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Hello everyone!

I have a Ficus, probably Microcarpa, but there's so much confusion in the topic, that I'm not sure. It is grafted to this big root/trunk structure. Anyway,

It is doing kind of okay in my opinion - it puts a lot of new foliage every year and the branches are thickening well, but for two past years it has this strange, brownish discoloration on the leaves.

I found that discoloration like this may occur when you water Ficus to heavily, but it sits in akadama, pumice and lava rock mix so it should be relatively fast draining. I water it when the soils starts to dry a little bit, but I don't let it dry out completely and also spray the plant to keep humidity up, but only on the evenings to avoid sun burns. It sits on the south window, with good lighting threw out the day. Personally, to me, it seems like some materials deficiency (maybe magnesium?), but it is fertilized regularly...

I attached picture of cutting taken from that Ficus few days ago. All of the older foliage looks exactly the same, new leaves has no discoloration to them and have very vivid green colour.

I would be very grateful for any help!

"Doing ok" is not how I would describe this plant. How long have you had it?

I would loupe the tree all over and look for pests. If pests is found I would start manual removal and spraying with neem oil/soap/water solution. Finding the reason for ill health and why it is susceptible to pests is your next step.

Do not worry about "sunburn". This species is from tropic regions where sun is strong and it rains in the days as well as in the nights. A good experiment is to spray yourself with water on a hot and sunny day. Does the sun burn more on the sprayed part of your body than on the non sprayed part? Obviously not? Plants getting sunburned when they are sprayed in the day is just a total myth. There are absolutely no evidence but people just keep on telling it.

Hello Piotrek
The leaf discoloration could be from a deficiency or a pest, check both sides of the leafes and the rest of the plant for any indication of sucking pests.
One of my Ficuses had the same discoloration for one season, but everything ok and growing fine, i dont know what ist was, no special action performed, new leaves coming out nice and green and at the next season it was history.
Sunburn indoors behind the window in any case are not possible, outdoors it is possible in some particularities may also for a ficus, but sunburned leaves look different, the spots light to dark brown an later the burned area dryed out.

I have it for about 4 years now. I did check for pests many times, but there’s nothing to be found. During repotting this season, I noticed that the root ball is not very developed – maybe this might be a problem?

About the sunburns - should I spray it during the day than? If so, shall I do this every day or follow more sophisticated schedule?

Piotrek wrote:

About the sunburns - should I spray it during the day than? If so, shall I do this every day or follow more sophisticated schedule?

My intention with the post about sunburn was to tell you that it is not a thing and that you can spray it in the day, not that you should.

I do not spray any of my trees, but they are all outside in the summer and exposed to rain.

Piotrek wrote:

I have it for about 4 years now.

About the sunburns - should I spray it during the day than? If so, shall I do this every day or follow more sophisticated schedule?

Ooh, ... for 4 years the plant with pot looks quite small, or the photo is misleading !?

At the beginning i sprayed my ficuses indoors sometimes, i haven't sprayed it maybe for the last 25 years, i don't like the mess indoors special on larger plants, the humidity is then around 60-65% and that works.

The picture is from a cutting taken not even a week ago. The mother plant itself is much bigger, but it was easier for me to take a photo of a cutting. All of the older leaves have this discoloration, but new growth is very vivid green.

I checked again on the bottom side of the foliage and there are white, almost not visible balls? (I even can't make a desent photo of it) Maybe it's a fungal infection?

Yes, show us some photos, but i think that is not a fungal infection,.. more of a sucking pest !?

This is the best photo I could make. You can see those little white dots.

I can't recognize any sucking pests, to me it looks more like lime stains from spraying but this is not harmful !?