Care for ficus at home. Care for ficus.

How to water Benjamin Ficus? On this question, perhaps, anyone who has this most beautiful representative of ficus in the home collection of indoor plants is thinking. And this is not accidental, because the health and beauty of this plant depends on proper irrigation. The rules for proper watering of Benjamin ficus apply to all other types of ficus.

Against the little white beasts

Sulfur contained in the match, make them run. Remove these worms that can attack the roots of your plant by pouring a glass of red wine into the soil: they rise to the surface and you can easily remove them. In Africa, wood ash is mixed with irrigation water.

In case of juice from a plant, apply a petroleum jelly. Water the plants regularly, without flooding them. A saucer filled with water is harmful to plants. Apparently, it is absent if the soil is still wet. If the atmosphere of your apartment or house is too dry, it is better to avoid watering plants with limestone water.

What water for watering ficus use

In no case is it necessary to use tap water directly from the tap, containing a large amount of lime, chlorine, to irrigate the ficus of benjamin. Lime on the surface of the soil will leave a whitish bloom, and on the leaves, while spraying them, light spots that spoil the appearance of ficus. Chlorine is generally poorly tolerated by any indoor plants. Therefore, water must either be filtered or allowed to stand at room temperature.

Use water to defrost the refrigerator. Since the plant surface tends to settle and strangle the roots, do not hesitate to regularly and delicately dig the surface of the earth. In winter, do not water the plants indoors more than once every 15 days.

Aquatic plants that do not support limestone

In addition, you will suffer a loss! It is advisable to use water that does not like limestone, with the defrosting water of the refrigerator, with mineral water or water for demineralized iron. Several potted green plants, and this is the whole house that lives again. But to keep them happy for a long time and see their growth, forget the wisdom and follow the advice of specialists.

Of course, the best water for watering ficus - rain or melt. You can get this water at home, pre-freezing it in the freezer, and then thawing and standing to room temperature.
  Water boiled and cooled to room temperature is well suited for watering ficuses. This reduces its rigidity due to the sedimentation of lime at the bottom of the tank. Water before irrigation should be carefully poured into another vessel, trying to prevent the precipitate from entering it.
  If the house has an aquarium with fish, then water taken from it is perfect for watering Benjamin ficus.

Do not water too much of your indoor plants.

Depending on the time and conditions, the plants do not need water every week, or they may need watering twice a week. If you find that they fade, drain them and drain them well. You can even pour them into your bathroom, which will also clean the leaves. Also keep in mind that the better the leaves, the more water needs to be watered, because the water evaporates faster, and Root Rot - without stagnant water!

Do not use cold tap water for watering indoor plants.

Indoor plants are not overexposed or shaded.

  Do not cover your plants all year round. Feed him with fertilizer once a month, but be careful not to double the dose, especially if you have transplanted it with compost that already contained it. If it is a flowering plant, remove the faded flowers so that others bloom, and when you spray the foliage, try not to reach the flowers.

How often to water the ficus

Terms of watering Benjamin ficus are individual, they depend on such factors as air temperature and sanctification. If the temperature in the room is high (above 25 ° C), then watering should be done quite often, otherwise the foliage can fly around due to lack of moisture in the ficus benjamin. Otherwise, if the temperature is below 20 ° C, it is worth increasing the interval between irrigation. In this case, if there is frequent watering, the ends of the leaves will darken and shedding of the foliage is also possible.
  Sanctification directly affects the watering of ficus. If only natural lighting is used, the plant located by the window requires more frequent watering than the plant that is far from the window. Artificial lighting increases the light day, therefore, the need for watering increases.

Do not make the plant in the room too small

The most important thing in maintaining a bonsai is watering. The frequency with which you need to water the tree depends on several factors, which means that it is impossible to say how often to water. However, understanding a few basics will help you observe when a tree needs water.

How often to water his bonsai?

As already mentioned, the frequency with which to water the tree depends on too many factors to give an exact rule. Therefore, you must learn to watch your trees and know when to water them. The following few rules will help to use the tree correctly.



  In order to determine whether it is time to water the ficus, it is necessary to immerse part of a finger in the soil. Dry land will inform you that it is time to water the plant. For large outdoor pots with a ficus before diving a finger, you must first scrape a small topsoil to the side. If the pot is small, then before watering it becomes easy, the poet can determine the time for watering by the weight of the pot.

