Hi everyone! My ficus elastica tineke (Naomi) has had so many leaves drop over the past few months. She’s extremely leggy compared to when I first got her and all new growth is very small and slow to come in. I’ve changed her location in my home, provided her with a grow light, fertilized her and checked for pests but she continued to shed. I’m a recovering overwaterer and I recently learned what “root rot” is. This gave me suspicions that the issue could be in her roots. After digging her up and cleaning her off, I found lots of little worms crawling around her roots and even organic growth that formed a mesh-like cover over part of the roots. Here’s how her roots look after cleaning and treating with Hydrogen Peroxide. I have no idea if they look healthy since everywhere I’ve read says “roots should be beige in color” and these are not. They were still flexible after drying for a few hours so I decided to plant her in a new pot with fresh soil. Do these roots look like they can be redeemed? Naomi needs to be restored to her former glory! 😭
