Miracle its still alive ...

Hi Everyone (my first post),

About 10 years ago my mother passed away and I inherited a wonderful little tree that had been in her conservatory.

Now this tree has survived despite my best efforts at neglect I'm sorry to say. I've trucked it around Europe as I've moved jobs, consistently not watered it yet it soldiers on in the true spirit of my passed mother.

It doesn't appear to have grown at all in those years but I suspect this is due to the fact that it's pot is restraining its growth.

I've got to the point that I recognise I need to do something and I can't bare to let this little tree die as its become so symbolic of my life.

Please can anyone tell me what it is so I can start to understand what I need to do to care for it???

Any help much appreciated!!

Adam

Pictures below (if I can get this to work)...

 

Hi Adam,

Oh dear it does look sorry for itself! Marley's right, Ficus Benjamina (wheeping ornamental fig), I've posted a picture of mine for you to compare. It's nearly 6ft tall and I've had it nearly 30 years.

To care for it you need to practically ignore the fact it exists. The pot you have looks ok, don't pot it on any further, ever, they like there roots crammed. I planted mine in multi-purpose compost and has only been repotted with new soil twice. They survive on starvation, mines never been fed and watered every two to three months. Having said that if the leaves start to turn yellow that's when to water.

They like sun and heat, no draughts. Mine gets sun for a third of a day and sits beside a radiator.

It looks like you've given it a good pruning. Being a wheeping fig, leave well alone, unless it's taking over. I would bring it indoors if possible, a greenhouse is not really suitable.

As I said if you ignore it, it will look after itself. Two pics for you to see. My own and my mothers bonsai'd version, cutting taken from my own plant, which she managed to snap the top off. Hence now a bonsai.

Good luck, it will take a long while but it will recover.

 

Thank you both for the great feedback, amazes me you managed to tell me so much so quickly!

Sheal, your's looks amazing, mine has never been that full of leaves!

I do find it terribly ironic too that my years of neglect, at least partially, are perhaps the right thing to do.

I've never pruned it and wouldn't know how but will certainly not be taking anything sharp to it in the near future. It's in my living room at the moment but I suspect it might not be getting enough light and/or be a little cooler than it should be.

Marley & Sheal have provided slightly different care instructions and being a bloke, and an engineer, I don't do well with anything less than step by step instructions :p

My thoughts then are to leave it in its pot, stop watering it so often (previously had only done it when they were yellow) and maybe give it a bit more heat and light?

 

Ever thought of a weak liquid feed?

Not something that you want to overdo while the plant is looking stressed, but just a drop of feed in the next watering might help.

Just to confuse you a bit more, personally I think a light prune might just kick start it back into growth.
Keep it out of direct sunlight, but in good indirect light and normal room temperatures should be OK

 

Hi Adamseeker,
You don't need to worry about heat at this time of year. Mines happy when the central heating is on during the colder weather. It needs as much light as possible, and doesn't like to be moved around. So it would be best to find it a reasonable spot in your home and leave it there for the duration.
It's going to take a long while to recover and as with most plants, patience is inevitable. :WINK1:

 

I think I'm not doing anything fundamentally wrong and reading through the comments its probably best I just leave it alone.

It's in my living room at the moment and you can probably see on the pic the light is coming in from the right hand side of a nice window that gets sun most of the day. There are some dried out dead leaves on it but not really any yellow at the moment so am going to let it do its stuff

Thanks everyone!!