Ficus benjamina is one of the most popular representatives of the Ficus genus. In nature, it lives in the tropics of Asia, in humid rain forests at the foot of the mountains.
If you are interested in floriculture or just want to choose a plant that can enliven the interior of an office, room or private home, pay attention to Ficus Benjamin, which has become a real hit not only in indoor floriculture, but also in phyto-design and indoor landscaping.
Let's find out what is the secret of his popularity? The answer is very simple - ficus benjamina does not need constant care, like many other plants, but in order for its crown to acquire a beautiful lush green color, it needs a plentiful amount of indirect sunlight.
With proper care, ficus benjamina grows quite quickly; it is worth taking this fact into account when choosing a permanent place for the plant. Just imagine how your interior will be transformed when the ficus reaches its natural height of 2-3 meters.
Location and lighting
Ficus benjamina needs good lighting, but direct exposure to the sun is contraindicated for it. The best option is bright diffused light. It is better to place the plant on western or eastern windows. On the south side it is necessary to shade the plant. But on the north side, the ficus may not have enough lighting.
Temperature
The optimal temperature in summer is 18-23 degrees, in winter the temperature should not fall below 16 degrees. Although Ficus Benjamin tolerates wintering quite well at standard room temperatures.
Fresh air is what the plant also needs. Having protected from the wind, the tree can be taken out to the balcony or placed on a windowsill on the street side. The most important thing is to protect the plant from bokweeds; ficus plants cannot tolerate them.
Watering
Ficus benjamina requires a lot of water, especially in summer during the period of active growth, so in no case allow the soil to dry out. In autumn and winter, watering should be reduced, doing it sufficiently only once a week.
If you often forget to water the plant or water it insufficiently, the ficus, as if in revenge, immediately sheds its leaves. But still, it is best to adhere to a reasonable balance when watering the plant.
Air humidity
Throughout the year, Ficus Benjamin needs constant spraying of the leaves. In summer you can spray the plant at least every day; in winter you need to do this much less often. Sometimes the ficus should be washed in the shower - this promotes the healthy development of the plant, as well as good prevention against pests such as spider mites and scale insects.
The soil
The substrate for growing Ficus Benjamin should be well-drained, slightly acidic or neutral. You can make it yourself from deciduous, turf soil, coarse sand and peat with the addition of small pieces of charcoal in a ratio of 2:2:1:1. Or you can buy ready-made soil mixture for ficus.
Feeding and fertilizers
Having survived the winter, in the spring-summer period, the ficus becomes a little lethargic and especially needs nourishment. By feeding your indoor tree with complex mineral fertilizer every two weeks, you can quickly revive it.
Transfer
The time will inevitably come when the young ficus becomes cramped and will need to be replanted. The best time to transplant Ficus Benjamin is spring. Young ficuses need to be replanted every year, adult plants - once every 1-2 years. To create a comfortable living environment for an adult tree, it will be enough to renew the top layer of soil.
Trimming
In order for the trunk to acquire thickness and texture, experienced florists plant 2-3 plants together and weave their trunks into a plait or braid, which over time takes on the appearance of beautiful hummocky growths.
If you are a beginner gardener, it is better to start by practicing pruning young Benjamin. To do this, on well-branched leaves you need to cut off the top with 2-3 buds, and to maintain a beautiful shape, repeat the procedure every 3-4 years, sprinkling the cuts with charcoal to prevent the milky liquid from leaking out.
Ficus benjamina is propagated by apical cuttings. To obtain its seedling, you can use previously cut shoots from the top with two pairs of leaves. The cutting should be wrapped in a thin cotton swab and placed in water. Or simply cover the cuttings with film.
After the young plant takes root (after about 1.5-2 weeks), it must be transplanted into soil or sand, covering the cuttings with polyethylene to create greenhouse conditions. The temperature should be between 25-30 degrees. You need to water and spray the cuttings carefully, avoiding excessive moisture. When the young seedlings become stronger, they need to be transplanted into pots with a diameter of 9 cm, filled with a mixture of turf, leaf and humus soil, river sand and peat.
