A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Ficus Questions!

HowD! I've got a few questions about my bug infested ficus ^.^ Well its not so bug infested anymore, but when i got it, WOAH, it had everything in it o.O even a cicada!!

Anywho!

Thank you!

~Phoebs

I don't own a ficus but I've been picking up on watching my girlfriend with hers and just seeing them around in general...

1. I've never seen one in flower as a house plant (not a lot of experience here). I don't know about outside.

2. I don't know if it will produce edible figs... However, I'm pretty sure I've seen some on the street near work that are HUGE which produce small berries much like I've seen my palm tree do. They are sooo messy!

3. Rooting cuttings. I think the general rule is semi-hard wood cuttings. I recommend putting them in the bathroom using soil and root toner. I imagine you could airlayer too but I think cuttings are just generally easier.

4. I have been told that these take severe prunings and root prunings very well. My girfriend whacked the crap out of hers and it budded back like crazy. Of course, right after you whack it back, it will freak out and drop a bunch of leaves sometimes.

5. I dunno. I think ficus just generally grow like crazy upward and when you trim back, it'll bud back... maybe... Will???

6. Depends on how long the trip and how hot, I would think...

7. I don't think anything special needs to be done.

8. Probably a good idea.

9. It should as it ages. This is growing time for ficus.

10. I don't think birdie landing on it is bad. But I think that ficus can be poisonous to animals if they chew on it. Although, I will say that my friend's cat is always chewing on stuff and the ficus has yet to make her sick.

11. Hm... maybe some can answer this one for you. I've never raised one from a baby.

12. Definately meow. ALWAYS meow.

absolutely my pleasure

wow, cool! Thanks a lot guys! *thinks* i donno what air layering is >.<

But anyway, when they cut it for shipping, the top was all smalllllllllllllllll and bearly had any leaves on it. Now its got lotsa leaves and new stems When they trimmed it for shipping, a lotta stuff was left chopped off, and it looks really ugly >.< There's some branches on it right now that have zero growth on them, and have turned a kinda whiteish, and others have turned blackish. Should i get rid of those parts, or will they decide to spring back to life again?

When i got it, there were also a buncha weird lookin little dead viny things all over the place. What's that all about? I'm guessing just a buncha dead stuff that moved around.

a different forum, different day I learned that yes, the Ficus is dangerous for your bird, the funny thing is I used to park my Cockateil there while cleaning his aviary, no harm no foul. However: you mentioned bugs, did you spray your plant with Any insectacide? if so do not allow your bird to perch there, they clean their feet with their tongues.

PL
In my experience the 'weeping figs" need lots of sun, and NO fertilizer. Water when dry....if they are dropping leaves really bad too much water can be the problem, or not enough sun.

Nnnnnnnnope, no pestacides used. I don't like to use those, because all my plants are indoors, except for my Iris. What i used to get rid of all the stuff, is water, which brought all the bugz to the surface, where i could scoop away the top soil. Then to get rid of the fungus gnats, i put sand over the topsoil of all my plants. The gnats are still here, and its been a few weeks. They've definately gone down in numbers now though. I found out that they're living in the bottom of the pots, where the soil is accessable through the drainage holes. So i'm getting dishes for all the plants, and putting sand in all the dishes. Should work ^.^

Thank you all very much for the information though I took a hacksaw to all the dead stuff earlier today, and the tree looks MUCH better.

Hiya, Phoebs! I'm gonna find some infor on airlayering for you and send it off to you by PM cause I mentioned it with the rubber plant thingy too. But I have a friend that successfully rooted ficus in her bathroom. Dropped all its leaves but came right back fine.

I just did a MAJOR trunk chop and double airlayer on a larger old ficus (to create 3 bonsai specimens)

Here's the walk through of the event.

http://bonsaiweb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5864

Ficus are awesome trees. I LOVE working with them.

I have written an article on Ficus tree care that I will e-mail to anyone who e-mails a request to me at my address below.