers and loses them in the dry central heat in winter. When it was in the sandy mix for 20 years it still only needed watering once a week to 10 days in the dry of winter. Also I did not use this fungicide on the benjamina I have never used anything other than water and fertilizer but I see deformed leaves from time to time, just a couple, no big deal but I don't know why.
Good luck but it looks like you might have found the problem.
Appreciate your insight into the situation. I'll try better mixes which drain well and pots that don't water log as much as these ones! Thank you for your time and contribution 😊
 

Ujjawal Roy

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Not sure if you have seen this site yet. Jerry would be the king of ficus here in the US.
He is an indoor grower only and has a huge grow room. He lives in a colder climate.

He also has a couple of books published.
Thank you so much for referring me to this site, seems quite helpful! I'll read all the necessary articles on ficuses 😄
 

Forsoothe!

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They will grow in almost any media. The key is to only supply the amount of water they need. Outdoors in 40°C full sun is different than indoors at whatever, and high draining is different than retentive. They all do well in cycles of wet-dry-wet-dry. They can live in tropical jungles, but so can all sorts of fungi which you are trying to avoid, not live with and deal with. Deprive the fungi their conditions and all is well.
 
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