This means that you should not water the tree when the substrate remains wet, but only when it begins to dry. His fingers can be used to control the substrate to a depth of about one centimeter. Always watch your trees individually, instead of watering them with your daily habit, until you know exactly what you are doing. Use the appropriate substrate mix. A mixture of substrate greatly affects the frequency of watering trees. For most trees, a mixture of acadam, small gravel and sifted soil, mixed with the ratios ½, ¼ and ¼, is beautiful. However, you can use a mixture that retains more water when you cannot often water your trees. You can read articles about bonsai substrate mixtures for more information.

  • The water of its trees when the substrate becomes almost dry.
  • With a little more experience, you can see when you need to water a tree.
  • Never get used to water.
When watering this tree, most of the water will flow directly outside the pot; the roots are so compact that the substrate will not easily absorb water.

How much water is needed for watering ficus

The amount of water for irrigation of ficus should be sufficient to soak all the soil and reach the roots, which are located closer to the bottom of the pot. Watering should be carried out evenly, distributing over the entire surface of the soil. Large pots should be watered in portions. It is important not to fill the ficus, for this water remaining in the pan, half an hour after watering is drained. The next time it is better to reduce the amount of water. If the water flows too quickly into the pan, it means that it is time to transplant the ficus.
  You can reanimate the ficus after drying by immersing the pot in a container with water and leaving until the bubbles run out, then drain the excess water.

This tree needs to be transplanted! The time when you are water is not very important; however, it is better to avoid watering during the day, when the substrate is heated by the sun and may cool suddenly if cold water is used. As already mentioned, it is necessary to water when the substrate begins to dry. When a tree needs water, it is necessary to irrigate it abundantly so that all the roots are well wet. To do this, the water is continuous until water flows through the drainage holes, and, if possible, repeat the operation after a few minutes.

Bonsai watering is one of the subjects of online courses, especially for beginners. For more information and a free lesson, read the Bonsai lesson for beginners. The tree should be watered from above using a watering can with a thin irrigation head; This will prevent substrate retention. It is preferable to use rainwater; But if this is not possible, there is no big problem when using tap water.

Ficus Benjamin is considered by many to be a family amulet, and the house in which it grows especially luxuriantly is considered safe. However, lovers of indoor plants know that for good growth the plant just needs timely and proper care. We will describe below how to care for the ficus and successfully multiply it.

Necessary conditions for the growth of ficus

You can find out what a ficus likes, just by watching him: this plant does not like an overabundance of sun, does not like being often moved from place to place, and grows only when all these conditions are well fulfilled. Let us consider in more detail all the nuances of caring for this plant.

When you water, do it in good faith, make sure that all the root bread is moistened! There is diverging information on the number of existing species of ficus; It would be between 800 and they live on all continents in tropical regions. Some fig trees can become very large trees with a crown of more than 300 meters around the circumference. Typical of all types of feeds, dairy milk juice will shed wounds and cuts. Tropical fig trees can be resistant trees, small shrubs or even climbing plants.

Only special wasps for pollination of figs can access these hidden flowers. Fruits can be yellow, green, red or blue-purple and can measure from a few millimeters to a few centimeters, for example, from the edible fruits of ficus.

Choosing a place and adjusting the lighting



   Caring for ficuses in the first place involves the correct choice of place for a pot with him, which, in turn, will also depend on the lighting. In this matter, the Benjamin's ficus is quite whimsical - on the one hand, it requires a lot of light and starts losing its leaves very quickly in shaded places. But on the other hand, this indoor plant also does not tolerate direct sunlight, so putting it on the window sill on the south side of the house will be a big mistake.

To allow the growth of air roots in our homes, artificial moisture production is almost 100%. To do this, you can use a glass cover, a tank for fish or a design with transparent walls. Aerial roots grow vertically from the branches and, when they reach the ground, turn into powerful trunks resembling pillars. In a tropical climate, a single tree can become a forest structure and cover a huge surface. The leaves of most species of ficus have particular sharp edges, from which rainwater drips.

The leaves can be very different sizes from 2 to 50 cm in length. Usually chests have thin gray bark. Ginseng figous plants are toxic to domestic animals; This can be especially dangerous if the latter eat leaves. Trees should be kept out of the reach of animals. Very shaded place is very unfavorable. Rice carries limited moisture due to their thick waxed leaves, but prefers high humidity and requires extreme moisture to develop airy roots. Watering: ficus should be watered normally, i.e. It should be watered generously as soon as the substrate dries slightly.

Ideal for him would be a place about a meter from the window, which is not particularly actively illuminating the sun.  Note also that if the plant likes your chosen place, it is better to leave it on it and not experiment with others. Only in the summer, you can try to make a ficus on the street or a balcony, also taking care that the plant does not stand under the sun for a whole day.