Diseases and pests
Most often, Ficus Benjamin is affected by mealybugs, as well as scale insects and spider mites.
Difficulties in growing
The main problem of Ficus Benjamin is the sudden loss of leaves, which can be caused by a variety of factors. Most often, leaves fall off when growing ficus in dry air or placing the plant near heating sources. The cause of leaf falling can also be drafts, lack of light, change of location of the plant, hypothermia, excessive or insufficient watering. In most cases, if the cause is eliminated, the leaves will soon grow back.
- Leaves wither and curl - low air temperature.
- The tips of the leaves turn brown - dry air, insufficient humidity in the room.
- New shoots are thin and the leaves on them are small - lack of light, lack of nutrients.
- Yellowing of leaves - excessive waterlogging of the soil.
Sometimes the falling of the lower leaves is a natural process that occurs as the plant develops and matures.
Ficus Benjamin - care and maintenance (video)
Ficus Benjamina is a well-known member of the mulberry family. The popularity of this spectacular decorative foliage plant with glossy leaves among gardeners explains its attractive appearance and variety of varieties. At the same time, it is quite difficult to care for it. Compared to other indoor plants, the evergreen tree is extremely demanding of environmental conditions and reacts to the negative influence of external factors with abundant “leaf fall.”
Features of the plant
If under natural conditions Benjamin's ficus grows quite quickly and can reach the height of 20-meter birch trees, then their domesticated relatives are characterized by much less intense growth. Thus, over a 10-year period of development, indoor specimens can grow only one and a half, maximum two meters. This evergreen tree or large shrub has an invasive root system, that is, the roots, in addition to growing deep, tend to actively develop the soil surface.
In areas with a tropical climate, you can observe a bizarre picture of arrays of aerial roots under the spreading crowns of old trees. Benjamin also have a strong root system and in cases where soil is not added to the flowerpot, the roots will certainly appear on its surface, although without the formation of aerial roots. But only wild plants are capable of blooming and bearing fruit.
Appearance
The bark of the tree is dark gray; a uniform scattering of transverse strokes of a brownish tint is clearly visible on the small trunk. The branches bend downwards and branch beautifully. Depending on the variety, leaves with pointed tips can have a lanceolate or oblong (ellipsoid) shape, length from 5 to 11 cm, width 2–6 cm.
The surface of the sheet plates, dense to the touch, is very smooth with a beautiful glossy shine. The color of Benjamin's ficuses has absorbed all the richness of the green palette, and depending on the variety, it can vary from a light, delicate light green shade of leaves to a rich dark one. In addition, variegated forms of plants with cream or light green streaks and spots are often found in home collections.
Gallery: Ficus Benjamin (25 photos)
Having added such a specimen to your home collection, you need to immediately place it in a permanent place. Tree does not accept frequent rearrangements, and even simply turning the flowerpot with it is extremely undesirable: the capricious plant also perceives a change in the light source extremely negatively. Ficus leaves serve as a kind of indicator of his well-being. In most cases, the flower reacts to external stimuli in the same way, starting to shed its leaves with greater or less intensity.
Plant placement
There should be enough space for normal growth and development of the flower light, but access to direct sunlight here should be strictly dosed. With the onset of summer, when the influence of the sun is especially aggressive, the plant needs to be well shaded to prevent the possibility of burning the leaf blades. The ideal place for ficus is the eastern side, when the sun appears in the morning and evening hours.
As for the required amount of light, the variegation of leaves is of decisive importance in such a sensitive issue for ficuses: variegated varieties require more lighting than plants with a single color. Therefore, on the north side of the house only representatives of varieties with a rich green color will feel great.
