Okay, let's wake up. I have a Ficus heterpodia obtained at the 2004 Florida
Convention.
It went into the greenhouse last fall and when it came out in spring it was
a sick tree. I recently did major work on it. The top third of the trunk had
lost its bark and was rotting, as was a large scar lower on the trunk. I
applied Minwax Wood Hardener to everything after getting out as much rot as
possible, I also trimmed it back to only a few leaves on a few branches and
fertilized with Bayer Advance (fertilizer and insecticide) because it was also buggy.
I now have lush growth, although some of the leaves are too large, I think
the leaf size can be brought down with judicious pruning.
Questions:
Is anyone else trying this species?
Do we think it needs a lot of fertilizer? (It does seem to respond well to
fertilizer.)
Do you think the damage last winter was from cold. (There might have been a
few nights near F 32 (O C)
Could the damage be from lack of light in the packed greenhouse?

Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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