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Have you ever simply bought a fiddle leaf fig, or maybe are are struggling along with your present plant and also you’re not fairly positive what to do? This plant is in every single place and is usually abused as a result of abundance of misconceptions on learn how to look after it.
Should you’d like concrete, sensible data on learn how to assist your Ficus lyrata thrive, preserve studying. I promise that you’ll achieve some worthwhile suggestions from studying this put up.
HOW TO GROW FIDDLE LEAF FIG
Listed below are 9 indispensable recommendations on rising fiddle leaf fig bushes indoors. Below the correct circumstances, they make for an exquisite indoor plant and a well-grown specimen makes for a powerful front room specimen.
1. LIGHT
Typically, when folks have approached me with recommendation on their ailing fiddle leaf fig, one of many major bother factors has been mild. In case you have heard that fiddle leaf fig vegetation don’t like direct daylight, assume once more.
Ficus lyrata is native to western Africa, however is often grown within the floor in lots of heat climates all over the world. I’ve witnessed lovely specimens rising in full solar in Mexico, California, Florida and plenty of different places.
Since this plant grows nicely in full solar outdoor, it implies that it’s nearly inconceivable to overdo the sunshine indoors. Indoors, the sunshine depth is way weaker than it’s outdoor. This goes even for direct solar publicity indoors.
Please word that you probably have burned your plant, it was in all probability resulting from not acclimating your plant slowly sufficient to stronger mild. It doesn’t imply that this plant can’t take direct solar!
Should you’re not offering sufficient mild, this may begin the downfall of your plant. Listed below are some recommendations on mild which might be essential in your fiddle leaf fig, in addition to some commentary on window publicity.
First off, at a naked minimal, your plant ought to be instantly in entrance of ANY window. Sure exposures are higher than others, and listed below are some suggestions.
NORTH-FACING WINDOWS
Should you reside within the northern hemisphere, north-facing home windows will obtain no direct solar. That is the least supreme window publicity in your fiddle leaf fig. It’s doable to develop it on this publicity, however they actually need extra mild to do their finest.
Should you reside within the southern hemisphere, the equal window can be a south-facing window.
SOUTH-FACING WINDOWS
Within the northern hemisphere, a southern dealing with window can be your best option since this publicity receives loads of mild and essentially the most direct solar publicity.
The equal publicity within the southern hemisphere is a north-facing window.
EAST-FACING WINDOWS
Regardless the place you reside, an unobstructed east-facing window would supply direct solar within the morning, which can be nice.
WEST-FACING WINDOWS
A west-facing window can be an awesome spot in your plant. An unobstructed western window will present afternoon solar wherever you reside, and these places can sometimes be hotter than east home windows, which is nice for development.
After all, the circumstances I describe above are for unobstructed home windows. If there are any bushes, bushes, buildings, and so on. across the home windows outdoor, this may cut back the quantity of sunshine dramatically.
On no account must you place your plant in a darkish nook. You’re asking for speedy failure in case you do that.
And don’t assume that photographs on social media are a illustration of the place these vegetation ought to be positioned. More often than not, these photographs are staged and the proprietor in all probability simply bought the plant and positioned it there.
Neglect in regards to the “vivid oblique mild” hogwash. Should you can, give your fiddle leaf fig no less than just a few hours of direct solar a day for finest outcomes.
That is particularly vital through the winter months when many houseplants wrestle from much less mild, particularly in case you reside in areas with brief, darkish winters.
It wouldn’t be uncommon for some leaf drop to happen in periods of decrease mild within the winter. The decrease leaves would flip yellow and fall off when your fiddle leaf fig is put in a decrease mild surroundings. This will additionally occur in case you let your potting combine go too dry for too lengthy.
2. WATERING
How typically must you water your fiddle leaf fig?
So far as watering goes, neglect about any type of watering schedule. You have to to be taught to guage the soil moisture in your particular person plant.
The “as soon as every week” watering schedule won’t lower it just because all of our rising circumstances indoors are totally different, so whenever you water your plant will naturally differ.
Give it some thought. Vegetation in a tiny 4 inch pot will dry out much more shortly than vegetation in a lot bigger pots.
