The leaves on my ficus are turning yellow and dropping off. Why is that and what, if anything can I do about it?
Based on the clarification question/answer, some of these may not apply. But based on my experience, yellowing and dropping leaves are signs of: • Change in light? Ficuses (fici?) need lots of light. Have you recently moved it to a darker place? If so, move it to the brightest spot you can find for it. • Overwatering? More plants are killed by overwatering than underwatering. Water no more than once a week. • Overfeeding? Some plants just don’t like a lot of food. I haven’t really observed this with my ficus, but if I feed my schefflera, about a half dozen sets of leaves are guaranteed to fall off. If you think you’ve over fed, I would suggest taking it outside (if the weather is warm enough) and running a slow stream of water through it for a long time. The idea is to flush out any extra fertilizer. • Water change or build-up of salts? Tap water contains dissolved salts, chlorine, possibly fluoride, and other chemicals. If you water with tap water, a build-up of these chemicals in the
