[irishfairy]

So I got a ficus benjamina in Ikea as an impulse buy. Well, what isn't an impulse buy in Ikea anyway? It wasn't the most pretty tree ever but it managed to live for about two months. Now I have to admit, I have a history of killing plants. I either water too much or too little. The poor Benjamin - I call her Lotta - didn't get any water for about four weeks and was entirely bare. So I started watering again with fertiliser (Baby Bio) and she's actually coming back. It started veeeeeery slowly and now she's about a third back to where she used to be in terms of colour and amount of leaves. I read about benjamins that they're very sensitive and should stay in the same place or be moved slowly, basically they don't like change. She still is in the same spot she started out in, the only window we have that's directly going to the outside. It's north-east facing.
So anyway, I'm wondering is there anything else I can do to get her back to what a tree is supposed to look like? The other tree I have (not a clue what it is, my friend got it during the same shopping session and it looked pathetic when she got it, I took it into care when she moved to New York) seemed to have benefited from the lack of water pretty well. When it was bought there were barely three leaves on it (it has quite big leaves compared to the size of the tree) and now there's loads of little branches and at least 20 leaves, so I think it works pretty well for the tree to be a little careless...

[walltoall]

That is a cousin of the other one you wanted identified and about which I've sent you a PM. Ficus benjamina is a weeping fig tree which likes light, no draughts, more than 18ºC and water sparingly about once a week or in winter once a fortnight. You can use your Ifone to set an alarm. The only reason they tell you not to move it around is it gets used to where it is if there is light, no draught and please do not over-water. A trick is to stand the pot in a saucer. If you can see water in the saucer you are overdoing it. I think you'll make a gardener.

[irishfairy]

Thanks for that Well I hope I can get better with plants, I come from a family of gardeners. They're not here in Ireland though, otherwise I'd bug them with questions