There are tropical and subtropical latitudes, where plants grow all year round. The climate of Russia is characterized by significant seasonal fluctuations, so keeping ficus in winter has its own characteristics.
Plant growth factors such as light, temperature and humidity, water and nutritional regimes are closely interrelated. If one has changed, the others must change too. Therefore, against the background of low sun activity, it would be correct to keep the ficus in winter (from October-November to March) in a moderately warm room (18-20°C) with careful watering. All life processes will proceed in slow motion. An even cooler wintering is necessary / Ficus carica - for good fruiting in the next season, and some other deciduous species. However, it is not always possible to create special conditions in the apartment during the dormant period of plants. In this case, the site recommends taking into account the unfavorable external factors listed below and correcting them in all available ways.
Ficus care in winter and autumn
1. Lack of natural sunlight.During leaf fall, use sources of artificial lighting: fluorescent, mercury, sodium, metal halide and other lamps suitable for the spectrum. For a small plant or flower group, illumination with a compact fluorescent lamp with a standard E27 base with a power of 25W or more, fixed at a height of 15-25 cm from the foliage, is sufficient for 5-8 hours (to extend daylight hours to 12-14 hours) in the morning and evening or only In the evening.
Variegated ficus plants require additional lighting to a greater extent.
2. Low air humidity in a room with central heating (30-40% or less, with an optimal 60-70%).
Spray the crown regularly with warm soft water from a spray bottle (at room temperatures above 25°C), use air humidifiers, wide trays with wet expanded clay, and decorative fountains. Containers with water can be installed directly on heating radiators, and small plants can be placed in mini-greenhouses or florariums with a controlled microclimate.
When kept in autumn and winter in a hot, dimly lit place with dry air. According to the experience of site visitors, this reaction is most often observed in / Ficus benjamina, / Ficus microcarpa, / Ficus binnendijkii and other species with thin-skinned leaves. / Ficus elastica and species with thick-skinned and fleshy leaves are more resistant, in particularly unfavorable conditions such from bottom to top.
3. Cold. To prevent your ficus from freezing in winter, pay attention to the following sources of possible hypothermia:
– Low air temperature (below 14-16°C for tropical species).
Try not to buy or move ficus trees outside in late autumn or winter.
– Frosty ventilation and drafts.
Insulate the windows, move plants away from open windows.
– Placing ficus in winter on a cold window sill, concrete or tiled floor.
Place insulating material (felt, wooden blocks, foam or thick newspaper) under the pots, and raise the floor containers on low stands. Ceramic plant pots freeze stronger than plastic ones.
It is extremely important to prevent the soil from cooling in a heated room. The fact is that in the heat there is active evaporation of water by the leaves, at the same time, strong cooling of the earthen clod blocks the absorption capacity of the roots, and life-giving moisture is inaccessible to the plant. In addition, roots located in constantly damp and cold soil quickly rot.
– Touch of the crown to the icy window glass.
Local frostbite leads to deformation, underdevelopment or death of leaves and shoots.
- Watering with cold water.
Always heat water for irrigation to a temperature of at least 30°C. Water the ficus in winter and in any other season only as needed. As practice shows on the site, in an apartment with hot radiators and electric floors, the fluid consumption can be the same as in the summer; in a cool place - much less.
4. .
Some conditions allow pests and diseases to spread quickly. Thus, dry heat is the most favorable environment for the mass reproduction of spider mites, and damp coolness is for fungus gnats and pathogens of fungal diseases. Conduct regular inspections of greenery with a magnifying glass.
The overlap of these factors creates a general stressful background for the development of indoor ficus plants in winter. Postpone all plant replanting activities until spring. Stop or significantly reduce fertilization: untimely stimulation of growth leads to the formation of weak and elongated shoots.
When the ficus is depressed in winter, the anti-stress drug Epin helps. A solution for spraying with an initial concentration of epibrassinolide of 0.025 g/l is prepared at the rate of 7-8 drops (with a pipette or syringe) per 1 liter of water; re-treatment is possible after 10-14 days.
