Ficus houseplant grows as big broadleaf. It is an evergreen plant that grows excellently in tropical and subtropical climatic conditions.
The origin of ficus houseplant is India, South of Asia, and Northside of Australia. Due to its unique and innovative feature of commercial landscaping, it is usually planted inside homes and offices.
The Ficus houseplant is tolerant to low light and can survive the limited light of the indoor environment as well. Ficus is an adorable plant.
The branches of the plant curved beautifully from the light grey trunk along with dark and glossy leaves. If the plant is going through difficult conditions, its leaves may be shed.
While planting indoors, these plants are usually kept 3 to 6 feet tall. The beautiful and eye-catching trunks are used for decorative and ornamental purposes.
How adorable it is, to experience the silence of growing things!
One of the interesting facts about the Ficus houseplant is that it improves the airflow inside the houses. Now, the question arises, how the Ficus houseplant improves the air quality?
The answer to this is that its Ficus captures the toxins in the air such as benzene, formaldehyde, or trichloroethylene.
Furthermore, it is a fast-growing plant and requires repotting once a year.
Basic Elements of Ficus Houseplant
If you want to grow a ficus houseplant, you should know all the fundamentals of the plant so that it can grow without any hardship.
The botanical name of ficus is Ficus benjamina. Commonly it is known as Weeping fig, ficus tree, and Benjamin fig.
This is an evergreen type of plant and commonly the most suitable place where they can grow perfectly is inside the house.
Learn the character from trees, the importance and values from the roots, and change from the leaves (color)!
For fast growth, it requires good, well-drained potting soil with an acidic to neutral ph. It can grow up to 60 feet when planted outside. In an indoor environment, these plants can grow up to 3 to 6 feet.
Talking about the sunlight, the ficus houseplant can survive the bright and filtered sunlight. They don’t give flowers. They are non-poisonous plants.
Care & Ailment of Ficus Houseplant
Ficus is a very convenient plant to grow indoors. They can grow beautifully in containers filled with rich and damped soil.
The only thing that the ficus houseplant requires to grow properly is the good positioning of the container where it captures plenty of bright light. In their season of growth, they require proper watering.
Nevertheless, they can also maintain themselves in dry potting soil in the winter season. In the flowering season, it is best to take your ficus houseplant outdoor for some time and allow it to blossom.
After the season ends you can take them back to their place. Sometimes, the plant shows infestation by the most popular houseplant’s pests i.e., aphids, mealybugs, and whitefly. It is important to prevent your ficus from these pests.
Tips & Trick for Growing Ficus Houseplant
Ficus is a very friendly plant, and it doesn’t require too much attention. However, there are some of the key points that must be kept under consideration.
Day-light
For proper and speedy growth, ficus houseplants need to be placed in the brightest room of the house where they can consume indirect and filtered sunlight in abundance. Moreover, in winters, it can survive direct sunlight too.
It can also grow in partially shaded light conditions. If you change the place of the plant, again and again, it may drop its leaves. So, try getting a perfect place for your plant.
Rich Soil
Any potting soil which is good and fast-draining will work best for your ficus houseplant. As a matter of fact, the ficus doesn’t need soil that is highly rich in nutritional values. Your ficus shows noticeable progress if it finds perlite, sand, and vermiculite in the soil for enhanced drainage.
Balanced water
The plenty of watering makes your plant drop its leaves or damage the growth of roots. If your plant drops some of the leaves at the starting of winter, then there is nothing to worry about as these plants are quite sensitive to changes in atmospheric conditions as
One falling leaf is not just a leaf – it indicates the whole autumn!
Temperature and moisture control
Dark times are the best times for the ficus houseplant to grow. The temperature between 65-to-70-degree Fahrenheit during the night and 75 to 85 degrees during the day will work best for Ficus.
Here the precaution is not to use extremely heavy air conditioners in summers because the ficus plant will be affected if the temperature goes below 70-degree Fahrenheit.
While talking about humidity, it is previously discussed that the ficus plant belongs to a tropical atmosphere, so they appreciate high humidity. If the humidity is low, the ficus began to lose its leaves.
To prevent humidity, it is necessary to keep the soil damp and moist frequently to prevent the dryness of the plant.
What about toxicity of Ficus Houseplant?
Generally, Ficus is not toxic, but it is dangerous for those who have latex allergies. This is because; latex is the substance that is found in ficus houseplants.
The plant could not be placed in a similar environment as it shows adverse effects in individuals suffering from latex allergy.
Different Varieties of Ficus
The houseplant presents a wide variety of ficus for its buyers. As it is an extremely beautiful plant. It is widely used for decorative purposes and to bring greenery to houses.
Some of the popular ficus houseplants are listed below:
F. benjamina
Along with the narrow glossy green leaves, it plants into a little shrub. This plant can’t survive in a cool environment for a long time period.
F. elastica
This is a ficus rubber tree that contains thick glossy leaves in abundance. The variety of F. elastica includes F. elastica Robusta containing large leaves with a wide surface area and F. elastica decora for decorative and ornamental purposes.
F. lyrata
With the appealing and eye-catching violin-shaped look of leaves of about 18 inches, this ficus houseplant grabs the attention of a variety of customers.
Bottom line
Ficus houseplants are very flexible. They can grow as standards i.e., tropical environments, as a houseplant, or even bonsai.
Moreover, they are very easy to propagate. They can be planted by cuttings as well. They cannot be grown with the seeds. You just have to take some of the plant cuttings along with the leaves and put them in a container full of moist and drained soil.
The trimming of the plant is very important for the3 proper and speedy growth of the ficus houseplant. The cleanliness of dead roots and leaves is essential to avoid the spread of fungal diseases. Trimming can be done anytime.
If you love gardening and are fond of planting plants like ficus in your home consider this article a must-read. If you find this article helpful, then give it a thumbs up, and don’t forget to share it with your friends and family.
Happy Planting!
