I've had a 3-foot variegated indoor Ficus tree (F. Benjamina to be exact) for two months now. The first month was uneventful, but over the course of the last month (November) it has lost most of it's leaves (about 80%). Is this normal? Is it dead? I understand that Ficus is very sensitive to change and it's normal to lose a few leaves, but this seems extreme.
Here are the conditions:
- I water it once every two weeks, until water flows through the bottom--about two cups.
- The indoor temperature has been somewhat stable, dropping from 23C to 21C over the course of November.
- The plant is not near any radiator or drafts, except for the balcony door that is only ever opened momentarily and quite infrequently (0C outside)
- The plant gets some partial direct sunlight, but only during a short period: about 4 hours in October, closer to 2 in November. That being said we've only had maybe 5 sunny days all November.
- There are no signs of yellow leaves. About half that fell off still looked green and healthy. Furthermore, I didn't find any signs of disease or pests. The leaves are fully intact. Some where a bit dried out, but these were mostly leaves that got caught in branches and hadn't been cleaned up.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?