Rules for caring for Variegated Ficus
Ficus is a very common houseplant. Of all its varieties, the Variegated Ficus is the most popular. It fits perfectly into any interior and for many has already become an excellent addition to the collection of indoor plants.
Variegated ficus
In order for the ficus to please the eye, it is necessary to properly care for it, otherwise the plant will lose its unusual color or even die.
Varieties of variegated ficus
There are a huge number of varieties of ficus. They are so different from each other that a beginner in this business will not be able to understand whether a ficus is in front of him or not.
There are such variegated species:
- Ficus Rubber is a plant with a thick stem and reaching 2-2.5 m without timely pruning. The leaves are large, fleshy, oval in shape. Variegated varieties: Black Prince, Variegata, Robusta.
- Pumila, or dwarf ficus, is a creeping plant (ampelous). It has shoots up to 5 m long. The leaves are miniature in the form of a heart. Variegated species: Sunny, White Sunny, Dorta.
- Ficus Binnedijka Ali is an unpretentious decorative tree with oval elongated leaves. In nature, its height exceeds 20 m, but in indoor conditions it is no more than 2-2.5 m. With proper pruning, it grows a lush crown in a very short time. Variegated species: Amstel Gold, Amstel King.
- Ficus Rusty is a short bush native to Australia. The leaves are dark green in color with a pinkish milky edging. On the reverse side of the leaf there is a red fluff.
- Ficus Benjamin is a tree-like plant with medium-sized leaves. The most common variety among indoor flower lovers. Variegated varieties: Anastasia, Baroque, Daniel, Midnight Lady.
All of these varieties grow successfully indoors with proper care. For novice florists, the ficus Binnedyka Ali is perfect. It is completely unpretentious and can tolerate drought and hot weather normally.
The soil
For planting ficuses, breathable, light and loose earth is required. This is due to the fact that the dense consistency of the soil guarantees stagnation of moisture, and these plants do not like this. Most often, pots are filled with a substrate consisting of:
- sand;
- clay granulate or expanded clay;
- peat;
- deciduous humus;
- turf land.
Ficuses do not like acidic soil, and the soil should be neutral acidity, in extreme cases, be slightly acidic. To reduce acidity, you can add a little dolomite flour or quicklime to the soil. Among other things, they enrich the substrate with calcium and magnesium. Potassium and phosphorus are vital for indoor ornamental trees. These trace elements help to maintain the marbled color of the leaves. Wood ash is rich in them.
Some growers recommend adding brick or stone chips to the soil: this gives the roots the ability to breathe and does not allow water to stagnate.
Watering
Ficuses are demanding for watering - it should be done often, but in small portions of settled water, so that moisture does not stagnate in the soil.
Since ficuses are from tropical countries, they need high humidity. It is not difficult to organize this at home, it is enough to spray a room flower from a pulverizer 1-2 times a day. In winter, when the ficus is at rest, spraying and watering is reduced.
It is useful to arrange a hygienic shower for your indoor plants. Before the procedure, the soil in the pot is covered with plastic wrap and the ficus is washed from the shower with water at room temperature. It is recommended to wash ornamental trees no more than once every 4-5 months.
Top dressing
In spring and summer, during the period of active growth of shoots and root system, ficus plants need mineral feeding. Nitrogen fertilizers are an excellent solution. The lack of this substance inhibits the growth of deciduous mass.
Among other things, potassium, calcium and phosphorus are vital for indoor flowers. In order not to calculate the dosage for a certain amount of land, you can use ready-made fertilizers. These complex fertilizers only need to be diluted with water and water the plant.
In autumn and winter, when the growing season ends and the ficus is at rest, feeding is stopped: they not only will not bring any benefit, but are also harmful to the plant.
Transfer
Home care yields results if the plant is systematically transplanted into a suitable sized pot. This must be done carefully. Sometimes the transplant is not planned, but emergency. If the ficus is "overfed" with fertilizers, it will have to be transplanted with a complete replacement of the substrate.
The signal that the plant requires a transplant is that the soil in the pot dries up quickly, and it itself is overflowing with small roots. The pot is taken 5-6 cm wider than the previous one.
