If Fiddle Leaf Figs had a spot on the hot/crazy matrix, it would be in the danger zone. This trees are beautiful, but have a bad rap for being really hard to take care of. Since these trees can be tough to take care of I wanted to share some tips I've picked up over the past 5 months with anyone who's trying to keep one of these guys alive. Here is my tree when I first got it. It had a lot of growth up top and was a little lopsided.
LEANING GROWTH
To fix the leaning, this was actually an easy fix it just took time. Like most plants, the tree tends to lean towards the light, so rotating it weekly will help keep the growth straight and even. Fiddle Leaf
LIGHT
Fiddle leaf figs are supposed to have bright, indirect light. I think this has worked best for us in our western facing window that has more indirect light in the mornings and bright sun in the afternoon. In the summer, I watched the tree closely on the sun intake and on some days when the sun was just beaming in closed the blinds or angled them to make the light more indirect. Another funny thing I learned here is to dust the leaves, so they aren't block from absorbing the light.
WATER
When I bought the tree it came with some brown spots on the leaves edges and the buds looked pretty much burnt to a crisp when I first got the plant. I noticed the buds once I got home and really wasn't sure if they would grow again. It took my some time to figure out the right amount of water for the plant size. Around the time when I first got the plant I was be overly cautious about over watering. A few weeks in and some of the leaves at the top were dropping and felt more like leather than crisp like the others. I started watering a little bit more and the leaves perked right up. My pot has a 30" diameter, and I have been watering it once weekly with about 2 cups of water. No more brown spots have appeared and the buds are actually starting to grow again!
Making sure you're watching the plant closely can go along way. I have yet to have to fertilizer (you don't fertilize in the winter), but would love suggestions. I've heard some fertilizers can burn the plant.
Would love to hear any of your tips and tricks in the comments!
so i completely killed mine and stuck it in the guest bath to throw away but forgot about it… and it came back to life… in the dark. bizarre. now it has a ton of new leaves so i'm motivated to keep it alive this time! i love this size though, where did you find it?
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing! These trees are definitely confusing and temperamental. I got this one at Home Depot actually in Atlanta. I had to go a few times to find the right one but they had new trees in pretty frequently.
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