In case your plant is rising in hotter temperatures, this may even trigger the potting combine to dry out extra shortly. And extra mild implies that your plant will dry out extra shortly.
There are different components as nicely, however that is simply to present you an concept of why it’s vital to not observe a strict watering schedule.
A schedule is nice to have as a checkpoint solely to see IF your fiddle leaf fig tree wants water or not.
How will you inform when to water? Merely stick your finger into the potting combine. In a smaller pot, enable the highest inch of soil to dry out, after which water.
In case you have a bigger pot, say, 8 or 10 inches in diameter or bigger, you may let the highest 2-3 inches of soil dry out safely earlier than you water once more.
How must you water? One phrase: totally.
Neglect in regards to the “overwatering” fantasy. Should you observe the guidelines on this put up, you’ll banish any concern of “overwatering.”
At all times moisten ALL of the soil, so ensure that to circle your watering can throughout the floor of your potting combine. Take away any extra water that will have collected within the saucer beneath. Letting your plant sit in standing water for prolonged intervals of time will encourage root rot.
It’s finest to keep away from chilly water when watering, and solely use room temperature or tepid water to keep away from surprising your plant.
I might extremely advise in opposition to utilizing a moisture meter to guage when to water. I’ve identified too many individuals which have stuffed their vegetation that manner as a result of a lot of the cheap meters are merely not dependable and produce deceptive and false readings.
3. FERTILIZING
When must you fertilize your fiddle leaf?
A motto I wish to observe for fertilizing is “weakly, weekly.” Nicely, it’s best to know by now that I don’t have a watering schedule, however bear with me. By this I imply fertilize with each watering.
How is that this not an excessive amount of? As a result of I wish to fertilize very dilutely, so it’s secure to do with each watering.
My fertilizer of alternative for fiddle leaf fig and all of my houseplants is Dyna-Gro Develop. It’s urea-free and gained’t burn your vegetation. As well as, it accommodates ALL of the macro and micronutrients that vegetation want.
I merely use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Dyna-Gro Develop per gallon of water and use this at each watering. One other profit to fertilizing dilutely at each watering is that you simply don’t have to recollect the final time you fertilized because you’ll be utilizing it each time.
So far as in case you ought to fertilize within the winter time, my brief reply is that it relies upon. In case your plant has stopped rising (probably resulting from shorter days and fewer mild), then cease fertilizing till the plant perks up in late winter or early spring.
In case your plant continues to be rising within the wintertime, you may proceed to fertilize it. All of it depends upon the place you reside and what your circumstances are, so that you’ll should be adaptable.
4. POTTING MIX
What kind of soil must you use in your plant?
normal indoor potting combine mix to make use of is 3 components of an excellent all-purpose potting combine with 1 half perlite. There are a lot of mixes that can work nicely, so long as they’re nicely drained and your pot dries out in an affordable about of time.
You can also make chunkier mixes by including coarse supplies corresponding to orchid bark, however these will dry out much more shortly. Experiment with what works in your personal surroundings.
5. REPOTTING
What measurement pot must you use in your fiddle leaf fig?
When it comes time for a brand new pot, an excellent normal rule of thumb is to solely go up one pot measurement. For instance, in case your plant is in a 6-inch diameter pot, solely go as much as an 8-inch diameter pot.
The principle purpose for that is that in case your quantity of soil is simply too massive (in comparison with the foundation system), it’s going to take for much longer to dry out, thus rising the danger of root rot.
Some indications that your fiddle leaf fig wants a brand new pot are:
- Roots are popping out of the drainage holes
- There could also be roots matted on the floor of the soil
- You could discover that the soil is drying out loads quicker than it used to
After all, the one option to actually know for positive in case your plant wants a much bigger pot is in case you slip the foundation ball out of the pot and examine it. If it comes out in a single piece, it’s in all probability prepared for a much bigger pot.
If the foundation ball has tightly wound roots, it’s positively time for a much bigger pot. Simply just be sure you loosen the roots a bit earlier than putting your plant in a much bigger pot (and bear in mind, solely go one measurement greater).
Loosening the foundation ball up a bit will assist new roots to develop into the brand new potting combine within the new pot.
