How to Care for Ficus Benjamina

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen, and in this segment we're going to learn all about how to grow a Ficus Benjamina tree, and they're a beautiful plant from Asia. They're also called a Chinese Banyan tree, or a fig tree. And the Ficus Benjamina isn't the true fig that we eat figs from, but it's related, and so they really like warm, hot tropical climates, and they'll good from zones ten to twelve, so they don't want to freeze at all, or even handle cold temperatures; even below fifty degrees it'll do damage to em'. But, they're a great houseplant if you live in a colder climate, and you can grow em' outside if you're in a warmer climate. When I went to Australia the first thing I noticed was the Eucalyptus trees were everywhere, but there were also Ficus trees everywhere. The Benjaminas were everywhere. They were fifty feet tall. These houseplants that I've only seen as a houseplant were fifty feet tall. They were huge, and they were beautiful dark green leaves. And they need full hot sun with good drainage. That's the key. And they don't want to get too cold. So, as a houseplant make sure they get enough artificial light, or at least enough light from the window. They do not do well in dark rooms. They'll lose their leaves. But the great part about the Ficus, even if they do lose their leaves, a lot of times they'll grow em' back again. And they can dry out, and they're deciduous. Sometimes, in colder climates they'll lose their leaves and you'll still get em' back cause' they'll come back; whereas, in warmer climates they're green year round, and they just generally slowly lees lose their leaves over the year and keep growin' em' back. But make sure that you put em' in full hot sun with good drainage, and they like good composted, good sandy, good drainage soil. So, they don't want to sit in a bog of water at all. They want good drainage. And as long as you give them those few factors they'll do great whether they're a houseplant, or they're outside in your garden."