Ficus are plants which are magnificent and which make a lot of worlds crack. The problem is, these people don't always educate themselves on how to care for their new plant.
This is how, all too often, they discover with horror overnight that their ficus has lost all its leaves for example and that the roots are rotten which puts it in danger.
To avoid this, it is better to follow the maintenance advice and one of the questions that many ficus owners ask themselves is how to properly maintain a ficus in winter.
It is true that this is a pivotal period in the maintenance of many plants and that it inevitably raises questions. Lucky for you, we'll answer them in this article.
Ficus - General information
There are a whole bunch of different ficus trees on the market, each with characteristics that will look better on some people than on others. This is why we invite you to discover them all in our article on this subject.
Avoid too cold temperatures with a ficus in winter
The first thing to think about when talking about a ficus in winter is the temperature. Indeed, if there is a whole variety of ficus, their temperature needs are generally similar;
Thus, we can extrapolate that it will take a temperature maintained around twenty degrees so that you can have a ficus that thrives in conditions that are good for it.
Therefore, this means that it is strongly discouraged to have a ficus in winter that is outside, because it will not support the drop in temperature. However, some climates allow it.
If the temperature rarely drops below ten degrees, simply protecting your ficus from the cold during the winter period should be enough to ensure it survives while waiting for spring.
Same thing if you leave your home and decide to turn down the heating to save energy. Keep in mind that if the temperature drops too much, your ficus is clearly not going to like it.
The key to maintaining a ficus in winter is therefore to succeed in keeping a temperature that is stable around twenty degrees by adjusting the heating in your home so that it corresponds.
Control the plant's water needs
A ficus in winter consumes less water and it makes sense. This therefore requires special attention, because if you have followed our previous articles, you know the ravages of an overflow of water.
This will lead to rotting of the roots which will be fatal to your plant and it is therefore necessary to reduce watering during the winter. However, a ficus in winter still requires water from time to time.
Count once every 10 days on average. Again, it is quite easy to check by looking at the moisture condition of the earth. When it starts to get dry, add the equivalent of a glass of water.
Beware of heat sources!
As we have said, caring for a ficus in winter is mainly to make sure that the heat sources in your home produce an ambient temperature that is in a range of around 20 degrees.
For most people, the heat sources are going to be radiators. However, these radiators have a particularity which comes from their heating method and will produce what is called dry heat.
This heat is not necessarily good for the plants and it will tend to dry them out. This is also the other important point to watch in the maintenance of a ficus in winter!
Understand by this that it is necessary to ensure that your plant is not in direct contact with your heating at home. Otherwise, it will dry out at high speed and lose its leaves.
Therefore, if your ficus is ever parked near a heater in summer, remember to move it back slightly once it is started in order to avoid problems. But there is also another way to act.
Maintenance of the ficus in winter
This means of action is very stupid, but it will allow your plant to deal with the dry heat that it is struggling so much to endure. The goal is quite simple, to artificially bring humidity.
For this, you are going to need to spray a little water at a rate of once a week, directly on the leaves of your ficus. No need to sog them, the little humidity will do them a lot of good.
While you're at it, you can also wipe it down. This will remove all the dust that tends to clog the pores of your plant when it is inside.
Our buying advice to maintain your ficus
Ficus are beautiful plants, but require a lot of maintenance including frequent cleaning to allow them to flourish properly.
