Benjamin Ficus Care

Grooming with Benjamin's ficus is not difficult, but minor irregularities in it can cause the leaves to drop.

Choosing a place

Ficus Benjamin refers to those plants that are quite difficult to tolerate a change of place. Therefore, the owners of the ficus say that it is undesirable to transfer your plant to different parts of the apartment or turn it often, the ficus gets used even to a certain lighting angle and temperature regime. If, nevertheless, there is an urgent need to move the ficus, then it is better to do it very carefully, moving every day a short distance. If you, without knowing this, immediately transferred the plant to a new place and it began to shed its foliage, then you just need to wait a little, spray the plant and it will come to its senses, get used to the new place.

In addition, when buying a ficus plant, bringing it home is best to transplant it into a new soil. When replanting the plant in new soil, carefully remove the old soil; this must be done carefully, without damaging the roots of the plant. After that, put the ficus pot exactly where it will be its permanent place, so that the plant begins its adaptation. If you do not transplant the Benjamin ficus after purchase into new soil, the plant will also begin to shed foliage, since when selling ficuses they are planted in the ground for transportation, and it does not contain the necessary nutrients.

Ficus Benjamin at home: photo

Home care for ficus Benjamin and the necessary lighting for growing

When caring for Benjamin's ficus, proper lighting is very important, but direct sunlight can burn the plant. Therefore, it is better to put the ficus on the east or west window. It is categorically impossible to put the plant in a shady place, in this case, the plant also throws off the foliage differently. If the ficus has brightly colored leaves, then it needs even more lighting. For the winter period, it will be necessary to provide lighting with additional lamps.

Temperature regime

The ideal temperature is from +21 to +28 degrees. In winter, ficus can tolerate a temperature drop of up to +17 degrees. The main thing is to make sure that there are no drafts. Make sure that there are no temperature fluctuations. Ficus will also respond to this by dropping leaves.

Ficus Benjamin care and watering

Ficus Benjamin tolerates spraying well, but does not tolerate stagnant moisture. Therefore, when you transplant the plant into a pot after purchase, be sure to add drainage down the pot. The ficus needs watering when at least 2 cm of the soil becomes dry. If the ficus doesn't get enough water, it can also respond by dropping its foliage. The water temperature should be at room temperature, the leaves may also begin to fall off from cold water. For better water ingress, you should sometimes loosen the soil, but do this as carefully as possible so as not to harm the roots.

Ficus Benjamin: photo

Choosing fertilizers for home care

Ficus definitely needs feeding. Since the lack of nutrients in the soil can lead to shedding of foliage. For ficus, special preparations for ficuses are suitable as top dressing, if there are none, then you can use fertilizers that are intended for non-flowering plants that contain nitrogen. During the season, you can feed it every 2-3 weeks. The first feeding can be done after the plant has fully adapted to the new place.In winter, the plant should not be fed.

If you cannot provide Benjamin's ficus with proper care, then the plant will begin to be exposed to various insects or even get sick. Most often, ficus can get sick with a fungal disease - rot. It is she who causes great harm to the root system of the ficus. A sign of root rot is the dark brown color of the roots, as well as their softness. If all the roots are affected by rot, then there is no salvation, just throw out the plant. If your apartment has too high a level of humidity, then the ficus can get sick with powdery mildew. A symptom of this disease is a spot on the leaves of white color. Among the insect pests that attack the ficus, spider mites, aphids and mealybugs are most often isolated. The presence of these insects is clearly visible on the leaves of the ficus tree. In order to get rid of them, it is necessary to process each leaf of the ficus with a solution of laundry soap. Avoid getting such a solution on the soil; for this, cover it with polyethylene.

Ficus Benjamin: photo

If you provide the necessary care for Benjamin's ficus, then it will repay you with a long presence. After all, ficuses can grow up to 10-15 years. Therefore, follow all the rules of care and your ficus will grow a healthy and beautiful plant.