I bought a ficus ginseng (I think) a few months ago. When I got it it was full of leaves but after I set it in front of a draft area with minimal sun it lost most of it's leaves. I'm a beginner at all of this but a quick google search told me to place in a window sill with some sun and away from a draft. After moving my bonsai it started growing some leaves back. But then I got the great idea to fertilize with fertilize sticks. www.lowes.com/pd/Jobe-s-50-Coun ... od/3047486 I'm including the link to the ones I used. After one stick in the soil the ficus was sprouting new leaves nearly everyday. Then growth just suddenly stopped. There were even some sprouts that just stopped. So I added another stick a few weeks later. But still nothing. My watering is generally once a week but I started noticing the soil wasn't drying out. I live in a hot climate and nothing has changed temp wise inside or outside the house to account for soil staying damp longer. To water, I run water over the soil until it drips out the bottom. I also mist the leaves every day to help with humidity. I was worried about root rot, and over fertilization so this weekend I decided to empty old soil and repot in fresh soil. I may not have the best soil (just a general purpose indoor plants soil) so in the future I may need to remedy that issue. But while repotting I noticed only a few roots coming from the ends of the ginseng tubes. I'm confused if this is normal or if I damaged the roots by overwatering or over fertilizing. I would think there would be lots of roots. So, I repotted but now all my leaves are drooping. Not dropping, but drooping downward and still no new growth. Can someone please help me on how to revive this little guy? Is it stress? If so what shall I do?

I should also add I understand this is a grafted plant. At purchase there was initially 3 main branches. 2 of which, i've now realized by scratching them and finding them black instead of green, are dead. Last thing, I normally have the blinds open behind the plant but closed them to get a good photo.

Plants do not grow continuously. They have growth moments and rest moments. So expecting your plant to continuously grow.. It does not work that way. Also, plants respond way slower than you would think. Repotting and a week later no growth.. Na, that's normal.

If your plant had very few roots, that is odd. And yes, that may indicate a problem due to watering. Maybe it dried out, and then wat watered: That causes problems.

Best you can do is now leave it alone. Keep track of your watering. Do not let the pot dry out completely. But, with potting soil, there is a real risk of keeping it too wet. So do ensure it dries up partially before watering. Fine line dancing

I didn’t expect it to grow continuously but it had several new “buds” or leaf starts and then just stopped. So now there are a few little spikes of leaves that just never grew into actual leaves. None of the leaves are discolored. Everything is green. I just can’t figure out why it’s sagging. The growth stop is fine but now it looks like the plant is wilting with droopy leaves and branches.

Another thing I noticed this morning is the trunk or “root” of the ginseng is soft and not hard. I’m thinking at this point the plant isn’t taking in water because it has very few roots.

Shelcarter wrote: Another thing I noticed this morning is the trunk or “root” of the ginseng is soft and not hard. I’m thinking at this point the plant isn’t taking in water because it has very few roots.

Bad news.
Soft roots usually mean rotted roots.
I had a Ficus with this softness, and I had to drastically cut the main fat root in half to avoid the rotting to spread up.
Unfortunately it struggled for some time, but died some months later.
I guess having no fine roots, and the main root in bad shape, is not a good sign, but...
Ficus are strong and survive most tragedies, so there is hope in the end.

Clicio wrote:

Shelcarter wrote: Another thing I noticed this morning is the trunk or “root” of the ginseng is soft and not hard. I’m thinking at this point the plant isn’t taking in water because it has very few roots.

Bad news.
Soft roots usually mean rotted roots.
I had a Ficus with this softness, and I had to drastically cut the main fat root in half to avoid the rotting to spread up.
Unfortunately it struggled for some time, but died some months later.
I guess having no fine roots, and the main root in bad shape, is not a good sign, but...
Ficus are strong and survive most tragedies, so there is hope in the end.

Ficuses... yeah they are strong, but not these grafted 'ginseng' stuff