Help! My 50-year-old Ficus Benjamina dried up overnight Trying to save it!

[dopler]

Hey everyone, I need some advice on my Ficus Benjamina, which is at least 50 years old. It suddenly dried up overnight, and I decided to check its roots to see if I could save it.


When I removed the soil and washed the roots, I noticed that only two or three (not very thick ones) were soft and rotting, so I carefully removed them. The plant had a strong "fish tank" smell, which disappeared after removing the affected roots.


The entire upper part of the tree is completely dry, but the base of the trunk (as seen in the picture) still has some greenish color.


Right now, I have the plant soaking in a large bucket of water to further clean the roots before replanting it. I also added a small amount of magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (Epsom salt) to the water.


Should I leave the plant in water overnight, or is it better to replant it immediately?


Any other recommendations to increase its chances of survival?



I’ll attach a couple of pictures. Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[Deblee]

I'm puzzled. After 50 years of watering it correctly, you somehow let it "dry up overnight"? It was okay one day and "dried up" the next? I feel that some information must be missing.

The roots in the second photo look very healthy. It would help if you posted photos of the aerial parts of the plant. If there was some die back, you could probably do a little pruning, especially of damaged leaves, in order to allow the roots to recover from their trauma.

Planting it in a sterilized pot of appropriate size with fresh potting soil should certainly help. Since there was root rot, it sounds more like over watering is the problem, unless you tried to overcompensate by cutting off its water.

I still feel we don't have the whole story, so it's difficult to give any but the most general advice.

 

[oneeye]

Having a weeping ficus for 50 years is the totality of the indoor life cycle. Looks to me that she may be finished. I would take a few cuts and propagate them to replace the plant. Benjamina ficus is one of the easiest plants to propagate and will root in plain water. Good luck friend.