Pale new leaves on willow leaf ficus salicaria

KennedyMarx

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New leaves on a couple of my willow leaf ficus are very light green. Dunno if it's an issue lack of iron or some other nutrient or the trees just weren't in the best health before putting them outside this year. They did have a scale infestation that I had to take care of. And my fertilizer has trace elements. Usually they grow in dark red and eventually transition to a darker green.
 

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GrimLore

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I the plant is otherwise healthy and just recovering from scale my first thought would be to toss some Blood Meal on top. It is a little Nitrogen boost and often all that is needed. It is also a small enough amount slowly released it does not cause a shock of any type to our "touchy" Tropicals.

Grimmy
 

thams

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New leaves on a couple of my willow leaf ficus are very light green. Dunno if it's an issue lack of iron or some other nutrient or the trees just weren't in the best health before putting them outside this year. They did have a scale infestation that I had to take care of. And my fertilizer has trace elements. Usually they grow in dark red and eventually transition to a darker green.

I've read before that this could be a "bleaching" of the leaves if they suddenly get evelvated light levels. I'm not 100% sure that's it, but it could be the case if they just went from artificial lights to natural sunlight.
 

KennedyMarx

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Thanks, guys.

They were inside under lights all winter. I brought them out in spring and they were defoliated, sprayed with insecticidal soap, and the scale was removed. I put teabags on the soil surface with half blood meal half bone meal and hit them with Dyna-Gro foliage pro once a week. I switched away from the teabags because of critters and put some Milorganite on the soil surface. They're both seemingly healthy (back budding everywhere and making new leaves). So I guess I shouldn't be too worried.
 

agraham

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If they are indeed brand new leaves...it isn't unusual for them to be a lighter green than older leaves. They(new growth) are also sometimes bronze colored.
 

agraham

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This is the color of healthy new leaves on a F. "Golden Gate". They are much lighter green than established leaves.
 

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Sekibonsai

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They will come out a pale golden yellow. If they look healthy and shiny they're probably okay.
 
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Personally, I think it more than likely is a combination of not enough
water for the sunnier conditions, that it more than likely now is facing.
Do the leaves seem a bit smaller ?

I have been having a hell of a time with it this year on a lot of my plants...
I used to water every other day, seeing that I have organic in my soil mix,
but this year I am having to water at least once a day, and even having to
move a lot of plants to total shade that last year sat in full sun.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone...
 

KennedyMarx

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It's only the second year since I rooted this from a cutting and I've changed the soil mix, so it's hard to say either way if it needs more water or not. The leaves have greened up more, but they are a bit smaller than they were before. Some of the first leaves to pop have grown to regular size.
 

GrimLore

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We moved last November and my Wife asked me to place them in a similar situation(light, sun, etc...) as years past in the old place. No work has been done to them and they are acting similar to yours... Odd thing is the other types of Ficus are growing normally and the slowest growing variegated types are growing faster then ever. Over the next two weeks during our hot spell she will be repotting just the Willow Leaf plants as she thinks that may be the answer. They are quite old and any knowledge I share on tropicals is hers - I prefer not to grow them.

Grimmy
 

Sekibonsai

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For some reason I wasn't getting the picture last night... looks pretty normal to me. Just keep giving it what it needs...
 

JudyB

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My willow leaf's new leaves are all light green in comparison to older leaves. Doesn't seem to be having any problems, and is very healthy, and in full sun. ? not a problem I don't think ?
 

Poink88

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My willow leaf's new leaves are all light green in comparison to older leaves. Doesn't seem to be having any problems, and is very healthy, and in full sun. ? not a problem I don't think ?

Not a problem, very normal...unless it persists for the next several weeks. It should start to darken then.
 

amcoffeegirl

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I agree with what others have said my willow leafs new leaves are lighter in color also. I never noticed this before but it is the same on my retusa also. I think its normal.
 

Tree-San

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Hi everyone,

I'm new to f. nerifolia and just learning to 'speak their language' this summer / fall.
This little guy lives on a south facing back deck, with at least 7 hours of full sun, then partial shade in the late afternoon.
Average daily temps currently in the low 80's, no lower than 60F at night with humidity as high as 80%. It's watered every morning, and misted once in the heat of the afternoon.

Am I to understand that the yellow and bronze leaves in the pic here are examples of new growth?
 

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Personally, I think it more than likely is a combination of not enough
water for the sunnier conditions, that it more than likely now is facing.
Do the leaves seem a bit smaller ?

I have been having a hell of a time with it this year on a lot of my plants...
I used to water every other day, seeing that I have organic in my soil mix,
but this year I am having to water at least once a day, and even having to
move a lot of plants to total shade that last year sat in full sun.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone...
It’s normal
 
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