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About Darlene K. Kittle
Expertise
I have been a Master Gardener for 20 years and I raise around 300 houseplants a year including tropicals, succulents, and cacti.

Experience
She is also studying the Japanese art of bonsai with tropical plants and is President of the Fort Wayne, IN Bonsai Club.

Education/Credentials
I am not a hortculturist. I am a Purdue University Master Gardener for over 20 years. I have studied plants on a personal level by growing hundreds of plants annually for the last 35 years. I have also studied under several nationally known American Bonsai experts.

 
   

You are here:  Experts > Style > Interior Decorating > House Plants > Ficus Benjamina

House Plants - Ficus Benjamina


Expert: Darlene K. Kittle - 10/25/2009

Question
I have 2 ficus benjamina - 1 has been in my house for the past 8 years and is ~10feet tall and I clip the branches every 6 months or so.  I just bought the other that has three twisted trunks.  This one growing hard yellow clusters up the side of the tree that to me appear to be fungus like but I'm not really sure.  I tried to use my thumb to slide the growths off but they're not moving.  The leaves have been falling daily.  Any idea what these hard yellow growths might be and how I might cure this issue.

Answer
Muna,

I beleive that you are probably right and your hard yellow clusters are fungal growths. If it wer my tree and I had not had it long I would first contact the store where I got it and see if they would take it back and if they had any problems with other trees they had sold, or if they had suggestions on the solution. If they refuse to take it back and have no suggestions to solve the problem I will tell you what I would do if it were my plant. I would use a pruning saw and cut the fungal growths off of the tree. Then I would spray the cut with Lysol spray every three days for a couple of weeks until the cuts heal. Then the tree should be fine. If you hve more questions feel free to write again. Goodluck.

Darlene

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