Hi there -

I was recently gifted a Ficus Natalensis "Malay Gold" rooted cutting and I am having a very hard time with it.

It was shipped bare root, pretty darn healthy from what I could tell - had several nice looking leaves, albeit small. I potted it up, gave it a drink, set it in the windowsill in my bathroom which keeps a nice humidity level and all seemed well for around 5 days or so? This week it dropped one leaf. So I gave it some water, moved it outside to my covered porch that gets some very nice bright/indirect light and since it has rained quite a bit here the humidity is high. Then all of a sudden another leaf dropped and I started freaking out - I decided to get a grow light and set up a humidity dome for it - thank goodness I got the supplies because when I got home I noticed it was losing it's last bit leaf. Currently I have it set up in a makeshift humidity dome with a grow light bulb focused on it.

What do I need to do to help this little cutting survive? I haven't found too many articles talking about care for this particular type of ficus so when it did not react well to my environment where I am doing fine with Ficus Lyrata, Ficus Elastica, and Ficus Benjamina I was extremely shocked. I really want to keep this little bugger alive. Any advice is VERY much appreciated.

Your Natal Ficus is a hybrid and not as hardy as some of the more common Ficus species. Otherwise, it does not require any special conditions.

Getting bare-rooted cuttings established is always dicey during the transition. Most problems start with the roots and their pot and potting mix and moisture level. If you don't get that right, then light, humidity, etc won't matter very much.

Your cutting should be in the smallest pot possible to barely accommodate the roots and enough porous potting mix to barely cover them. The small pot will help minimize the possibility of keeping the soil too wet for tender new roots. The trick, then, is to keep that potting mix slightly damp.

Keep it in a warm sunny indoor location. Natural light is better than artificial. The variables are too great outdoors (temperature, wind, rain, etc.) so I recommend keeping it indoors at least until it is well established.

If the soil is kept properly damp, then humidity should not be a problem, although it never hurts.

Hi Will!

Thanks for responding! I have a pretty well draining and chunk mix of organic compost potting soil, orchid bark, and perlite. Do you recommend me getting something a bit more moisture retaining such as coconut coir? Should I switch it to a Terra Cotta? I currently have it in a plastic nursery pot that may be too large, for sure. I can certainly get a smaller pot for it. Do you feel like I should move it from the grow light/humidity dome ficus hospital I've created?

I do recommend that you move it to a smaller pot - plastic or terra cotta - and use a more standard potting mix of peat moss, coir, and perlite.

The dome seems a bit unnecessary, but it may be fine as long as the light is color-corrected and close to the plant. After the roots have taken hold and you are getting new leaf growth, then move it out of the dome to natural sunlight.