Ailing Fiddle Leaf Fig.

Help! I don't know what's wrong with my fiddle leaf fig. Leaves that were facing away from the window started to brown and drop, so I recently rotated the plant so that the brown side faced the window. Can't tell if it's helping.

It looks like it needs to be repotted with some fresh soilless mix. Remove the ugly leaves and perhaps move it outdoors for the remainder of summer to rejuvenate before winter.

Un-pot the plant (it should slip out of the plastic pot easily) and see whether it is root-bound. I have a strong feeling that it is. If it is, re-pot it in a pot twice the size you have it in now. Fiddle leaf ficus plants are heavy feeders and heavy water users. They also grow best in strong indirect light and with adequate humidity. Turning the plant will have absolutely no affect on those leaves. I like the suggestion that you get the plant outside. My fiddle leaf ficus plants are outside, under large oaks and cedars, from April through October here in NE Mississippi. They flourish with several hours of early morning and/or very late afternoon sun. No sun between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM.

I am a grower of hundreds of tropical plants including dozens of fiddle leaf ficus. If you have need for more information contact me directly, drdawg97@gmail.com. I will be glad to help you.

Ken

The plants foliage isn't indicative of root congestion - that would manifest in continued reduction in branch extension - which you would be able to see in how close together leaf bundle scars are - and in the loss of foliage proximal to apices (branch tips).

The spoiled foliage is almost certainly from over-watering and/or a high level of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil solution.

Al

Either or both of those could be causes but without knowing the growing conditions, including waterering/fertilization schedules, and (my) seeing the root-ball, we will never know.

I thought those of you who grow or would like to grow the Fiddle Leaf Ficus might want to see what a healthy one looks like. Pay close attention to the leaves. Being so large, they are the window to the health of the plant. This large one is over 25 years old and has been in the same 24" diameter pot for almost 10 years. Needless to say she is terribly root-bound and needs frequent watering. I couldn't over-water her if I tried. If she doesn't get adequate watering, her leaves will brown and fall off.

The small ones are grown from seeds and are 12-18" tall. Notice they haven't gotten that rich, dark green color yet. Their "glory-days" are still ahead of them. I have grown hundreds of fiddle leaf ficus plants and they make absolutely striking houseplants and are really easy to grow.

Ken

Sorry, but root congestion just doesn't cause necrotic spots and leaf margins as shown in the OP's first picture. Also, if the plant was horribly root bound, there would be evidence of roots, lots of roots, growing over the surface of the soil. Unless there is something phytotoxic in play, the cause is almost certainly over-watering or the EC/TDS of/in the soil solution is extremely high due to not watering (regularly flushing the soil) correctly. A high level of dissolved solids and/or over-watering both cause a drought response and the symptoms shown, but tight roots do not.

Al

Ken, your plants look fantastic!

Al, do you have a lot of experience in growing Fiddle Leaf Ficus? If so you would know that surface roots don't show up for years, perhaps well over a decade. One might or might not see them growing through the drainage holes. It depends on how the bottom of the pot is lined for one thing. I have grown these plants for over 40 years, and after growing (and selling) hundreds of them, I think I have just a bit of knowledge here. I have been responding to my customer's questions about the plants for decades.

I hate to admit it, but over all these years of growing the "Mother" plant, taking week's long vacations for instance, I have seen similar leaf problems on this plant. The leaf browning and fall takes place several weeks after the plant has gone though drought-like conditions. That's not to say your theories are incorrect. They may be the cause. But please don't tell me or anyone else that this leaf problem can't occur due to lack of moisture.

Ken

Thanks, Butch.

Ken

I have a lot of experience working with dozens of species of smaller leafed ficus, as well as F carica (hardy fig) and Morus (mulberry), both close relatives of Ficus.

I didn't say it couldn't be due to a lack of moisture. I said it WAS a drought response. It goes w/o saying that a drought response can be the result of a water deficit, but by FAR, the most common causes of drought response in containerized plants are A) A high level of dissolved solids in the soil solution (the higher the TDS/EC level [salt content] of the soil solution, the more difficult it is for water to move through cell membranes), resulting in the plant shedding organs (leaves) the plant's chemical messengers are telling it it can't support - a drought response, and B) Over-watering.

What I said was, what is shown in the picture is not symptomatic of root congestion. A water deficit isn't inherently linked to root congestion, and a ficus will normally respond to dry soil by shedding a LOT of leaves , starting with those low on the tree and those most proximal to apices - it's normal response in preparation for a period of consequential dormancy, which occurs during the dry season.

