Fiddle Leaf Fig...Did I Fertilize Too Soon?

9 years ago

I repotted my fiddle leaf fig five days ago, and today when it was time to water it for the first time since the repot, I fertilized it with a full strength 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizer. I was clearly not thinking straight (two small children at home and pretty sleep deprived!) because I forgot the repot had only been a few days prior...I really don't think I should've fertilized it so soon. Now I'm really worried, but it's too late...Is my tree going to be damaged from fertilizing too soon? He didn't show any signs of transplant shock at all, but there have not been any signs of new growth yet either.

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Comments (3)

tessa_m_henson
Original Author
9 years ago
And also, if I did potentially harm him, is there anything I can do about it now to minimize any damage? He's so beautiful and flawless right now. :/
Dave
9 years ago
The house plants section is where you want to post. This section is for edible figs.

you do not want to use a 20-20-20 fertilizer for Ficus. That's not a good NPK ratio.

You also do not want to fertilize right after repotting. You should wait until you see new growth.

Did you fully bare root the plant and remove all old soil? What type of mix did you use?
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tessa_m_henson
Original Author
9 years ago
No, I removed some of the dirt (it had a nice well-draining mix already with lots of large particles and pine bark) and massaged the roots until they were disentangled (no root pruning but I'm sure some small roots broke in the process, though I was really gentle). I reused some of the old soil and mixed it with the new in the bottom half of the pot and then finished off the top half with the new potting soil. The potting soil was an organic mix from FoxFarm and contained no moisture control additives in it. Sadly I found this forum only after I had repotted it and am starting to worry the new soil will retain too much water. And then of course my fertilizing it five days later. :/ Do you think the plant will be damaged from the fertilizing too soon?