Hi all,

It was a toss up whether to post this in ficus or cacti & succulents, but hopefully this is the best spot.

Anyway, I have a ficus palmeri (rock fig - desert caudiciform native to Baja), that I've had for about 2 years.

When i first got it, it had root rot pretty bad, so I did an emergency repot in Akadama soil, not ideal for ficus because of its aggressive root growth, but it was the only soil-less thing i had. It got better, but this spring the Akadama started really breaking down into a big clay wad. I was planning on repotting it anyway in June, but by May it started to get black spots on the leaves, the spots would get bigger until the leaves would eventually die. So, I repotted in May, and hoped for the best. I repotted in a mix of a lot of perlite, and regular potting soil. The leaves stopped dying, and the remaining leaves stayed green. Now that it's really hot, I'm watering more, it's putting out new growth, and I thought all was good.

Then suddenly, almost overnight, the black patches reappear! AaaH! The patches start on the oldest leaves first, then eventually start appearing on newer and newer leaves. Also, some of the new buds got sort of brown-spotted and shriveled a bit. But other buds are putting out new growth like there's no tomorrow...

Note that I have another ficus palmeri, a really small one that I bought at the same time (f. palmeri is hard to find, so i bought both plants they had) that has been in the same potting soil+perlite soil mix and happy as a clam. I do understand the soil needs of this plant, and wish I had a more soil-less mix, but the climate here is hot and VERY dry, and this mix seems to work fine for my other succulents, pachypodiums, adeniums, etc...

So - what are these spots? How can I make this little guy happy?

I really appreciate any help. Thanks!