Fiddle Leaf Fig Brown Spots

10 years ago

Help! We bought a fiddle leaf fig about two months ago. He wasn't in the best condition, but he looked mostly healthy. We got him home and repotted him in a larger pot using a moisture control potting mix that "protects against over and under watering" and put a fertilizer stake into the soil. We water him when the top of the soil feels dry, but I think the soil always feels moist because of the type of soil we used. He's slowly been developing brown spots and dropping leaves, but I though it was because of a new environment, new pot, etc. he has grown two new leaves, but in the past two weeks he has developed a bunch of brown spots on his leaves and it's spreading to other leaves. I'm afraid he might lose them all :( is there something I'm doing wrong or something I could be doing?

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litterbuggy (z7b, Utah)

10 years ago

Ugh!! MG moisture control is an evil root-suffocating substance! Don't feel bad; you were just trying to do right by your plants. Dave is exactly correct in every respect. You'll want to wait until June to repot because that's when the plant will have the greatest energy reserves to help it recover quickly--unless you're in the S. Hemisphere, in which case you'll probably repot in December (correct me if I'm wrong, Dave).

Most of my plants are in the same moisture-retaining soil you use, so in order to get my babies in good shape for repotting I'm following these suggestions, which came from excellent sources:

1. First I flushed my plants ar (to wash out salts that had accumulated over several years) until the water coming out the bottom was clear. I let the pots drain until water stopped coming out, then reduced the PWT (perched water table, which is explained in Dave's second link) by propping the pots up at 45 degrees with blocks of wood until no more water came out.

2. I wait until the soil feels almost completely dry before watering again. To do that I push a sharpened dowel all the way to the bottom of each pot, and I don't water again until the dowel comes out so dry that it's not even cool against my wrist.

3. From now until June I'll water 'in sips' instead of soaking the pot until water runs out the bottom. Every month or so I'll flush the pot with a diluted fertilizer solution to remove the salts that build up from evaporation. I'm also giving them extra light because there's not enough here to keep them happy.

Your ficus still looks good, so I think it will come back like gangbusters!

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Comments (6)

Dave
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Over watering is likely the issue. MG moisture control is probably one of the worst soils to use. It stays moist for a really really long time.

Are those tree and shrub spikes for indoor plants?

Foliage pro 9-3-6 would be the best fertilizer to use. Or at the very least something like MG 24-8-12. I'm not sure what's in the spikes you used, but I wouldn't use them.

Are you in the northern hemisphere? If so, fall isn't a great time to repot.

Speaking of repotting, did you repot or pot up?

repotting = removing all old soil from roots, root pruning and placing in 100% fresh soil.

potting up = Removed from old pot with soil and roots intact and placed in a larger pot with fresh soil on the side and bottom.

these links will help you:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1493078/ficus-trees-in-containers

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1405347/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xiv
Danielle Robertson
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you so much! We "potted up." We are in Texas. Thank you for your recommendations on fertilizer. The guy at Home Depot recommended those fertilizer spikes but now that I'm looking at it, it looks like it is for outdoor trees and shrubs. What soil do you recommend using? Should we "repot?"
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Dave
10 years ago
Unfortunately, I wouldn't trust the guy at Home Depot.

Order some Dyna grow foliage pro 9-3-6 if you want something great.

When you potted up, how much larger was the pot you used?

If I were you, I'd take it out of the pot and remove any of the moisture control soil that's around the edges and stick it back in the original pot (or one of the same size) until June of 2017 and then do a full repot into something like the 5:1:1 mix.
Danielle Robertson thanked Dave
Danielle Robertson
Original Author
10 years ago
Will do! Thank you so much!
myermike_1micha
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
You also may want to consider using Rain water or Reverse Osmosis if there is any way you can get your hands on it...Go easy on fertilizing until spring and flush your mix out every sixth watering or so if you are using anything other than a very good porous mix suggested above...
Danielle Robertson thanked myermike_1micha