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Ficus benjamina is one of the most popular indoor plants that requires some care. Our grandmothers grew this spectacular evergreen tree in their homes.
Nowadays, many varieties of Ficus Benjamin are known, differing in color, leaf size and growth rate. The shape of the leaves is also varied - ovoid, pointed, triangular, with corrugated and twisted leaf blades.
Basic care for Ficus Benjamin
If you purchased a Benjamin ficus, try to immediately find a permanent place for it. This plant does not tolerate frequent rearrangements and rotations in relation to the light source.
Lighting
Ficus needs a very bright place: in the shade its branches stretch out and the plant loses its decorative appearance. However, it must be protected from direct sunlight - bright sun can cause burns on the leaves.
Variegated forms require more intense lighting - with a lack of light, their foliage turns green
Ficus benjamina is a heat-loving plant; overcooling of the roots and cold drafts can be detrimental to it. The optimal temperature for its maintenance is 18-25 degrees, and in winter - not lower than 12 degrees.
Air humidity
The plant needs high air humidity, so daily care of Benjamin's ficus includes spraying with a spray bottle, which is carried out 2-3 times a week to clean the leaves from dust and stimulate the growth of new shoots. Give your ficus a warm shower once a month. In summer, it is useful to take the plant out into the fresh air.
Caring for Ficus Benjamin: watering and feeding
Water the ficus moderately, allowing the soil to dry out between waterings to a depth of 2-3 cm. Do not allow the soil to dry out, as well as flooding the plant. Water with warm, settled water; be sure to pour out excess water from the pan. Proper care of ficus benjamina also means regular feeding. From April to October, fertilize your ficus with mineral fertilizer with a high nitrogen content once every 2 weeks.
Top dressing
Ficus benjamina responds very well to foliar feeding. Young ficuses are replanted annually, and adult tubs - once every 3-4 years, with the obligatory annual replacement of the top layer of soil. When replanting, try not to destroy the earthen ball and place good drainage at the bottom of the pot. The soil for Benjamin's ficuses is made up of leaf humus, sand, peat and garden soil, taken in equal proportions. You can also use ready-made purchased soil designed specifically for ficuses.
Caring for Ficus Benjamin in the autumn-winter period involves reducing watering and stopping fertilizing. At this time, keep the plant away from heating devices and spray more often. Variegated forms may require additional lighting from September to March. In winter, some varieties of ficus may shed some of their foliage.
Formation of the crown of Ficus Benjamin
One of the important aspects of caring for Ficus Benjamin is proper formation. To form a beautiful and harmonious crown, the ficus tree requires regular pruning. When the tree reaches the desired height, cut off the top of the trunk; this stimulates the growth of new side shoots, which also need to be pinched from time to time.
In the spring, with the beginning of growth, and at the end of autumn, cut off dry stems, weak and unnecessary shoots from the ficus. Stem cuttings cut in spring and summer are used for propagation. They are rooted in water or soil.
When the ficus crown is formed, cut leaves and small shoots remain, from which you can grow new plants yourself
To turn an ordinary houseplant into a real work of art, it is necessary to form the crown and trunk of ficus trees. The most popular method is braiding from young plant trunks. For these purposes, you should select three specimens with a height of no more than 13 - 15 centimeters: more mature ficus plants are characterized by a lignified trunk, which is difficult to external influence.
Several young ficus trees will allow you to create a spectacular home tree without any problems.
Before you can start braiding your hair, you need to carefully remove a few side shoots. This will release milky juice, which is removed with a damp cloth, and the sections are sprinkled with crushed charcoal.
The appearance of milky sap is a natural reaction of the ficus to damage to the stem or leaves
For greater convenience, young ficuses should be tied together, just above the roots, and begin to braid. It is necessary to ensure that there is some free space between the stems: as they grow, they will increase in size and fill the empty space, forming a single intertwined trunk.
