New to bonsai - Ficus Benjamina

[Zac]

I noticed small ants crawling on this ficus, and did a close inspection. I think I found some parasites. Are these scale?

View attachment 612711

Yes those are scale. I purchased a willow leaf ficus weeks ago that had armored scale. I started by scraping them off but it wasn't working. I was told to use rubbing alcohol and a q-tip and dab them. It took several treatments but I wiped every leaf top and bottom and the whole trunk with a cotton ball. I also treated with a systemic that specifically said was for armored scale. It's been 4 weeks I think and I haven't seen any more. I think the systemic is bionide or something like that.

 

[mikemking]

Thanks. I did the cotton swab and alcohol treatment. I don't see anymore right now, but will be vigilant about checking daily.

I have neem oil, should I treat with that?

 

[amcoffeegirl]

You can treat ficus with neem.
I got scale on an ivy this year and neem did work. Be sure to keep an eye on it and reapply if needed.
Keep the plant in a shady area until the spray dries. It is an oil and can cause leaf burn in direct sun.
The alcohol may do the trick though.

 

[mikemking]

I believe I have eliminated the scale. At least, I have not seen any for about a week. I check every day very closely with a magnifying glass.

I first used an alcohol-dipped cotton swab to remove all scale that I saw.
A day later, I sprayed the entire plant with neem oil and left in shade for 2 days.
About a week later, I treated with Bonide systemic per package instructions (sprinkled onto soil and watered in)

But now I have some yellowing leaves. I did have to move this from a 6-8 hour full sun location to a 3-5 hour full sun location (to separate from other trees). Could this yellowing be a result of the treatment?

 

[SWfloirda]

Mine are starting to get a few yellow leaves here in Florida. Winter is coming. Less daylight, cooler temperatures, etc. I went and grabbed this one since it was small and easy to get a picture and more than half of the yellow leaves fell off. No worries here.

 

[Zac]

My willow leaf ficus that I treated leaves turned yellow also. I'm not worried the buds still look good.

 

[mikemking]

Ok thanks guys! It does look otherwise healthy. I'll keep my eye on it

 

[alphaparrot]

Ficus (benjamina especially) can also be super temperamental when it comes to any change to their environment---I wouldn't be surprised if a sudden reduction in sunlight prompts the tree to drop a few leaves in protest. They're fairly resilient trees though, and usually bounce back. I picked up a little baby willow-leaf ficus (baby as in like...3 inches tall) from the aquarium/reptile store last winter, and it did NOT like going from the 90-degree/100% humidity plant room at the store to my 75-degree/45% humidity apartment. Dropped every single one of its leaves and looked like it had probably died off completely. 2 months later, went and got another one, planted it in next to the possibly-dead one (I knew not to give up hope; figured maybe the healthier one would share across the root systems), and bagged up the pot to keep the humidity high. 1 month later the 'dead' tree had put out a full flush of growth; now it's perfectly happy not being in a literal jungle.

Sometimes ficus will sulk