Most indoor ficuses (Ficus) are long-livers – having planted this plant on your windowsill, you can admire it for many years. True, with decent care for your home ficus, you will need to “make room” – many varieties reach truly gigantic sizes.
Below are photos of species of ficus with names, as well as information on caring for a indoor ficus flower at home.
Family: Mulberry, deciduous, decorative, shade-tolerant, light-loving.
There are many beautiful and easy-to-care species among the ficuses. And in appearance they are very different, so it will not be difficult to choose a plant to your taste or to the corresponding interior.
Ficus tiny and binendiyka (with photo)
Ficus tiny (Ficus pumila) – a creeping shrub with beautiful, multi-colored leaves that change with age (on young shoots they are small and asymmetrical, on adults – large, hard, regular oval shape).
There are varieties with a light or cream border or with golden splashes.
Pay attention to the photo ficus binnendijka (Ficus binnendijkii) – the leaves of this plant are long and narrow (up to 25 cm), with a glossy surface. There are variegated varieties.
Ficus Benjamin, Bengal and Rubber
Many different varieties ficus of Benjamin (Ficus Benjamina) (an evergreen tree with thin drooping shoots and oval-pointed leaves) – with white spots on the leaves, with a whitish edging and gray-green spots, with wavy edges or strong gloss, and others.
So, ficus bengal (Ficus benghalensis) – an evergreen tree (in nature up to 30-40 m in height, in apartment conditions, of course, smaller) with a smooth grayish-brown bark and large (up to 30 cm in length), leathery oval leaves.
They grow very large rubber ficus (Ficus elastica) with large (20-30 cm long) oval dark green leaves (young leaves are twisted into a tube and covered with reddish stipules) and lyre-shaped ficus (Ficus lyrata) with lyre-shaped leaves wavy along the edge (up to 60 cm long and 30 cm wide).
Home ficus care: spraying and feeding
Ficuses are unpretentious and shade-tolerant. Of the conditions for good development, we note regular watering and desirable spraying (although in practice it has been proven that some errors are quite acceptable). The optimum temperature in winter is + 10 … + 15 ° С, but a warmer content is not contraindicated. Top dressing is carried out only in the warm season (1-2 times a month).
Ficus indoor plant care: transplant
When caring for a houseplant, a ficus is transplanted annually, adults – once every 3-4 years in spacious containers with good drainage. For large specimens, crushed stone is used as a drainage material. This provides the container with stability by making the bottom heavier. The soil mixture is made up of sod land, compost, peat and sand (1: 1: 1: 1).
Ficus indoor flower care: crown formation
What you should definitely pay attention to is the formation of the crown. It is imperative to carry out formative pruning. Some species, such as Benjamin’s ficus, can be shaped into geometric shapes. And with regard to turns relative to the light source, you should be careful – many species do not like this. The exception is rubber ficus – it should be rotated relative to the light source to form a symmetrical crown.
The benefits of home ficus in the apartment
The benefit of home ficus in an apartment is that this plant is one of the best air purifiers. They not only trap many harmful compounds such as benzene, trichlorethylene and phenols, but also recycle them. At the same time, they secrete a number of biologically active substances that increase performance, help overcome stress, and normalize sleep.