For fixation, it is necessary to choose only soft threads that will not injure the stems as they grow
To prevent the resulting braid from unraveling, it should also be secured under the crown. For these purposes, soft threads are used that will not cut into the trunk and thereby injure it.
If you notice that milky juice has appeared at the place of wrapping, it means that the trunk has been damaged. However, the ficus tolerates minor injuries well, and it is only necessary to treat the damaged area (wipe off the milk and rub with charcoal).
Now you need to plant the intertwined ficus in the pot, after pouring a layer of drainage on the bottom and filling it with the appropriate soil mixture. In the future, as the indoor plant grows, it will be enough to just add the braid, and when the trunk gets stronger and grows together, the threads can be removed.
Over time, the ficus will grow into a strong strong tree with an unusual trunk, and will become a real decoration for any interior.
It is better to form the crown of ficus trees with such a figured trunk in the form of a trunk, pinching off the side shoots.
Having mastered this simple type of weaving, in the future you can safely experiment and create trees of amazing beauty, giving their trunks the shape of an arc, a complex braid, a lattice, or a spiral.
Caring for Ficus Benjamin: possible difficulties
The most common problem when growing ficus benjamina is leaf drop. A plant can shed its leaves for several reasons, these could be:
Lack of light;
Frequent rearrangements;
Overmoistening or overdrying of the earthen coma;
Dry air;
Low air temperature;
Cold drafts;
Excessive feeding.
If your ficus suddenly loses some of its foliage, don't be upset. Continue caring for your Ficus Benjamin - provide it with a bright place, spray it regularly and water it properly. With proper care, the tree will very quickly grow a lush crown. In general, the loss of lower leaves is a natural phenomenon for Ficus Benjamin; with age, the lower part of the tree’s trunk invariably becomes bare.
By organizing proper care for your ficus benjamina, you will grow not only an attractive, but also a useful plant - the phytoncides secreted by ficus leaves improve air quality.
You can bring some of nature into your home with the help of Ficus Benjamin. What could be better at purifying the air in a room than using the bright shades of a luxurious tree. But for its harmonious growth, you need to take care of the nutrients that the flower must receive in the required quantity.
Ficus benjamina
An evergreen perennial plant, from the genus of ficus of the mulberry family - ficus benjamina. A popular indoor flower that brings joy to households with its bright and lush greenery. The plant forms a powerful root system, erect shoots, a round stem part and peculiar foliage. Smooth, glossy, leathery leaves of an oblong oval shape with a pointed apex. Their length ranges from 6 to 13 cm, and width - from 2 to 6 cm. The color is varied: from rich green to light green with white spots and veins.
Ficus benjamina has been developed into many varieties, differing in shape, size and leaf color. These luxurious trees are becoming increasingly popular due to their fast growth and easy care.
Warning! One of the important care measures is fertilizing, the main task of which is to compensate for the depletion of the soil and maintain its nutritional value at a stable level.
Feeding frequency
Ficus requires a whole range of nutrients to maintain the formation of the crown and the succulence of the leaves. Therefore, care should include regular feeding, which must be carried out at the stage of activation of all growth processes.
Fertilizers should be applied in the spring. In March and April, the number of feedings should not exceed once a month, and in May they should be increased to once every three weeks. With the onset of summer, the plant needs even more attention, so apply fertilizer at intervals of two weeks. Finish feeding in the last days of September. Winter flower care involves providing the plant with rest, so during this period you need to stop applying fertilizers.
Proper application of fertilizers will save a luxurious tree from:
- slowing down development and stopping growth;
- stretching and thinning of stems;
- faded appearance of foliage, loss of turgor;
- spots on foliage and other obvious changes;
- diseases, insect attacks.
Advice! If the ficus is affected by pests and diseases, then it must first be treated with fungicides. And put off fertilizing, since such a flower will not be able to fully absorb nutrients.
