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Ficus benjamina 'variegata' Physiological Experiment

Timeline: December 3 2025 – November 3 2026

Overview

This physiological experiment tells the 11-month structural tracking of a variegated weeping fig (Ficus benjamina 'variegata') subjected to environmental stress. The experiment is meant to span 11 months in order to assess resilience and recovery strength of the plant. Experiment has been declared a failure due to a data wipe. More information will be mentioned in Further sections. The reason the date is set farther into the future (This is being written in August) is because that was the expected tiemline. The experiment technically ended approximately at April. I also find it more of a pivot rather than a complete failure.

Purpose

The core objective of this study was to see how the notoriously 'fussy' Ficus benjamina 'variegata' functions under challenging conditions, allowing us to see how it recovers or collapses.

Background

Research on English ivy (Hedera helix) found that the green leaf cultivars tested had higher photosynthetic capabilities and light adaptation ranges than the variegated cultivars tested[1]. Even though this study does not directly test Ficus benjamina, it provides considerable context for interpreting a variegated cultivated variety under stress (only confirmed type of stress is light based stress, context further down the sections).

Methodology

The Ficus benjamina 'variegata' was first introduced to stressors at December 3 2025, said stressors were the following: critically low light levels (please read the following before the light levels for context). The application used for light measurements is Photon. One of the data that remained was a note I found on my new phone made on the notes application at December 16 2025 specifically 4:21PM that contained the light levels for the Ficus in Lux and Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD) measurments. These readings are approximate measurements collected with the Photon app. No independent calibration was conducted. Moreover, information was recorded 13 days after the experiment commenced, meaning it was the only light measurement I had taken of the plant and the light source was sunlight from a north-facing window in a northern hemisphere. The measurments were done at four different heights, 0cm refers to the top of the pot, and from each increasing interval the phone goes up by 10cm calculated from the same point of view. (0cm) 107 Lux 4.16 PPFD (10cm) 263 Lux 6.75 PPFD (20cm) 668 lux 12.5 PPFD (30cm) 964 Lux 22.9 PPFD. From memory, I can recognize other independent variables, but it would be wise to not mention them with no solid data.

Observations / Data

As to previous sections, there is no solid data or observations. Again, it would be wise to not mentally reconstruct them.

Results

Due to the data wipe and me cutting it short after that, there isn't many results to go off of. The most I could say is this is basically an opportunity for me to know what to get, control and calculate for any future experiments. This experiment may be considered a failure, but it is more useful than a small successful experiment that doesn't provide as much personal feedback as this one.

Discussion

This experiment was commenced at a very early point in my botanical journey, being the first experiment that I'd consider a true experiment. The reason this is considered a failed experiement is due to me using an old phone to contain my data which had a severe issue with my phone's account backing up, causing it to lose all the data it had. At the time of said wipe happening, I was already around 4 months into the experiement. That is far too long for me to reconstruct the experiment so I decided it would be best to label it as a failed experiment and use it as a way to understand how to be more rigorous and safe in my following experiements.

Limitations

My experiment sadly only had a 'single' potted specimen, turns out it was four F. benjamina 'variegata' plants put in a single pot, showcasing how I didn't have much of the critical skills to know of that. That makes me hypothesize that it wasn't stable to begin with due to the competition of the four specimen. I also had poor control due to too little calculating capabilities so I couldn't confirm the status of the controlled variables. Furthermore,I had little ways to record my data and actually put it into use as I didn't have a computer to make data tables and I didn't use other ways to record or old data except for basic ones.

Conclusion

I assume there isn't much left to interpret from this experiment. The most I could do is suggest future improvements if I were to repeat it. Said improvements are per the following: 1-Add more plants per group so interpretation is more accurate. 2-Have more control over the independent variable/s. I can collect more information to help with other experiments that do not necessarily have the same structure as this one. Proving it has more to it than the label of "Failed".

Documentation

Other than the aforementioned information from the notes app for the light levels, there is no true documentation.