6. PRUNING
In case your fiddle leaf fig plant has a single trunk and isn’t branching out in any respect, and also you’d prefer it to department out, pruning is an efficient option to accomplish this.
If you’d like a properly branching plant, it’s a good suggestion to prune it earlier than it will get terribly tall. On the level the place you prune it, your plant will probably develop no less than 2 new branches. And as these develop, you may proceed to prune sooner or later to encourage extra branching.
Take a look at my rubber plant pruning weblog put up since you would apply the very same rules. You’ll be able to prune a fiddle-leaf fig plant (Ficus lyrata) the identical manner say that you simply prune a rubber plant (Ficus elastica).
It’s finest to keep away from pruning within the wintertime. The very finish of winter or early spring, when the rising season usually begins for many people, can be an excellent time to start out pruning, and you may actually additionally do it later in the summertime as nicely.
7. DUSTING
Due to its giant leaves, mud will accumulate in a short time in your plant. It’s vital to scrub off your plant’s leaves to take away the buildup of mud so your plant can develop higher.
Merely take a humid sponge or paper towel and wipe off the floor of your leaves. In case your plant is small and you may transfer it simply, you too can take it to your sink or bathe and bathe your plant to take away collected mud.
Should you get into an excellent routine with mud elimination, it’s additionally an excellent tactic to handle/stop pests corresponding to spider mites, scale bugs, and extra. This supplies an excellent alternative as a checkpoint along with your plant to watch any potential pests earlier than issues get uncontrolled.
Plain water is finest to make use of to scrub leaves. Keep away from any business leaf shine merchandise. Not solely are these not crucial, however they don’t seem to be wholesome for the plant.
8. ROTATING YOUR PLANT
Frequently rotating your fiddle-leaf fig tree is vital for balanced development. Vegetation will naturally develop in the direction of the window (in a phenomenon often known as phototropism), so we should rotate our vegetation to ensure that the plant to look balanced.
There are a pair methods to do that. Some folks give their pot 1 / 4 flip as every watering. I merely flip the plant round 180 levels once I see the expansion begin to flip an excessive amount of in a single course.
You too can simply rotate it weekly in case you’d like.
9. TEMPERATURE & HUMIDITY
I all the time inform those who in case you are comfy indoors, your vegetation can be comfy too. As a normal rule of thumb, 60-85F (16-29C) is a good vary in your plant.
Do preserve your vegetation away from heating vents in case you can.
Though your plant can tolerate common indoor humidity, it could be finest to maintain humidity ranges within the 40-60% vary, significantly through the winter.
Sustaining a extra humid surroundings may even assist (however not eradicate) spider mites.
You might also be questioning, how typically ought to I mist my fiddle leaf fig?
To be very clear, misting does NOT improve humidity. It simply wets your plant’s leaves. Though misting can be an effective way to moisten your leaves so you may wipe off mud.
One of the simplest ways to essentially improve humidity is to buy a good humidifier.
FIDDLE LEAF FIG QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
IS FIDDLE LEAF FIG TOXIC TO CATS?
In accordance with the ASPCA, fiddle leaf fig is poisonous to cats and canines resulting from insoluable calcium oxalate crystals.
Oral irritation, vomiting, and extra can happen if ingested.
WHY IS MY FIDDLE LEAF FIG DROOPY?
In case your total plant is drooping, the most typical causes are the next:
- Your potting combine could have gone fully dry for too lengthy. In that case, give your plant a very thorough watering and it ought to get well in case you haven’t pushed it too far.
- In case your plant is drooping and you are feeling the soil and it’s moist, it might have stayed moist for too lengthy and probably have root rot.
WHY IS MY FIDDLE LEAF FIG DROPPING LEAVES?
This may be resulting from quite a few causes, with the most typical causes being:
- Transferring the plant from a excessive mild location to a decrease mild location.
- Sudden temperature swings (even being too near heating and cooling vents).
- Potting combine that has gone too dry.
I hope you’ve loved this put up on learn how to develop fiddle leaf fig. Do you’ve got a FLF? Remark beneath. I’d love to listen to!
