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I've got this Ficus Benjamina for about 3 months now, I think the tree is maybe 5,6 years old. At the begining (in the winter) it was doing ok, but now I have noticed that the leaves are turning yellow and falling off randomly, not from the bottom, and very fast. The tree is losing 5-10 leaves a day and I have no control over it. The yellow leaves that you see at the photos turned yellow today and will be on the ground tomorrow. I also noticed that the other, healthy leaves are a bit curly, I don't know if they were always like that or if its a new thing. Some basic info:

1. the plant is in my kitchen, which is bright after 12 pm. No direct sunlight, but also not at the window

2. I water it everytime I notice that the soil is dry (3-5cm, not the top), which was about once in a week

3. The room temperature is around 25C

Also, the weird thing is that these pictures were made today, and I've watered the plant yesterday - it looks like the soil is dry again. I water it everytime until the water starts getting out of the pot holes, then I remove the water from the plate, so the plant never sits at the water.

Maybe this is a normal thing for this plant, but if it's not, any advice will be helpful, thank you

whole plant

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  • Welcome Jovana Kovacavic!! In our system we like our questions to have as many details as possible, including pictures. This is such a great example!! You gave the community everything we needed and more! I don't know enough about these plants to help you, but we have plenty of experts. Please bring us more questions and answers! I hope your plant feels better!
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Mar 28, 2019 at 1:18

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It looks like it might need a slightly bigger pot - find one the next size up, which will give an extra inch all round and use new potting soil. It otherwise looks pretty healthy, but if the roots are too cramped, its hard for the plant to get enough water, because there's too much root compared to soil. The soil does look dry, and its best to water thoroughly as soon as the surface of the soil in the pot feels dry to the touch,rather than checking 3 cm down. If it got really dried out, then any water you add will just run straight through rather than penetrating the rootball. You can check whether it needs a bigger pot by turning it out and looking at the rootball -if it's got roots winding round, it definitely needs repotting. If you find the rootball is dry, soak it by replacing in its pot, stand the pot in a bucket filled with enough water to cover the top of the pot and weight it down, leave it for an hour, then remove and allow to drain down. If you do repot, make sure to water it thoroughly afterwards. In the meantime, I'm curious as to what the lumps on top of the soil are...

The other thing these plants don't like is being near a heat source, along with changes in temperature and drafts, they react badly to both the latter, and the result is yellowing leaves which fall, so if it's near a door or window that opens and shuts frequently, find another spot for it. It doesn't need sunlight, just bright daylight. Otherwise, examine the plant from top to bottom, including the stems, backs of leaves and the trunk to see if there's anything that shouldn't be there, like scale or other insect infestation.

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  • Thank you for your comment, I will check the roots and probably repot it next week, I think I will water it now just to see the reaction, and put it in my room. It is a drafty place here in kitchen, especially when the windows are opet. Thank you so much, I will let you know how did it go ♥
    – Jovana Kovacevic
    Mar 27, 2019 at 17:47
  • So, I've repotted my plant, added new soil and moved it in my bedroom, and it looks great now. The roots were getting outside the previous pot, it was too small to it, and the soil was also dry and bad. The leaves stopped falling off immediately, not one has turned yellow since. Thank you so much for this, I appreciate it
    – Jovana Kovacevic
    Apr 8, 2019 at 14:11

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