Roots can be white and a bit furry looking, from all the fine roots branching off. But mold & fungus happens too! Pictures would help:)

Here's some photos for better reference.

Yes could be a white mold in the soil. The whitish stuff on the pot around the drainage hole could be the same thing or a mineral buildup from fertilisers. Mold is not necessarily bad in itself, but too much of it indicates the soil is too damp and holds too much water, and what I see of your soil it's dark & fine.

I have a calathea that was in wet dense peaty soil and had white mold on the soil surface. Scraping it off and using alcohol spray reduced it, but it was always going to keep coming back in such a damp mix. I repotted into a bark/peat/pumice mix and haven't seen it since. I did not treat the roots with anything, just rinsed all the old soil off.

I would use 511 for your lyrata. It doesn't last as long as gritty because it has more organic material in it, but that for that same reason it holds a bit more water which gives you some leeway if you're not spot-on with watering. I'm leaving gritty mix for the more advanced gardeners for now.

Don't know if now is good timing for you (I'm in NZ) Generally speaking late spring/early summer is ideal, plants have the most energy reserves then so they recover fastest. I've repotted at other times when I've thought the plant couldn't wait ie. do-or-die, mostly because I thought they'd rot if I didn't. Plus I'm a bit impatient...

It's great you're researching first. Best to have a clear plan for such a big plant! Photos of the whole tree will help get you more specific advice. Can you slide it out of its pot gently for a moment, to get pictures of what the roots and soil are like?

Here's some pictures of the whole tree and the roots.

Also, while I have your eyes, do you think it would be beneficial to prune off the new leaf that was damaged? The other two (the second photo) that appeared after are perfectly healthy and already larger and darker in color than the first one.

It also has this random tiny stem/branch towards the bottom of the plant, approximately a foot above the root dirt, and about 2 and a half feet below the first set of branches and leaves.

And then one small branch in the canopy that's short and has no leaves whatsoever. That one is brown the lower tiny one is green. Should I do anything about these?

Based on the pictures of the roots, does it seem like it would be necessary to repot now? It's the middle of our summer here in the states.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and advice!

Beautiful tree! Looks awesome in that window with the light coming through the leaves. I would repot now. While the leaves and roots still look good (don't worry about the mold). It won't be as healthy by next season, staying in that soil.

Read the posts on how to repot, and get organised before you start. Finding the bark seems to be the hardest thing - I've used orchid mix for my bark, but that might be pricey for a big pot.

Presuming you do it outside, do it in the shade, and out of the wind, and keep the roots moist the whole time. You need to rinse all the old soil of the roots, do some root pruning if needed (I'm a bit chicken with this so wouldn't do much), and get it into its new mix without too much mucking around. The less damage to the fine roots the better.

Water it in well then put it in a warm bright place back inside out of direct sun (and away from drafts) for a couple weeks. Once it recovers you can go back to giving it lots of sun. Read other posts for more details - and keep asking questions!

I can't thank you enough! Thanks for giving me and my tree the time of day!

You're very welcome - people here have generously helped me, so it seems right to do the same for others if I can :)

I just wanted to post some updated pictures like Robin suggested! My Fiddle Leaf is still doing great and this morning I came downstairs to see it's pushing out 3 new sets of leaves!

Thank you again Robin!

Looks great Cassandra, thanks for the update! I bet seeing those new leaves made your day ;)

Did you repot in the end?

Yes! The new leaves made me do a little jump with excitement. Almost spilled my coffee! Haha.

I did repot and it was stressful, but clearly successful all the same!

Hi Cassandra, do you mind sharing what kind of mix you ended up using when you repotted?

Thanks!

Hi Jenny!

I used Al's 5:1:1 mix with the dolomite lime. Is that what you wanted to know?

Hi @Cassandra H - i know this is an old thread but just want to ask if your fiddle leaf went thru shock (droopy leaves, browning, etc) when you repotted it bare root in 511? I'm planning to repot mine in gritty mix. Thanks

Dom did you repot yours in gritty mix? im ready to fo the same i have mine in 5:1:1 mix but this fiddle leaf fig is never happy no matter what i do

my rubber tree in the other hand thrives in the gritty mix …whoa the growth on that thing

The cultural wants of F elastica and F lyrata are virtually the same, so what works for one will work as well for the other. If you are having trouble with one or the other in either grow medium, it is not the medium, there is something else in play. Let me know if you want help trying to put a care regimen together that almost all the plants you're likely to grow will appreciate, no matter which of the two media you choose to grow in.

While the primary difference between the two mixes is, the 5:1:1 mix holds more water, some of it as perched water, both are far superior to most off-the-shelf products based on almost all fine material, usually peat or some combination of peat, compost, composted forest products, or coir.

Al