I had been planning to wait until spring to try growing a FLF, but when my local Home Depot had a bunch of giant fiddle leaf figs for $30 today…. I simply couldn’t walk away without one.
However, this dude is growing kind of funky – it’s a single stem in the pot with no branching, and he is just about outgrown his stake. He looks mostly healthy but with a few signs of potential distress. A lot of the leaves are warped/curled, brown tips/spots on the lower leaves, and some of the newest leaves have edema. I pulled him out of the pot and the roots look healthy, he is somewhat rootbound but not terribly (roots all over the sides and top of the pot but few visible roots from the bottom). It’s hard to tell how airy the substrate is but it seems to have lots of bark pieces at least.
I’m in zone 7 and probably have at least another month of summer left at this point. I will keep him outside until the weather cools down and then he’ll be inside under grow lights. Other than that, I’m hesitant on how best to keep this guy looking nice and set him up for success. The options below are what I’m considering – which one makes the most sense? Any better ideas I haven’t considered below? Thank you for reading!
1. Leave him be: No pruning or notching until spring. Just pinch top and/or extend stake to mitigate height. Ok to wait until spring to repot?
2. Slightly encourage branching: No pruning until spring. Encourage branching now by pinching and/or notching. Extend stake if needed after pinching. Repot now or wait until spring?
3. Prune and prop: Prune top within the next month to mitigate height, encourage branching, and potentially add propagated top into pot for a bushier appearance/more stems. Would likely wait until spring to repot. This option is what I would most like to do, but it may not be feasible because the stem is not very woody – less than 1/2 of the stem is woody and the rest is green, so I’d have to take a huge top cut now or wait another month to see if I’d be able to prune further up the stem.
Party_Building1898
He will remain a single stem unless you notch him.
You can google a utube how to
HawkGrouchy51
I suggest plucking terminal buds(or new growths)off..more buds(become branches) will grow along the trunk later..this’s an easy and safer way to branching….and also keep its height(your ideal height)
This tropical plant is suitable for indoor and outdoor(as long as temperature is not below 5x°F/1x°C)
If you put it indoor..you just place it by brighter window/spot
OtisandEmily2205
Repot it. Water it. Speak words of encouragement to it. Name it. Not necessarily in that order. 🙂 also swirl its stem around occasionally if you keep it inside. It simulates wind which stimulates root growth apparently!
4 Comments
I had been planning to wait until spring to try growing a FLF, but when my local Home Depot had a bunch of giant fiddle leaf figs for $30 today…. I simply couldn’t walk away without one.
However, this dude is growing kind of funky – it’s a single stem in the pot with no branching, and he is just about outgrown his stake. He looks mostly healthy but with a few signs of potential distress. A lot of the leaves are warped/curled, brown tips/spots on the lower leaves, and some of the newest leaves have edema. I pulled him out of the pot and the roots look healthy, he is somewhat rootbound but not terribly (roots all over the sides and top of the pot but few visible roots from the bottom). It’s hard to tell how airy the substrate is but it seems to have lots of bark pieces at least.
I’m in zone 7 and probably have at least another month of summer left at this point. I will keep him outside until the weather cools down and then he’ll be inside under grow lights. Other than that, I’m hesitant on how best to keep this guy looking nice and set him up for success. The options below are what I’m considering – which one makes the most sense? Any better ideas I haven’t considered below? Thank you for reading!
1. Leave him be: No pruning or notching until spring. Just pinch top and/or extend stake to mitigate height. Ok to wait until spring to repot?
2. Slightly encourage branching: No pruning until spring. Encourage branching now by pinching and/or notching. Extend stake if needed after pinching. Repot now or wait until spring?
3. Prune and prop: Prune top within the next month to mitigate height, encourage branching, and potentially add propagated top into pot for a bushier appearance/more stems. Would likely wait until spring to repot. This option is what I would most like to do, but it may not be feasible because the stem is not very woody – less than 1/2 of the stem is woody and the rest is green, so I’d have to take a huge top cut now or wait another month to see if I’d be able to prune further up the stem.
He will remain a single stem unless you notch him.
You can google a utube how to
I suggest plucking terminal buds(or new growths)off..more buds(become branches) will grow along the trunk later..this’s an easy and safer way to branching….and also keep its height(your ideal height)
This tropical plant is suitable for indoor and outdoor(as long as temperature is not below 5x°F/1x°C)
If you put it indoor..you just place it by brighter window/spot
Repot it. Water it. Speak words of encouragement to it. Name it. Not necessarily in that order. 🙂 also swirl its stem around occasionally if you keep it inside. It simulates wind which stimulates root growth apparently!