Feeding ficus
In order for the tree to be bright and lush, timely application of fertilizers is required. Only a complete and balanced diet will help protect the flower from dropping leaves and other unwanted changes caused by a deficiency of vital substances.
Fertilizing is carried out only after watering on moist soil. The dose should be calculated depending on the appearance of the plant, its age, varietal characteristics and the condition of the soil in the flower pot. It is not recommended to feed the tree after transplantation for a month. We need to let him get used to the new nutrient substrate. As soon as the leaves acquire their previous turgor and young foliage is formed, you can begin to apply fertilizer.
When grown in a traditional soil substrate, ficus is fertilized with organic or mineral fertilizers. Nitrogen-containing complexes are considered important for this plant, which have a positive effect on the growth of green leaf mass.
Fertilizers can be liquid or solid - in the form of powder, capsules, granules, briquettes. Dry fertilizers are added to the soil on the surface, without going too deep into the top layer of the earth, where they gradually dissolve with each watering. Liquid formulations are characterized by practicality and ease of use. They are diluted with water in accordance with the instructions, after which they are used for their intended purpose. The liquid form allows the ficus to immediately absorb valuable components. Using such fertilizers, you can prepare solutions for foliar spraying. This form of feeding saturates the flower with valuable elements through its leaf plates.
Important! Foliar feeding will not replace the nutrition of the ficus through the root system, but is only an additional technique during the intensive growing season.
Mineral fertilizers
For full development, ficus plants need mineral components. They, like all house plants, need 13 macro and microelements, without which they will not grow and form young foliage.
Table of basic elements that satisfy all the needs of the plant:
Attention! A lack of mineral elements leads to slow growth, weak stems and pale leaves, and an excess leads to elongated thin stems and a white coating on the soil surface.
Organic fertilizers
Natural fertilizers are a must in providing quality care for ficus. The group of organic fertilizers includes humus, compost, bird droppings, and peat. These mixtures contain many useful nutrients that improve the structure of the soil, positively affect its physical characteristics and increase its breathability.
When using organics, it should be taken into account that the addition of such a composition will cause an unpleasant odor and provoke diseases, therefore such fertilizers should be diluted at the rate of 4 grams of product per 1 liter of water. In this case, it is better to use ready-made concentrated organic-based fertilizer solutions from special stores. They dissolve easily and do not have an unpleasant odor.
Folk recipes
If it is not possible to buy complex fertilizers for indoor flowers in the store or their composition does not inspire confidence, you can resort to folk recipes. They are available and their effectiveness has been tested by time and the experience of many gardeners.
- Sugar. The product is more popular among other natural fertilizers because it contains glucose. This substance is a source of energy for all life processes of a flower, as well as a good building material for the formation of complex organic molecules. When using, sugar can be poured onto the surface and pour water on top. In this case, use one teaspoon of the product per pot. For efficiency, it is advisable to make a liquid solution using 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar for every liter of water. It is important to remember that excessive amounts of sugar can provoke the development of various root rots and molds in the soil.
- Yeast. At the time of active growth of the above-ground part, the ficus will not be harmed by fertilizing based on yeast, which activates the work of soil organisms in the flower pot. Making yeast fertilizer is very easy and simple. This fertilizer is cheap, you can buy it in any store, and the preparation process will take a few minutes. To make a nutrient mixture, simply dilute 1 tablespoon of dry concentrate in 10 liters of water. When using raw yeast, you should dissolve 100 grams of raw material in 10 liters of warm water and leave in a warm place for about a day.
When preparing a yeast solution, it is important to maintain the exact concentration of the solution and dosage for the ficus.
- Tea. It is not recommended to use tea in its pure form for fertilizer due to its strong effect. You need to use tea leaves after drinking. Tea should be black, without flavoring additives. It is important not to overdo it with such fertilizing, so that an excessive amount of tea solution can cause the formation of mold and the appearance of midges.
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