Need some leaf help any info ginseng ficus

[jeremiahbailey627]

How do I go about encouraging more new leaf growth as well as smaller leaves I'm sure before I got these 2 ficus they barely got any light at all but there definitely getting proper lighting now even though indoors gotta great grow light setup with both led and florescent light. On one of them u can see there maybe two new leaf sprouting but that's all the new growth I've seen in like 3 months and they just popped up in the past couple days even though there indoors it seems like this time of year would show more new growth than two or so leaf sprouts in 4 months or is that more the norm for ginseng ficus any help anyone could share would be greatly appreciated I'm not experienced at all with these

 

[Shibui]

All trees have periods of growth and rest. No location given but I guess you are northern hemisphere which means your trees have been through winter which is usually a rest period so little growth is expected unless you had really warm temps indoors and great light.
Now that spring has arrived your trees should start to grow.
They will probably also need fertilizer. Because of regular watering which leaches nutrients out of the soil we fertilise regularly to get good growth. Use liquid fert every 2-3 weeks and occasional pellet fertiliser or controlled release like osmocote so your trees have the building blocks for growth.

Keys to growth are warm temps, nutrients and water. Light is also important to avoid over long, leggy shoots.

In a month or 2 you will no doubt be back, worried these are getting too tall.

 

[jeremiahbailey627]

All trees have periods of growth and rest. No location given but I guess you are northern hemisphere which means your trees have been through winter which is usually a rest period so little growth is expected unless you had really warm temps indoors and great light.
Now that spring has arrived your trees should start to grow.
They will probably also need fertilizer. Because of regular watering which leaches nutrients out of the soil we fertilise regularly to get good growth. Use liquid fert every 2-3 weeks and occasional pellet fertiliser or controlled release like osmocote so your trees have the building blocks for growth.

Keys to growth are warm temps, nutrients and water. Light is also important to avoid over long, leggy shoots.

In a month or 2 you will no doubt be back, worried these are getting too tall.

Thanks I appreciate u taking the time to help ya I'm in columbus ohio US I some fertilizer would be probably a good idea soon but since I hadda repot the one I was thinking it might be a good idea to hold off till I see some positive signs that it wasn't still stressed from repotting although we're they was before I got them had no windows and barely a regular house lamp anywhere near it which unless I'm wrong would be a contributing factor for the larger darker leaves. But I know the lighting is great now and I didn't just throw them in alot of light right away I kinda gradually increased to good light just trto be cautious but maybe I'm just a little inpatient also lol I just have heard so many different things about how to produce more smaller leaves but some say remove the larger leaves to encourage smaller leaves and thicker growth then some say the exact opposite lol and I also do want to prevent alot of leggy growth thats thin obviously just tryna get as much knowledge as possible ahead of time lol

 

[Shibui]

maybe I'm just a little inpatient also lol I just have heard so many different things about how to produce more smaller leaves but some say remove the larger leaves to encourage smaller leaves and thicker growth then some say the exact opposite lol and I also do want to prevent alot of leggy growth thats thin obviously just tryna get as much knowledge as possible ahead of time lol

Impatience is the curst of most beginners. We gradually learn to think more in terms of seasonal cycles rather than day or weekly human activities.
Repotting can also slow growth for a few weeks. I would normally repot ficus and other tropicals later in spring. They recover better when conditions are warmer and they are growing well.

Smaller leaves is a function of ramification. The more branches you have the smaller the leaves will be to still give the tree sufficient solar panels. Better light helps too.
Removing larger laves regularly does help with leaf size but beware of picking too hard. Your tree still needs those solar panels to produce food. Not enough leaves will slow growth and may even result in death. Leave plenty of leaves to get good growth. Trim those shoots to stimulate more shoots. When the tree has plenty of small branches then is the time to remove larger leaves.

The trimming process also reduces leaf size. You may be able to see that ficus start with a small leaf on each shoot. Next leaf to open on that shoot is a little larger and so on until the leaves reach full size about 5-6 leaves out on each shoot. Each time you trim shoots back to 1, 2 or 3 leaves you remove larger laves and automatically leave smaller ones.

Another technique to try out is to twist the clear sheath off the growing tip of a shoot. The developing leaf then unrolls right away much smaller than it would otherwise be if left to full term.

Several different techniques but the best is to be patient, trim as required and small leaves will come without any other intervention.

 

[jeremiahbailey627]

Impatience is the curst of most beginners. We gradually learn to think more in terms of seasonal cycles rather than day or weekly human activities.
Repotting can also slow growth for a few weeks. I would normally repot ficus and other tropicals later in spring. They recover better when conditions are warmer and they are growing well.

Smaller leaves is a function of ramification. The more branches you have the smaller the leaves will be to still give the tree sufficient solar panels. Better light helps too.
Removing larger laves regularly does help with leaf size but beware of picking too hard. Your tree still needs those solar panels to produce food. Not enough leaves will slow growth and may even result in death. Leave plenty of leaves to get good growth. Trim those shoots to stimulate more shoots. When the tree has plenty of small branches then is the time to remove larger leaves.

The trimming process also reduces leaf size. You may be able to see that ficus start with a small leaf on each shoot. Next leaf to open on that shoot is a little larger and so on until the leaves reach full size about 5-6 leaves out on each shoot. Each time you trim shoots back to 1, 2 or 3 leaves you remove larger laves and automatically leave smaller ones.

Another technique to try out is to twist the clear sheath off the growing tip of a shoot. The developing leaf then unrolls right away much smaller than it would otherwise be if left to full term.

Several different techniques but the best is to be patient, trim as required and small leaves will come without any other intervention.

Oh ok that makes sense. So it is save to for the most part to assist in removing the sheath coating of new sprouts cause I've noticed once or twice them not wanting to fall off and the leaf doing a kinda deformed partial opening lol I've heard quite a few times about trimming the roots to help growth but from what I seen on the one I had to repott there didn't seem to be anywhere near the amount of smaller roots compared to alota other plants I've grown idk about the other I've never had it out the pot but the other had maybe at most 10 to 12 smaller roots coming off the main bulbis root each only two or so inches at the longest do these usually have a decent sized root ball or is it more common having less maybe due to having such a larger main root. I was definitely surprised when I seen what was beneath the dirt cause if I had just seen only the roots I would think the plant would be on the fast track to die lol

 

[Shibui]

Ficus should have plenty of roots.
Seedlings do start out with a swollen trunk base and a single tap root but should soon develop plenty of lateral roots. Root pruning helps make more roots. Wet soil kills some roots so if you find few roots when repotting I would take more care when watering. really dry soil can also reduce viable roots but ficus are very drought tolerant so too dry is not usually a problem. Less roots could also just be that they have recently been repotted. Mostly these ginseng ficus are produced in thousands, potted up and sold as soon as possible to make money. might be they were last root pruned and potted just a few weeks before you bought them and do not need repotting yet.

Removing terminal sheaths will probably not prevent deformed leaves. That's more likely from physical damage, some pest sucking on the developing buds or some nutrient problem.

 

[jeremiahbailey627]

Oh ok ya I usually let the soil mostly dry out in-between watering. And today I went ahead and ropotted the one I hadn't done yet mainly to try to keep them both on a somewhat close care schedule and the roots on that one was night and day different from the other like 5 or 6 times the amount of roots which idk if there a connection cause the healthier plant has not even 10% the roots of the other I would think it would be the opposite but I went ahead and have it new soil and trimmed about a quarter or so of the length off the roots so hopefully I'll see some decent progress for both I appreciate the advice