Hi Contrainer and leatherback.
It's turning out to be a busy week so far so I will only be changing the pot on Saturday.
I will be following your advice and I will transfer the tree to a bucket of water on Friday.

DDT is illegal in South Africa so I think I'll try some normal insecticide. Although recent testing of the water in the Durban Harbour showed massive concentrations of the stuff. What a country this is turning out to be! Makes me sad.

Anyway Guys, please have a great day and I will post pictures of everything I do to this forum.
Please feel free to shout if I am doing anything that violates any protocols or is just plain stupid.

Cheers,
A.J

Hi Auk, hope you are well.
When you have a break, please look at the pictures that I have posted as per your request.
Any further advice will be appreciated.
Thanks,
A.J

Hi there,

I've seen them. Didn't seem necessary to respond myself though, as Leatherback already gave the answers - and he knows more about ficus than I do

Could you make a close up of the bugs on the plant?

I thought DDT was illegal clobally. Appearently there are still people that think it is OK to use. Indeed. What world do we live in.

Quick reply, off the topic:

Farming practice in South Africa is usually strictly regulated, but what has been happening in the recent years is the govt has enforced Black Empowerment Laws that forces White owned businesses/farms to enter partnerships or even sell their farms outright to previously disadvantaged farm workers, business people and politicians. Notice, I did not say other "Farmers".

The result is that supply is getting lower, food prices are soaring and people are doing anything and everything to ensure the cash crops are at maximum yield. Short sighted and a recipe for disaster.
We have even seen 250 year old vineyards in the Cape Winelands have their top soil sold off to other farms and the 250 year old vineyards laid bare. Sad.

Auk, bug pics will be posted later today.

Hi Auk.

I took some pics of the bugs.
When I opened the leaf they all went scurrying and they were so tiny, so the pic is has a slight motion blur.
Also there were about 20 inside the leaf. I managed to take a pic of just the few slow movers.

Another thing I noticed is that none of the surrounding trees seem to have these bugs, just the ficus.
Any ideas Leatherback? Is this a ficus specific bug? If there's such a thing.

I'm pretty sure it's thrips. It looks like this one:



Damage seems the same too?



IPM for Thrips:
www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-.../thrips-indoors.aspx

Yup, my thought too.

I seem to recall they dislike water.

Those are them buggers!
Doesn't sound like a very serious pest. I am glad.

Enough of the Bear Grylls dinner pics.

Time for an evening glass of Vino.

Hello everyone.
I do hope all is well with you guys.

I have tried to follow your advice as closely as I could, with a little bit of my own additions.
I am happy to report that the tree has been in it's new pot for almost a week now and it seems to be going very well.

I did not feel comfortable with using any pesticides so I just used water from a spray bottle to get rid of the thrips infestation. It was hard work and I doused the tree regularly every evening, for the last two weeks. Good advice Leatherback.

I could not find a replacement pot that was large enough and light enough to fit into my boot so I opted for a gigantic bucket instead. With the bottom drilled for drainage, I filled about 5cm of medium sized gravel and pebbles.

Then with much untangling, tugging, sliding and twisting, I freed the tree from its old pot, and placed it in the centre of the new bucket. The new bucket is about 10cm wider than the old pot.

Please see the pictures attached.
Pic 1 is the tree as it was, just moved out of the shade of the other trees.
Pics 2 and 3 are the roots that were swirling around the drip tray from the the bottom of the pot.
Pic 4 is the tree laying its side on an old shower curtain so I didn't create too much of a mess.
Pic 5 is after I rinsed the roots to make them easier to slide out the drainage holes of the old pot.