I have a ficus benjamina that i leave out side all summer it's a beautiful tree and is very happy and healthy , i beleive it is root bound when i water it the water goes right through to the tray i need to prune the roots ...my question is what soil blend can i use for this i know it's not the best time of the year to do this but i think i have no choice....anyone?
Hi scotty--the ficus is so easy going, I don't think the potting soil is very crucial...anything sold as bagged potting soil would work. I always make my own from ingredients kicking around the place, but that's a lotta work if you're only potting on one plant...much easier just to buy some premixed stuff. The more important thing would be the fertilizing...and this is just my way of doing it. I assume you're just potting into a slightly larger pot, or maybe even pruning away some of the existing then putting back in the same container. Either way, I would blend in a comparatively large dose of control release fertilizer, sufficient for the total size of container (usually mentioned on the fertilizer bag). The existing rootball will have basically no nutrition left in it, so the plant will have to get it all from the rather small amount of new mix that it is replanted into...and try to get as long a duration of release as possible (I am very happy with the 7-8 month oscmocote). Closer to springtime when more daylight encourages growth would be the better time to do this repotting/fertilizing,but again I think the ficus will forgive you for doing it now... I have never been able to liquid feed container plants anywhere near as well as the control release accomplishes...it has revolutionized my growing system, and results (way better!).
Thanks very much for the advice as i know it's not the best time to repot but the water is running right out of the bottom so it is seriously root bound the tree is in a west window so the bright sun light should be very helpful thanks again.