Fresh water at room temperature is ideal. It is advisable to extinguish daily to maintain moisture, without exaggeration under the pain of fungal problems. The hotter the location of the fig tree in winter, the more you need to give water. If the tree spends the winter in a cooler place, it will ask to stay slightly wet. Fertilizer: Fertilizer should be given once or twice a fortnight in summer, every two to four weeks in winter. Both solid organic fertilizers and liquid fertilizers are suitable.

Size: Regular size is required to maintain the shape of the tree. Cut two leaves after the branch has produced 6-8 leaves. Defoliation can be used to reduce leaf size, as some species usually produce large leaves. If you want to get a large chest size, you can let the tree grow freely for one or two years. Large cuts, which are then needed, do not affect the health of the tree, and new flocks will appear in the old forest. Large cuts should be covered with mastic.

Important! In winter, while reducing the duration of daylight, the ficus may stall in growth, and you will be able to notice the falling of its leaves. To protect it from fading, it is recommended to organize artificial highlighting using fitolamps.

Ficus and temperature content



  Like any other indoor plant, ficus is quite thermophilic. Therefore, if in the summer you take it outside, make sure that the air temperature does not fall below + 15 ° C at night. If the plant freezes, it will start dropping the leaves, and it will not be able to move away after such a “shock.”

Ligature: The ligature of thin and medium branches is easy, as they are very flexible. Wires should be checked regularly, as they are very quickly encrusted into the bark. Strong branches should be installed with shrouds; They can be left on the tree for much longer.

Special methods of growing ficus in bonsai: ficus has the peculiarity of easily welded parts of plants, which are slightly pressed. Thus, branches, roots and trunks can merge and form attractive structures. This function can be used, for example, by combining many young plants and ensuring their fusion to form a single powerful trunk. Fig trees also respond very well to grafting methods and, in particular, grafting by selecting branches and roots.

Important! Do not place Benjamin's ficus pot near heating systems.    Leaf ficus benjamina is able to respond to temperature fluctuations in the room. This again brings us to the fact that the plant should not be put on the window sill on the south side of the house, where it will heat up during the day and cool at night. The plant should not be allowed to undergo a temperature below + 18˚С and above + 30˚С.It is worth taking care also that during the growth the plant does not fall into drafts.

If growth conditions are excellent, even aerial roots taken from a part of the tree can be grafted elsewhere. To accelerate the healing of large wounds, you can cut young plants, roots and aerial roots through the incision. A farmer can work on fig trees with almost unlimited creativity; Which greatly increases the attractiveness of the ficus as Bonsai plants.

Transplant: Replant a tree in spring each year on a standard substrate. The ficus tolerates root size very well. Multiplication: cuttings can be done all year round, but those made in the middle of summer are most successful. Economic bonsais, produced by the masses, often bring many problems, such as the terrible scars of rusty threads that bite the bark, uninteresting forms, branches, poorly grafted in strange places, poor substrates and sometimes pots Unsuitable without drainage holes. Specialized bonsai vendors offer a wide range of seedlings, from pre-bonsai and preformed trees to valuable trees, in most cases well-preserved and of good quality.

How to spray and water Ficus Benjamin

Watering - this is the most difficult task in the care of ficuses. The fact is that   the intensity and frequency of irrigation of this indoor plant depends on such factors:

  • The temperature in the room.
  • Air humidity.
  • Type of ficus.
  • Illumination of the place where the plant is.
  • Season.


Therefore, when watering ficus, it is worth checking the soil moisture in the pot - if it dries out by about 2-3 cm (if the pot is small, then you should not allow it to dry even 1 cm, if it is very large - nothing bad will happen, if the earth dries out and everything 5 cm). In this case, the ficus should grow in a pot with good drainage, so that in case you pour too much water, its surplus can go down to the lower plate. It is important to periodically remove water from it, as it can stagnate.

Important! When watering a ficus, do not forget to regularly loosen the soil in the pot with it. Due to this water will be better and faster to flow to the roots of the plant and feed it.    With the onset of cold weather, watering the plant can be slightly reduced, while not forgetting to monitor the condition of the earth. After all, if your apartment is too hot, in the winter the ficus will have to be watered as often as in the summer. During the heating season, the plant also needs to spray its crown, since artificial heat can strongly dry its trunk and leaves, which, due to interaction with dry air, can begin to dry and fall off.

