Hi
Having revived my indoor ficus thanks to help from this forum I was now wondering about issues I appear to be having when feeding it. I use a liquid fertilizer bought from a bonsai specialist shop. However, when I feed it it drops most of the leaves but puts on a growth spurt resulting in a nice new set of leaves. Is this normal for ficus or am I shocking the plant in some way perhaps by making the fertilizer too strong? I was feeding it once a week but have backed off to keep the current set of leaves. It doesn't drop many leaves if I simply water it. I use the same fertilizer on my outdoor crab apple without losing any leaves.

Thanks

Try not to pour fertilizer on the leaves, just on substrate and see how it goes.

My ficus is very temperamental to wind and sudden temperature change. I only feed it diluted miracle grow, once a month. It's not a bonsai and I'm not training it to be a Bonsai, but maybe this helps you with changing up your feeding schedule or it helps with your situation.

My ficus gets full strength, and sits outside all summer long. No problems whatsoever. Maybe you are not watering it enough. Ficus is sensitive to watershortage.

Thanks for all the help here. It seems like although I've managed to keep the plant alive I've still not managed to get on top of the watering. A supplementary on this is that I live in the south of England and the ficus is indoors. Should I continue to feed the plant once a week during the winter months or longer intervals or not at all?

you have been having great summer weather. Why did you not take it outside? Inside growth is slow.