My husband .... bought a moderately large [Ficus lyrata]. I have heard the are
difficult to care for so my anxiety about it is already high. They are NOT particularly difficult plants. The problem is, many growers provide cultural conditions that ask the plant to deal with conditions at the fringes of what they are genetically programmed to tolerate. We can't do that and not expect the symptoms of such stress or strain to be made manifest in the plant's appearance. You need to learn how to provide conditions that create a 'sweet spot'. Fortunately, most plants (other than cacti) do very well in almost exactly the same sweet spot, so once you create it for one plant, you only need to replicate it for others. Where plants vary most is in their ability/inability to deal with those fringe conditions. Plants that are not able to cope with significant adversity get the reputation of being difficult, even though they do exceptionally well in the same sweet spot conditions as almost all plants grown in pots. I have
been testing the soil and only watering when first 1" of soil is dry. In
otherwords i've only watered twice since getting it (about 1x per
week). If that is how you test for the need to water, you're undoubtedly over-watering, unless you're using an extremely fast and highly aerated soil ..... and it doesn't sound as though you are. Learn to use a tell. If I forget to add info I wrote about using a tell at the end, please remind me. I have also been misting it daily, but after doing some reading
am thinking i need to stop that. Yes. Do. It is currently sitting next to a
southern facing window about 9 feet from a huge forced air heat vent in
the floor. Light diminishes by the square of the distance from the source, so light 1 foot from the window is 81x brighter than light at 9 feet from the window. Your FLF wants and will tolerate very bright light, but before you move it, you should talk it over so you know what to try to avoid, how to avoid it, or what to do so you needen't worry about either.

Are you sure it's a heat vent and not a cold air return?

Anyway my fig is showing some brown spots on the underside of its
leaves Not having seen the spots, I can only surmise that because you're over-watering, your plant is suffering from a physiological malady called oedema. I'll tack something on at the end about oedema, too. and a new grown crack has formed at the tip of one of the leaves.
I also noticed one scale that i plucked off with my finger nail. and
some sort of small gnat -like bug hovering above the soil. Fungus gnat - a symptom of over-watering and a saturated soil. There is a
root exposed at the top of the soil as well, Not to worry about the root. and a white powdery
appearance to the surface of some of the leaves, which i wiped off with a
damp cloth. This is very likely residue from a topical insecticide/fungicide the plants were treated with immediately prior to being shipped to the intended POS (point of sale).

I'm thinking that the answer is to repot? Working with your plants' natural rhythms is a very good idea. It also means there are good times and bad times to repot, and the timing depends on where you live, which you didn't share. but wondering what would be
the best medium, is there a recipe out there for a well aerated soil
for a fig? Read This and any step by step tutorials of how to repot and trim the
root ball would be helpful. Read This

Any reccomendations for fertilizer? You'll go a very long way before you are able to beat Foliage-Pro's Dyna-Gro 9-3-6. There are a number of reasons, and I'll share if you have interest, but only after you've completed your homework. ;-)

Al

Using a 'tell'

Over-watering
saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so
learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store
their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose).
Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and
in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food.
From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in
the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too
much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a
prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a
build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a
plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves
us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that
requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that
drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point,
so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever
we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form
of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation.
Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer,
which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor.

In
many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by
hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from
light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot
is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of
the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and
gauge the need for water.

Fingers
stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not
for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that
feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100%
saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation
can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very
notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering
meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical
conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled
water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'.

One
of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water
is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a
wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They
usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and
serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and
slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a
straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry,
it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you
might need to try several places until you find one where you can
push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then
withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings,
withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see
signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought
stress isn't a recurring issue.

Oedema

Oedema
is a physiological disorder that can affect all plants. It occurs
when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the
process of transpiration. The word itself means 'swelling', which is
usually the first symptom, and comes in the form of pale blisters or
water-filled bumps on foliage. Under a variety of
circumstances/cultural conditions, a plant's internal water pressure
(turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture and leak
their contents into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue, creating
wet or weepy areas. Symptoms vary by plant, but as the malady
progresses, areas of the leaf turn yellow, brown, brown with reddish
overtones or even black, with older damage appearing as corky/ scaly/
ridged patches, or wart/gall-like bumpy growth. Symptoms are seen
more frequently in plants that are fleshy, are usually more
pronounced on the underside of leaves, and older/lower leaves are
more likely to be affected than younger/upper leaves.

Oedema
is most common in houseplants during the winter/early spring months,
is driven primarily by excessive water retention in the soil, and can
be intensified via several additional cultural influences. Cool
temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial
defoliation can individually or collectively act to intensify the
problem, as can anything else that slows transpiration. Nutritional
deficiencies of Ca and Mg are also known contributors to the malady.

Some things that can help you prevent oedema:

* Increase light levels and temperature

* Monitor water needs carefully – avoid over-watering. I'd heartily
recommend a soil with drainage so sharp (fast) that when you to water
to beyond the saturation point you needn't worry about prolonged
periods of soil saturation wrecking root health/function. Your soil
choice should be a key that unlocks the solutions to many potential
problems.

* Avoid misting or getting water on foliage. It slows transpiration and
increases turgidity.

* Water as soon as you get up in the AM. When stomata close in
preparation for the dark cycle, turgidity builds. If you water early
in the day, it gives the plant an opportunity to remove (for its own
needs) some of the excess water in the soil.

* Put a fan in the room or otherwise increase air flow/circulation.
Avoid over-crowding your plants.

Al