The Benjamin ficus is an evergreen decorative perennial that fits perfectly into any interior.
Flower growers love it for its attractive appearance and non-capricious nature.
Disease symptoms
Black ficus
Leaves are covered with small black dots and specks, mostly on the inside.
This is how the fungal infection of chorcosmid is manifested. Subsequently, the leaves can change color, lose turgor and fall off.
How to reanimate the ficus?
To save the plant, it is necessary to remove all the affected parts and treat the plant and the soil with fungicides - Fundazole, Kurzat, Oksikhom.
The entire surface of the sheet blackens completely, then it disappears.
Blame oversight in the care - Ficus suffers from over-irrigation and constant soil moisture. In this case, you should change the humidification mode, reducing it at least 2 times.
It is recommended to moisturize the soil no more than twice a week.
Darkening edges indicate a burn from the direct rays of the sun.
Another reason - ficus hot. It stands close to heating appliances or on a windowsill under the scorching sun.
It is enough to rearrange the plant pot in the western or eastern window and remove it from heat sources.
The appearance of asymmetrical various black spots indicates a wrong ground or an excess of nutrients.
It is necessary to transplant the ficus "Benjamin" in a fresh substrate and reduce the introduction of mineral complexes.
Yellowing leaves
Why do ficus "Benjamin" turn yellow and fall leaves? What to do? If the ficus "Benjamin" sheds the lower leaves and they began to turn yellow in large quantities shortly after transplantation, then the plant is experiencing a stressful state due to an abrupt change in conditions.
New soil, moving a flower, a larger pot than the previous one - these are the causes of ficus stress development.
A change in the color of leaf blades may signal an excess of moisture in the soil. Frequent and too abundant watering Benjamin Ficus completely does not tolerate and begins to turn yellow. In this case, you should stop watering for a couple of weeks so that the flower recovers.
If the yellowing process does not stop, the ficus should be transplanted into a new soil. All decayed roots pruned, and the remaining dried.
Yellow spots of various shapes and sizes can appear from exposure to direct sunlight or with excessive flow of fertilizer.
White bloom
White specks and droplets of white wax may appear on the inside on the plates, especially at the base.
In this case, you should not be afraid - the ficus emits excess moisture after watering the soil or spraying.
How to save the ficus "Benjamin" if on the surface of the leaves appeared white scurf? This is a sign of powdery mildew attack. Fungal disease, can be easily cured by the timely use of fungicidal agents (Oxyhoma, Rovral, Homa, Kurzat).
Brown spots
Why did spots appear on the leaves of the ficus "Benjamin"? Uneven brown blotches with yellow circles around them speak of leaves getting burned from the aggressive rays of the sun. The plant needs shading or moving to the western window.
Another reason is the attack of pathogenic fungi. The disease is manifested by the formation of speckles and blots of brown or chestnut color.
If left untreated, the disease progresses, the spots grow and begin to merge, until they cover the entire leaf, which then disappears.
The reason for the fall of the leaves of the ficus "Benjamin"
Why does the ficus of Benjamin fall? What to do? Most often it reacts to any problems and oversights in the care in this way - begins to shed leaves in large quantities. As a result, can remain bare trunk.
To save such a plant is possible, but for this it is necessary to correctly determine the cause of the phenomenon.
There may be several:
- Abrupt change of scenery.
Transportation from the store to the apartment, moving from one place to another, trimming the crown, transplanting and even water treatments can trigger the onset of stress and foliage loss.
- Wrong watering mode - too frequent, or vice versa, insufficient.
- Low light. Keep cool at temperatures below 15 °.
- Finding plants on drafts.
- Burn the roots of concentrated fertilizers that are applied to dry soil.
What to do if the ficus "Benjamin" fell off all the leaves? It is noticed that the mass fall of the leaves begins in the presence of at least two reasons at once. Having found out the reason, you can proceed to resuscitation.
First of all, eliminate adverse factors and maintain normal living conditions for the ficus, trying to prevent the repetition of old mistakes.
The introduction of trace elements is reduced or temporarily stopped so as not to accelerate the growth of branches. A weakened shrub will not be able to develop both green mass and stems immediately.
If such measures did not help, how to revive the Benjamin ficus? We'll have to inspect the root system, after washing it in warm soft water.
Damaged roots, which have rotted and withered, are completely cut out, leaving only healthy white tissue and dense structure. Sections are disinfected with wood or charcoal crushed into powder.
After drying, the ficus is placed in a new pot of a smaller size than the previous one, completely replacing the soil.
Even if the ficus had time to lose all the leaves, it may well grow new ones. Enough compliance with the correct mode and the elimination of adverse environmental factors.
Sticky and dry leaves
Why is the Benjamin ficus shedding dry leaves? What to do? The most obvious reason is an acute lack of moisture in the air and intense heat. The leaves begin to dry from the tips, gradually increasing the area of the lesion. If you do not take action - the leaves will dry up completely and fall off.
Then shoots and roots will dry, the ficus will die. Eliminate this problem is not difficult. Enough to increase the humidity in the room, regularly sprinkling the ground parts of the plant.
Tip: You can put the ficus for a couple of days in a greenhouse or put it on a tray filled with wet stones (expanded clay, pebbles, broken bricks).
Unpleasant to the touch sticky coating on the leaves of the ficus "Benjamin" - a selection of sucking insects that attacked the ficus. That pests leave similar traces of their activities.
The sooty fungus likes attacking the sweetish sticky discharge, as a result of which the colorless plaque gradually turns black and the leaf begins to rot.
You must carefully examine the plant and identify the pest. Then pick up insecticides to eliminate it.
Plant pests
Large succulent ficus leaves are attractive to many harmful insects. Pests of the ficus "Benjamin" are: mushroom mosquitoes, true and false scale insects, nematodes, spider mites, thrips, mealybugs and aphids.
Spider mite
It is almost impossible to see microscopic pests without magnifying devices. But the traces of their activities are very characteristic and easily recognized.
On the leaves of an infected ficus, dotted specks of light color are formed, and all ground parts are covered with a multitude of finest cobwebs. Such plants stop developing, lose their decorative effect due to yellowing and falling leaves, start to languish and ache.
Shchitovka
It looks like an oval plaque beige, chestnut or gray. It can be knocked with a needle from the surface of the sheet. Since the body is protected by a wax-like flap, it can only be destroyed by systemic insecticides that enter the body through the sap of plants.
Reference: most often used for the treatment of Konfidor Extra, Biotlin, Aktar, Admiral.
Photo: Shchitovka on the ficus "Benjamin"
Thrips
Small pests with oval bodies, resembling flies. They are difficult to notice due to nondescript color - steel, black or brown. They settle in large colonies and feed on the sap of the plant, severely inhibiting its growth.
In addition, they carry many viral diseases and soil terrestrial parts with their secretions, attracting fungus.
Mealybug
Small pests with an oval body, covered with a whitish bloom, resembling starch or flour. Two kinds of excreta are left - a sweetish liquid that attracts black fungus and vatoobraznye lumps, which have eggs.
Important: very mobile, sucking parasites, for their destruction using systemic drugs - Mospilan, Tanrek, Biotlin, Commander.
Flower midges
Sciarides settle in a humid environment and do not in themselves pose a threat. Damage to their larvae, which live in the roots and can damage them.
Tip: To get rid of insects, it is recommended to transplant the ficus with a disinfected pot, completely replacing the soil and washing the root system.
Diseases and pests in the ficus "Benjamin" are very diverse.
In addition, he acutely responds to any missteps in conditions of detention.
