Willow leaf ficus follow up

Hello again.

First off, thanks to everyone for the advice! My plants had started growing new growth until a northern storm blew threw and blew that new growth away! And, it recently got cold enough at night to where I needed to bring in my ficuses (sp?). I have a nice setup which encouraged moderate growth last winter, so I don't think I will have a problem with my indoor setup. All of the little new growth that was on there has died off, and the branches seem very, very stiff as opposed to when it was outside. Would it be wise to try to cut to live wood, water it as if everything is aok, or toss the plant? I would be happy to post a picture at some point if needed!

Don't do anything. Put them in their winter quarters. Water sparingly. That means water till it runs out the bottom, then don't water again until the soil is quite dry, but not bone dry. Give them a month to recover, then cut off what is obviously dead.
You mentioned last winter's set-up. Does it include fluorescent lights or an unshaded south window?
Iris

It is under a grow light and gets a little morning sun everyday. The light is on for 15 hours a day.

What do you mean by a grow light? If it is an incandescent type, forget it. A shop light with two daylight fluorescent tubes will be much more effective & burn less electricity. I keep my lights on 18 hours.
Iris

It is an incandescent. It worked okay last year, but I will gladly buy something different to help my plants! Would you mind telling me what you use and where you got it?

If it worked ok last year, I don't see why you can't use it this year.

Definitely follow Iris's advice. I drastically reduced my ficus and it had some dieback and trunk rot. I was advised to cut back again to the live wood and apply wood hardener and now the tree is dead. I think maybe in your case, less is more. Keep us posted.

Good luck with it
Have a great week!!!
Sam

If I recall correctly, you said the results from the incandescent bulb were marginal, but the tree was not really happy. I have an enclosed room with three shelves of two 2-tube 48 inch shop lights side by side, so each shelf has four tubes. I use the daylight type 5000 K or better. Jack Wikle claims success with plain cool white.
In Central NY, the room requires three humidifiers in midwinter. There are also 4 fans. For more details, see International Bonsai magazine, 2007-2008.
Iris