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Over the past two weeks my banyan ficus tree has dropped almost all of its leaves - it now only has 10 or so leaves left! It started losing a few before we went away for the Christmas holiday (we were away for ten days) but we've just come back to a near-leafless tree

I've been scouring the forums and help pages, and it looks like there are three potential problems...
1) My first suspicion was that maybe we'd over or under watered it. So I gave it some fertiliser and plenty of water on the 22nd December and then left it to dry out for the 10 days over Xmas. Doesn't seem to have liked being dried out so I've just soaked it again....
2) We moved house a few months ago, and the bonsai hasn't been very happy in our new house. We've tried it in several places, most recently next to the big patio doors. It's the best lit space we have, but I'm worried there may have been a draft I didn't notice. Is it possible the tree has shock? I've put it back in the middle of the room for now, but it's not as well lit, especially at this time of year
3) Reading all the forums this evening has taught me that sticky leaves aren't normal. The leaves have been sticky for months but in my novice ignorance I didn't realise that was a bad sign. So I'm now worried that I might have scale too? I can see a few small brown flecks, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for?

I've read lots of suggestions on how to treat the three issues above, but as I don't know what the problem is, I don't know which remedy to try. I'm worried that the wrong thing might just kill the tree as it now has no leaves... The treatments for scale in particular include dousing the tree in different liquids, but I think that might result in losing the last few remaining leaves?

Any suggestions or help would be very welcome!!!

Laura5101986 wrote: 2) We moved house a few months ago
We've tried it in several places
I've put it back in the middle of the room for now

There's one of your problems. Ficus doesn't like to be moved. You're continously changing it's environment, and it doesn't get time to adapt.

The scales:
There are several scale insects, some of them hard to spot. , then try to find them. If it's a bug with a brown scale, it may be difficult to spot - you may find a small 'bump' that looks like a part of the tree. Try to remove it and you'll soon know if it is an insect or not.
What's that photo with the chop stick? Is that a bug you found?

Watering:
10 days without any watering seems far too long. Does the pot drain properly? Make sure the pot doesn't stand in a layer of water in that drip tray.

First aid:

Put the pot in a bag to that water does not fill the soil while you do this, and put the whole plant in your shower. warm, NOT HOT! water. The water should be comfortable to your hands. Gently wash all the leaves and get the muck off. Secundairy benefit is that you wash part of the infestation off. It looks to me like you may have thrips, which leaves similar dead spots on the leaves as you would get from spint. Do check for scale too, as auk suggested.

Then, place the plant in a warm spot, well-lit. And do not move it again for a few weeks (Note Auk's post about figs not liking to be moved).

If you have a systemic insectivide, us this the first time you water the plant.
Do not fertilize

You *could* consider lifting the whole plant out of the current pot, and without doing anything to the roots, planting it in a bigger pot, with good quality potting soil. Just to get it back to health.

Now, water only when the soil starts to dry out. But never let it go dry to the core.

Thank you for the replies!!!'

So the ficus has just had a good hosing down - it lost about half of the remaining leaves, but a huge number of small brown flecks also came off too! Having looked at some of the pictures on the link you sent, I think it probably was scale - one of the more subtle looking varieties. When I gently scratched the shoots they were covered in it, so I've tried to clean them all off.

It's depressing that parts of the tree are almost certainly dead, but I'm encouraged by new shoots in other places...

Question 1) Unfortunately being a novice, I don't have any insecticide at home (only common garden pesticide). Would it be better to wait until the weekend to go buy some, or is there a homemade equivalent I could use? Someone mentioned soap and alcohol diluted into a spray? Or olive oil?

Question 2) Should I continue to hose it down over the next few days in case any more bugs come off?

Huge thank you again for all your help - pretty sure I'd have had a dead bonsai without your help!!

Laura5101986 wrote: Question 1) Unfortunately being a novice, I don't have any insecticide at home (only common garden pesticide). Would it be better to wait until the weekend to go buy some, or is there a homemade equivalent I could use? Someone mentioned soap and alcohol diluted into a spray? Or olive oil?

Olive oil applied to the bugs directly would probably work - it would deprive them of oxygen and kill'm.
Make sure you do NOT put any oil on the leaves - as that would suffocate the plant. It will not harm the trunk or branches.
On the other hand... a few days shouldn't make a big difference, so maybe it's better to wait until you can get the

Question 2) Should I continue to hose it down over the next few days in case any more bugs come off?

I'm not sure what you're hosing down - but you can't hose down scale insects. You can remove them using a toothpick or something like that - or, if you dare, your nails.

Found a home-made recipe for you

Mix 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and 2 tablespoons of baby shampoo in 1 gallon of water. This can also be mixed with 1 cup of alcohol to help penetrate the insect’s shell.

source:


I think I've also identified the specific scale bug it concerns (though there are lots of 'm... would need a better close-up photo to be sure):

hope it's not one...

I just wanted to say a big thank you for your suggestions - the ficus seems to be recovering nicely after its ordeal! It took a second hosing down and a week of oil/soap mixture to clear off the scale bugs, but u haven't seen any sign of them for days now. And lots of little green shoots suggesting it's on the road to recovery. Thank you for your help!!!

Laura5101986 wrote: I just wanted to say a big thank you for your suggestions - the ficus seems to be recovering nicely after its ordeal! It took a second hosing down and a week of oil/soap mixture to clear off the scale bugs, but u haven't seen any sign of them for days now. And lots of little green shoots suggesting it's on the road to recovery. Thank you for your help!!!

That's good news. Thanks for the follow-up, it's nice to know that our advice sometimes appears to be useful
Let's hope it continues to grow, keep us updated!