On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 22:48:54 -0000, "yso"
wrote:

We have had this fig tree about (5ft tall) for about 6 months now. We bought
it last summer from B&Q. It came in a plastic pot. We moved it to larger
terracota pot, and gave with some fish blood fertilizer. It was left in the
lounge where light was not much but still bright due to large bay windows,
and temprature was always 25 C. It looked ok, but tongiht I saw it was
dropping a lot of leaves, and it looked a bit bare - just bare branches. On
one side there were some new leaves, but on the top these new leaves were
all dry. It looks not very well. What is this? We have not had fig tree
before, and have no knowledge whether this tree is unhappy with something or
just matter of course at this time of year, or it is lacking of
something..no idea at all.

The genus Ficus includes an amazing number of related plants. F.
elastica is the 'rubber tree'; F. benjamina is the 'weeping fig' --
both are popular as houseplants. And it seems as if *all* of the
Ficus(es?) drop their leaves at the slightest excuse. F. benjamina is
famous for leaf drop whenever it's moved into a different lighting
situation. The leaves grow back. I was surprised to see a 20'
(outdoor) edible fig tree across the street drop *all* it's large,
leathery leaves after cold weather (-5C?) set in. It's been there for
decades and presumably will have new leaves next year.

Identify what sort of fig tree you have, and check out care
instructions. There's plenty of info on the web.