[JayG]

I have had a small plain green weeping fig (actually the great grandson/daughter of the original) for about 20 years now which I keep going for sentimental reasons (don't ask!)

After sitting unloved in the same pot for about the last 10 years, neither growing nor dying I decided to repot it into a much larger trough with fresh compost.

It was obviously root-bound, but I did the usual trick of trying to tease out a few of the roots before putting it into its new home.

Result: 1 week later it has shed almost every one of its leaves (just fallen off, not browned and died), although there are fresh green new leaf shoots appearing all over the plant.

Shock? Gratitude? Like a snake moult (off with the old, in with the new?).

Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else?

 

[mumofstig]

Wouldn't it be a shock to you if someone just suddenly uprooted you and plonked you down somewhere new after 10 years and played with your nether regions 
If there are new shoots growing then there is nothing to worry about.

I worry about my Oleander, a cutting brought back from Greece with me.....it rooted well and flowered for the last 3 years. I repotted it and now it is sulking...hasn't lost all its leaves but they don't look healthy and there are no signs of new life at all, no green buds, nothing A bit of warmth may help it but not much sign of that (it is in the polutunnel) 

I don't know..we try to do our best for them and this is how they repay us...not fair is it
Ungrateful, that's what I call it.........so much worry :blink:

[JayG]

Wouldn't it be a shock to you if someone just suddenly uprooted you and plonked you down somewhere new after 10 years and played with your nether regions 

Since this is a family forum I reserve the right to remain silent!   

[Hey Jude]

Do you think it was simply at it's 'adult' size (if you know what I mean) and won't grow anymore anyway? I'm know I've read about only going up one pot size when repotting, but don't if that relates to house plants - was it much bigger pot that you put it in? Jude

[AnnieB]

If you move a fig they tend to shed a fair proportion of their leaves. So I would say that repotting one will cause the effect that you have seen.

No idea if it will recover and regrow its leaves however.

[Ice]

From what I remember of a ficus benjamina I once had I think it will survive.  They prefer to be a little rootbound so potting on into only a slightly larger pot is best.  The leaf drop is a reaction to change and it should recover.

[catllar]

We had one of those in our lounge - it was over 3mtrs tall and going gangbusters. One day it started to sulk, shedding its leaves a few at  a time. Not without a considerabe struggle we repotted it, cut it back a bit and held it in intensive care for a few weeks. How did it repay me? Turned up its toes, that's how - all its leaves dropped off almost overnight and on a 3 metre tree that's a lotta leaves, so off it went to the dump. Then a rubber plant in a neighbouring pot did the same - this one was nearly 2 metres tall and had multistems and a spread of nearly 2 mts. I severely pruned it - (attacked it with loppers and cut it down to a stump. For some reason I didn't dump the stump, just left it, potless by the compost bin all summer and into autumn. Blow me if it didn't start to shoot, so, feeling slightly sorry for it, I repotted the beast and left it outside. It is now growing away, having learned its lesson that no plant messes with me and  goes unpunished! If and only if it regains its former allure it can come indoors again!  Do you think I'm hearltess?