In order to carry out a transplant with minimal damage to the rhizome, it is recommended to carry out a number of manipulations:
- Moisten the soil in the pot and carefully remove the top layer by 2 fingers.
- Put the drainage in a new pot on the bottom. It can be a special clay granulate, stone chips, shells or pebbles.
- Lay a layer of new substrate. It is recommended to tamp it slightly.
- With the help of light tapping movements, shake the rhizome out of the old pot. At this time, the shoots must be supported by hand. If the ficus is large, then you will need help, one cannot cope with it.
- Place the rhizome in a new pot and cover the free space with substrate.
- If a young plant was transplanted, then there is no need to tamp the earth: this interferes with the natural ventilation of the roots. But large ficuses should be well tamped, because under their weight they can simply wriggle out of the pot.
After transplantation, the ficus may stop growing for some time. This is normal, because the root system is growing. If the pot is too large, the process may be delayed.
Lighting
The presence of a sufficient amount of sunlight is a guarantee of the normal growth of the ficus, as well as the preservation of its color. Due to insufficient lighting, the leaves fade, and the young shoot grows not variegated, but green. Even if then this decorative tree receives normal lighting, the pigmentation of the leaves will remain the same. Sometimes the ficus even sheds its leaves due to the short daylight hours.
It is recommended to think in advance about where the pot with the indoor flower will stand, because he does not like changing the place. Better to put it on the south window. Fucus must be turned to the sun with different sides, otherwise the foliage will grow only on one side.
Love of decorative trees for the sun does not mean that they need direct sunlight. They can get sunburn. A leaf that has been green or variegated turns brown and falls off over time.During the summer heat, it is better to cover the ficus from the sun with paper or something similar.
Pruning
In the wild, ficuses grow in height and rarely shoot side shoots, but this is not possible in a house or apartment. Among other things, a bare stick with a leafy top does not look very good as an ornamental plant. In order to give the ficus a beautiful shape, it is necessary to resort to pruning.
In the photo on the Internet, you can see trees and bushes, but these are the same plants. If you cut off the apical bud, the lateral shoots are activated. It is for this purpose that the top of the plant is cut off.
Pruning is done in early spring, until the indoor flower has completely departed from winter dormancy.
It is not recommended to leave the tree completely without leaves: they perform the function of photosynthesis and thereby provide the plant with energy. The leaves are green due to the chlorophyll in them. It is he who synthesizes starch from sunlight.
If the plant has lost its decorative properties or the trunk is too elongated, rejuvenating pruning can be done. To do this, the trunk is completely cut off 10 cm above the ground. The cut is treated with potassium permanganate and the rhizome is transplanted into a more spacious pot, replacing the substrate with a more nutritious one. After a couple of weeks, new young shoots appear. The remaining leafy part can be used for propagation of ficus by cuttings.
With any of the scraps, you must very strictly adhere to the following rules:
- Pruning is done only in early spring.
- The cut on the shoots is made straight, and on the trunk - obliquely.
- After trimming, you need to remove the milky juice with warm water and a sponge.
- A knife, scalpel or garden shears are disinfected before pruning.
- The cut is processed with potassium permanganate or special pastes sold in flower shops.
- Top dressing is done no earlier than 2 weeks after the monkey.
With the right pruning, you can get a beautiful and healthy plant. In addition to being decorative, cut trees are more willing to increase deciduous mass and get sick less.
Problems to face
Variegated decorative ficus and caring for it bring only joy to those people who are very fond of indoor plants.
But ficuses get sick, and the reason for this is improper care, as well as an initially infected seedling or soil.
During the cultivation of an indoor flower, you can face the following problems:
- Black dots on the back of the leaves are cercospora. The fungus that infects the green leaf spreads spores and can infect other indoor plants as well. The affected leaves are cut off, and the entire ficus is treated with a fungicide.
- Spider mites are small creatures that infect the leaves of an ornamental tree. They are easy to spot by the thin cobwebs that twine around the branches and trunk, as well as white spots on the foliage. The plant is washed under warm running water, and the leaves are wiped with alcohol.
- Dropsy - brown growths on the leaves, formed due to overflow of soil. Leaves with outgrowths are removed, and the plant is transplanted into a new substrate.