What water to pour ficus

  To ensure normal growth, this plant requires specially distilled or boiled water.  When watering it is important to warm it up a little. Many fans of this plant recommend organizing real tropical rainfall for this tropical plant. To do this, move with the ficus to the bathroom, cover it with a plastic bag and pour warm water from the shower over several minutes. If she gets into the pot at the same time - do not worry.

Important! If you water the ficus too often and abundantly, a bloom of white will begin to appear on the surface of its leaves.    After this procedure, do not rush to return the plant to its original place. Let the ficus first adapts to the temperature in the bathroom, after which it will be easier for it to adapt to the air in the other rooms.

Necessary fertilizers, fertilizing ficus Benjamin

  The first is to find out what kind of soil loves the ficus. In general, this plant is unpretentious, but if you put the pot in the pot directly from the garden, you should immediately take care of its fertilizer. In general, fans of indoor plants are advised to buy special ground mixtures for ficuses, which today are sold in each flower shop and which should consist of peat, leaf earth and sand in equal proportions. It is also allowed to use substrates consisting of turf land, peat, leaf earth and sand in a ratio of 1: 1: 1: 1, or from peat, leaf earth and humus in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.

Fertilizing the soil in a ficus pot is important in the first two spring months, when absolutely all the plants start growing especially actively. At the same time in March and April, the number of supplements should not exceed once a month, whereas closer to the summer in May they should be made frequent up to one in three weeks.

But when the summer time comes into its own, the plant will need even more attention and nutrients, so fertilization will have to be done every two weeks. This is due to the rapid growth of the plant, as well as the fact that in summer the moisture from the sand in the pot evaporates more quickly, and with it the substances useful for the ficus can evaporate. As fertilizers, you can use special solutions designed for ficuses, or universal, which are suitable for deciduous indoor plants. You can alternate between organic and mineral substances.

Features pruning ficus

   Ficus is among those indoor plants, the shape of which can be formed independently. In particular, several plants can be planted in one pot at the same time, the trunks of which can be twisted and fixed along the plants, while additional support will also be useful. When the tree grows to a more mature age, the clamps can be removed, and it will continue to grow in the direction you specified.

You can also shape the shape of the crown of a small ficus tree. To do this, periodically it is recommended to cut a little of his shoots, but this can be done only in spring time. Consider also that the stem of the trimmed twigs must still remain long enough, otherwise it can dry out and make the plant very ugly. Thus, you will have a bushy ficus, but if you want to form a shtampid tree, simply choose one strong center shoot and allow it to grow, cutting off all the lateral ones.

Important! Various pests can also appear on ficuses, and a normal solution of laundry soap can help you get rid of them. This solution must be periodically sprayed on the plant, and soon all the pests will disappear.

How to transplant a ficus, and when it should be done



   When the ficus is transplanted, the spring sun should appear on the street, so this period may fall at the end of February and the whole of March. The choice of this period of time will help the plant to quickly adapt to a new ground, and to a new pot, and possibly to a new place. During the annual transplanting, it is necessary not only to change the ground in the pot, but also to constantly increase the diameter of the pot by 4-5 cm. By providing the roots of the plant with more space for growth and more ground for obtaining useful substances, you will thereby ensure the active growth of its trunk and crown.

Important! During the transplantation of ficus, try not to touch its roots and not to drop clods of earth from them. Such a procedure can damage them greatly, and subsequently the plant will grow poorly in a new pot. Ideal transplant ficus method of transshipment.    At the same time, if the plant has grown to such dimensions that the diameter of its pot is more than 30 cm, it is already possible and not to replant it completely. Every year it will be enough to change only the top layer of sand, removing and falling asleep about 3 cm of the earth.  20% of potted soil must be organic fertilizer. But after 2-3 years, you still have to completely replace the earth in a pot with such a ficus.

Reproduction ficus Benjamin



  This plant propagates by cuttings.  In this case, the stalk should be chosen rather long - about 10-12 cm. It should have 2 pairs of healthy leaves, although the bottom can be safely removed. To cut the roots, it can be put either in water or in wet soil. For germination, the air temperature in the room should not be below 25 ° C. To enhance the effect, a container with a handle is recommended to cover with polyethylene.

  The first roots on the handle usually appear after 1.5-2 weeks, after which the plant can already be safely planted in a pot.The diameter of the pot can be as small as 10 cm - for growth the cutting will be quite enough. To ensure good rooting in the first weeks of the pot can also be covered with a package.

Now that you have learned almost everything about indoor ficuses, you can feel free not only to grow, but also to breed this beautiful plant. After all, care for ficuses can bring a lot of pleasure, and selling pots with it can be a great idea for a home business.

Was this article helpful?
   Well no

Related Articles