Hi all, back in April I found a nearly dead FLF in the dumpster at my apartment complex and decided to see if I could bring it back to life. I immediately repotted it and learned that it had been heinously over-fertilized with pellet fertilizer so I cleaned all of the old soil off and got rid of all the pellets before repotting it using Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil. I also bought some fiddle leaf-specific liquid fertilizer and use it every other time I water the tree (but not the first time obv because it was still recovering).
I have achieved moderate success. As the pictures show, it's had a pretty good growing season. I live in LA and I placed it in a ground floor, south-facing window which looks out at my back patio which has some trees behind it so the FLF gets decent indirect light throughout the day and direct light for a few hours. I also mist it every morning, way before the sun hits it.
So, the issue: I can't for the life of me figure out why the leaves are drooping so much or curling or not growing larger, especially at the top. I was worried I had been over watering it so I bought a moisture sensor and the water sensor keeps telling me the soil it dry near the surface and around the edges of the pot but wet in the center of the root ball. I haven't watered it in what feels like forever because I don't want it to get root rot but I'm worried that I'm overcorrecting. I'm planning to repot it into a fabric grow bag and use an amended soil mix of 2 parts Fox Farm soil, 1 part succulent soil in case the pot or soil is retaining too much water. If that doesn't work, I really don't know what to do. Am I just being impatient?
Tl;dr: I don't know why my leaves are drooping and I need advice on what I should keep doing for the tree and what I should change. I also need advice on watering schedule and where to stick the moisture sensor to get an accurate assessment of if the plant needs water or not.
Thanks in advance for the help guys. This is my first fig tree and all my other plants are succulents (easy mode).
by fullsendsonly_
2 Comments
Personally, I would chop it all the way down and let it restart in this new stable environment.
It sounds like everything you’re doing is right, so I think its still just rebounding from stress.
Additionally, FLFs really love light, and they really really need it.
It looks like some are curled because they are new but I would say probably needs more water. How are you watering? Pouring water until it runs out the bottom? What is that cover on it?
Also always always more light with figs (when indoors).