Plant Doctor Archive

 I HAVE a Ficus ‘Reginald’ which I have had for nearly a year. It is about 1/2 m high and has been repotted several months ago. It is in a warm room and gets a lot of sun. It has been fine until the last few weeks when I have noticed some of the leaves turning yellow and one has some pale brown marks on it. These leaves eventually drop off. The plant is very slow growing but has new leaves on the ends of quite a few of the branches. I keep it watered but wonder if it needs more feeding and have been told that Phostrogen is not balanced enough. I have checked it over thoroughly for any ‘creepy crawlies’ and found none.

 FICUS are evergreen trees and will drop some leaves from time to time. If the plant looks healthy there is nothing to worry about. If the whole tree is dropping leaves, then the plant is likely to be under stress due to overwatering/underwatering or a feeding problem.

Plants repotted into fresh new potting mix will have enough fertiliser for at least three months. Additional fortnightly liquid feeding over the summer months will benefit the plant. Water plants every two to three days, depending upon the room temperature. Allow the potting mix to dry out on the surface before watering again.

Phostrogen is a good soluble fertiliser, as is Lush, Thrive or Nitrosol.

• The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH
• Content or advice may be out-of-date.