| Life form | Bush |
| Family | Mulberry – Moraceae |
| Origin | Malaysia, India, South China, Southeast Asia, Philippines, North Australia |
| Ease of cultivation | Easy, usually the first 3 months of the plant in the house are critical, and also the heating in winter; if it takes root, further care is usually easy. |
| The size | Most often from 50 cm to 3 m |
| Growth rate | High, up to 20-25 cm per year |
| Lifespan | Perennial |
| Temperature | In the summer: 64,4-73,4 ° F, in winter not below 60,8 ° F. The variegated forms are more thermophilic. |
| Humidity | High. Daily spraying of plants with water at room temperature is required, especially in winter. After switching on the heating plant should be placed away from the radiators (not less than 2 m), t. Dry air in the winter is the most frequent cause of dropping leaves. |
| Lighting | A bright place. In bright light leaves of variegated forms are better painted, but the plant prefers indirect light, it is good to place in 1 m from the southern window. In winter, the plant should be optimized. with a small amount of light it can discard the leaves. The plant can not often be turned and repositioned, because this can also lead to a one-sided dropping of the leaves. |
| The soil | Fertile, weakly acidic or neutral: 1 part of the turf ground, 1 part of the leaf earth, 1/2 part of the sand, you can add a little charcoal. Either 1 part of the turf ground, 1 part peat, 1 part leaf earth, 1 part sand. Good drainage is necessary, the best option is if its lower layer is claydite, and the upper one is sand. |
| Watering | In summer, regular watering with soft warm water (2 times a week). Before the next watering the soil should dry slightly. At overflow, the leaves turn yellow and fall off, it is necessary to make sure that the roots are never in the water. However, from insufficient watering, the plant can also discard the leaves. In winter, watering is reduced to 1 time in 7-10 days. |
| Fertilizer | From spring to autumn, every 2 weeks, liquid fertilizer, alternating organic and mineral. |
| Reproduction | Upper cuttings 8-10 cm, at least with two pairs of healthy leaves (the lower pair should be removed), in spring in a greenhouse (or covered with polyethylene) in a mixture of peat and perlite or earth with sand, at a temperature of 77 ° F. Easily rooted in water, it is also better to cover the stalk with polyethylene. Roots are formed after about 1.5-2 weeks. After rooting, put in a pot about 10 cm in diameter, the first few days also covered with polyethylene. Propagated by seeds in a small plate at a temperature of 77 ° F. When the first leaf appears, the seedlings are dived and transplanted into 7-cm pots. |
| Bloom | The rooms do not bloom. In greenhouses, like all ficuses, forms syconia – small globular inflorescences, reminiscent of berries. |
| Transfer | In February-March, young plants annually, increasing the diameter of the pot by 4-5 cm. In adult plants, if the pot diameter exceeds 30 cm, you can replace the top 3 cm of soil. At the same time, up to 20% of organic fertilizer can be directly added to the soil mixture. |
| Features of care | In spring, large plants should be cut off shoots for the formation of the crown. Uniformly cutting out stretched shoots, form a bush-shaped; If you select one leading shoot and remove the side, you can form a mold. Sometimes the plant must be tied to the support. The plant does not like drafts. In summer, the plant is preferable to keep on the balcony or in the garden. In the summer, a warm shower is useful. The plant is suitable for bonsai. There are a variety of varieties: variegated and uniformly colored, there are varieties with an even and wavy edge of the leaves, as well as with curly leaves. |
| Difficulties | It is affected by a mealybug, as well as a scab, a spider mite. The main problem of the Benjamin ficus is a sharp drop of leaves, which can be caused by a variety of factors.Most often, the leaves fall off in dry air when the heating is switched on. The cause of falling leaves can also be drafts, lack of light, change of plant location, hypothermia, excessive or insufficient watering. In most cases, if the cause is eliminated, the leaves soon grow again. Sometimes the fall of the lower leaves is a natural process that occurs as the plant grows up. The leaves wilt and curl off from a low temperature. The tips of the leaves turn brown under dry air conditions due to insufficient moisture. The new shoots are thin, and the leaves are small, either as a result of a lack of light, or with a lack of nutrition. The leaves can turn yellow due to the waterlogging of the plant. |
| Air cleaning | Removes toxins from the air and increases the oxygen content. |
| Toxicity | – |
