Weeping Fig
Ficus benjamina
Through the year 🗓️
☀️ Summer now
Peak growth. Water more often in the heat, feed monthly, and shower the foliage clean occasionally.
🍂 Fall
Expect some leaf drop as light fades; taper watering and feeding rather than compensating with more water.
❄️ Winter
Rest it: water less, stop feeding, keep it away from drafts and radiators, and forgive a thinner canopy.
🌱 Spring
Prune for shape as growth resumes, repot if root-bound, and restart monthly feeding.
The details
Light & placement
- Light
- Bright indirect with a little soft direct sun; dim corners trigger leaf drop
- Ideal PPFD
- 200–400 µmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹
- Grow-light distance
- 12–24 in below LED
Water & feed
- Watering method
- Top-water until it drains when the top 1–2 in are dry, and aim for consistent timing. This tree punishes feast-or-famine watering with a leaf shower.
- Fertilizer
- Balanced liquid feed at ½ strength, monthly in spring–summer.
Home & habit
- Soil
- Rich, well-draining houseplant mix with bark and perlite; pH 6.0–6.5
- Humidity
- Average–high (40–60%)
- Temperature
- 65–80 °F; keep clear of cold drafts and heat vents
- Mature size
- 6–10 ft indoors
- Repotting
- Every 2–3 yrs in spring; tolerates being slightly root-bound
- Propagation
- Stem-tip cuttings in water or moist mix; air layering for thicker branches.
When something looks wrong
- Overwatering signs
- Yellowing leaves dropping with wet soil, mushy roots, sour-smelling mix
- Underwatering signs
- Crispy green leaves dropping fast, dry curling edges
- Common pests
- Scale (the classic sticky-floor culprit), spider mites, mealybugs, thrips
Common problems 🩺
The usual suspects when Weeping Fig looks unhappy. Most houseplant trouble is watering or light, not disease — see all plant problems if you are not sure which plant is the culprit.
Dropping leaves by the handful
Likely cause
Any change at all — light, position, temperature, watering. Ficus benjamina is famously dramatic.
What to do
Pick one bright, stable, draft-free spot and leave it. It releafs once it settles.
Yellowing leaves before they fall
Likely cause
Overwatering, or cold air from a door or vent.
What to do
Let the top 2 inches dry and move it away from drafts.
Sticky leaves and floor
Likely cause
Scale insects, which weep honeydew onto everything below.
What to do
Wipe the stems, scrape off the scale, and treat with neem or horticultural oil.
More like this 🌿
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