Surface roots (as in buttress roots) are quite a different story than the roots of young trees that are very regularly seen tangled and crawling over the surface of the soil of potted ficus of any species. All you need to confirm what I said is look at the roots of any species of ficus for sale in big box stores. When root congestion gets to about the point where the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact, the roots will start growing on the surface of the soil.

I recently purchased 2 F retusa "Melon Seed" at a Chicago show in 2 gallon pots that had 2" of surface roots growing above the basal flare and out of the soil, the proximal ends of which were deep in the soil. This is anything but unusual.

Al

Apples and oranges, Al. Let's just stick to the fiddle leaf if you don't mind. I have more experience and longer experience in growing that one ficus than other ficus.

In my opinion, other ficus have very little relationship to how the fiddle handles stress, regardless of the stress. I grow the "Narrow-Leaf Ficus", specifically Ficus maclellandii 'Alii', and its growth habits are nothing like the F. lyrata. I used to grow a lot of the F. benjamina, but got rid of them all. My opinion is that the "Benjamin" is a horrible houseplant, but again, its growth habits are completely different from the narrow-leaf and fiddle leaf. Stress is far more evident and is manifested differently in the fiddle simply because of its huge leaves. Dozens if not one hundred narrow-leaf or Benjamin leaves could lay on one fiddle leaf. I have had leaves 12"x20" in size. That's why stress shows up in those leaves so readily. There's just a lot of leaf surface to exhibit what's going on in the roots.

Again, I wish CWade would tell us more about his/her growing conditions, the care of the plant, and what the root-ball looks like. It is really hard to not only make a diagnosis but also to suggest corrective measures without this information.

Thanks for your correspondence, Al. I enjoy the back-and-forth.

Ken

Why/how is stress made manifest differently because of the size of the leaf or species of Ficus? If Musa goes dry, is over-watered or over-fertilize, the stress is made manifest in exactly the same way as Ficus benjamina, or maple or elm, for that matter - necrotic leaf tips and margins and intermittent necrotic areas, and eventual shedding of the leaf as the volume of auxin flow across the abscission zone is reduced to the point it can no longer prevent the abscission layer from forming. Every tropical or subtropical ficus I've worked on for myself or others reacts to limiting cultural conditions in exactly the same, perfectly predictable manner.

When a tree is unable to move an adequate supply of water to the canopy, we can rely on the most distal parts of the leaf dying first. It makes perfect sense. Under-watering would see the plant unable to move enough water to the most distal parts - the plant simply runs out of water to move.

Too high a level of salts in the soil solution - the plant is limited in it's ability to move water into cells because of high salinity's effect on osmosis. Necrotic areas are more apt to appear randomly in addition to leaf tips and margins because nutrients aren't always evenly distributed across the leaf and those areas with higher concentrations of nutrients (salts) die first. The plant pictured is probably the victim of (most notably) plasmolysis (fertilizer burn) which can occur even when no fertilizer has been applied, as a result of dissolved solids accumulating from irrigation water from the tap.

Since water uptake is an energy driven process, soggy soil (over-watering) deprives the plant of the O2 it needs to burn the fuel (carbohydrates/starch/...) needed to absorb and move the water to the plant's distal parts, resulting again in necrotic leaf tips and margins.

These are physiological reactions typical of all leafy plants to drought stress from over-watering, under-watering, and too much salt in the medium. There is no reason I can think of to think that F lyrata is unique among plants.

Also, I'm curious to know how a large leaf is a better indicator of limiting conditions (stress) than a small leaf?

I agree it's fun pushing these thoughts around. Inevitably, we'll learn something.

Al

I fear not. If growing and propagating tropical plants for over four decades has taught me nothing, well.........I guess I am just un-teachable.

What we see on a 200 sq. inch leaf compared to a 2 sq. inch leaf is not even closely the same. I am sorry if that makes no sense.

I personally could not care less about the physiology of stress-related leaf conditions. I care about what my eyes see. Bottom-line, I and the people that contact me want to know what is wrong, what is the cause, and what can be done about it. I like the KISS equation.

Ken

I think my questions were all legitimate, trying to bring focus on how you arrived at your several conclusions, and I would still like to know - just in case there is something I'm missing. If you don't intend to offer some support for what you said, I'll wish you well & move along.

Take good care.

Al

Since our initial poster has never re-posted, there is little need to carry this forward. I too, wish you well. Perhaps we can discuss a topic another time.

It would appear Cwade could learn something from Ken's method of growing this particular type of Ficus if they would just reply to the questions posed. I'm sure Al grows some beautiful Ficus as well. I admit I have a couple of the common F. benjamina - green and variegated and wonder why I keep them at times.