ficus leaf loss puzzle

[rishik12]

I have a puzzle on leaf loss on my ficus. See attached picture.

Only one side of the tree. Though not clear, the tree is well lit from both sides for an indoor tree.

Possibly overwatering - we're taking care of that.

Other possibility - we have a scale infestation on two trees. We're treating it. White soft scale. But that scale is really easy to see and we don't see any on this tree. Could it be that we're missing the scale? That it's easy to see on other trees but not the ficus?

Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it.

 

[derwoodii]

Indoor plant issues are vexed and complicated. A guess maybe the sap wood has failed within the limb union with that odd larger trunk having aerial root climbers.
Take your finger nail to the bark peel back a small bit of the dead lookin limb. See if its green under wood or gray below. Green good gray or brown not so. Will a least eliminate one possibility many more to work though.
Others will chime in soon hope you get an answer that helps.

 

[rishik12]

yep, that side is dead

I didn't even have to use a fingernail. The outer bark on that "side" of the tree (that trunk) is already chipping off and is super dark brown underneath. The branches on that side are brittle. It's clear it's dead and all the leaves will fall off.

On the other hand, the other trunk looks ok. I think if I salvage the tree, this will be ok, I just don't know if what happened on the one side will happen on the other.

Will drain any excess water out tonight.

 

[rishik12]

more about the ficus

So we drained the water. We learned a lot about the ficus in so doing.

First, although it's that right side main branch that's badly off, the other branch is starting to lose leaves as well.

Second, we spotted nodules on the tree that we peeled off. I understand that's symptomatic of scale. I took a picture (see below).

We also saw silken white egg sacs (no picture). The only insects we saw on the (indoor) tree were millipedes at the bottom of the tree (and one big forest-type roach, no idea how it got there). Unclear if these are bad insects in any way.

Appreciate any advice. Photo below of the nodules.

 

[elmnut]

you can take cuttings from the tree, put them in a vase of water, roots will grow, put them in soil, grow a new ficus.