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Ficus Benjamina Help!

Rhianne Stallard
3 years ago

I’d be really grateful if there’s anyone that can help me with some advices as to why my Ficus Benjamina has suddenly started losing all of its leaves.

We are based in the UK and have just moved into winter after a cold autumn. The loss of leaves started to happen as the temperatures dropped and as you can see from the photographs, has worsened to the point that the plant is almost bald.

I haven’t moved the plant and it remains next to my patio doors with blinds where it gets indirect light all day. I water the plant every few weeks and I generally stick my finger a few centimetres into the soil to check whether it is dry before I water it. I don’t think I’m over watering and I do reduce watering even further in the winter.

It has been doing so well and had full beautiful green leaves but it suddenly started dropping leaves fast and is losing a lot of leaves all at once.

I repotted it last year as the roots were overflowing in the smaller pot. But it hasn’t really taken in the new soil and if the stem is touched, the root mass and old soil moves in the new pot in one complete mass, so I’m assuming there is little root growth since the re-pot.

I saved this little plant from IKEA 2 years ago when it was in a sorry state and it has been doing so well and showing great growth. I’m not sure what has happened for it to suddenly start shedding but I would appreciate any advice to save this little plant!

Comments (4)

  • Sonia
    3 years ago

    I did comment on your other post identical to this one.

  • mii2
    3 years ago

    Central heating is a killer

  • PRO
    R.A Interiors
    3 years ago

    Boo :( I had the exact same thing happen with my Ikea tree (I can't remember the name of it) and sorry to say my little plant didn't have a happy ending! Mine was looking luscious, I watered it every week or so, I didn't change anything and all of a sudden it started losing its leaves and nothing I did stopped the shedding or brought any leaves back. I did look into this and I read a few similar stories from others and the recurring theme seemed to have been buying the plant from Ikea.

    I know this was of no help but I hope you manage to save yours!

  • Ribena Drinker
    3 years ago

    Somewhere in my dim and distant past, I'm sure I had a similar issue with one. I seem to recall it was because it's in a draught. Perhaps try it in another location for a while to see if it stops dropping the leaves. It's unlikely to grow new ones at this time of year, but if at least if you can stop the drop, it should regrow some new ones in the spring.

Ireland
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