Hello everyone! I think from everything I've read in this thread that my plant has been suffering from overwatering and/or soggy soil. I got it in late January and after my second watering it developed a few very small brown marks on the edges of the leaves. Suspecting over watering as the cause, I let it dry out (until it no longer felt damp and spongey through the drainage hole) before watering again. This process meant it was about 2.5-3 weeks between watering and sadly the brown and blackish spots on the leaves have continued to get worse after every watering. With what I've read I now believe the soil is just staying soggy too long. (FYI when I water I give it about 3 cups, allowing one cup at a time to soak in. At least half a cup flows out the drainage holes on the third cup of water.) My plan now is to repot with a soil amendment and a wick. I'd like to do some root pruning as well since I can barely get the moisture meter in the soil through the roots, but I think I read in a previous post from Al that I should wait until it starts growing again and the weather is warmer. In the mean time, will mixing my regular potting soil with perlite as well as adding a wick offer a noticeable improvement for drainage for now? Then in the summer I can source better soil mix components and address any potential root issues? Alternatively, I can just water with more frequency and use less water until summer? Here are some photos of the FLF in the late afternoon on a cloudy day. This plant lives about 3 feet away from a S/SW window and doesn't receive any direct sunlight. Here is evidence that the plant has dropped a few leaves. The six leaves that fell off were the worst looking, and the leaves with the spots (shown above) are headed in that direction. And here is the beautiful new growth since I got it in late January (though now it has stopped and the tiny bud here doesn't seem to have changed in about a month): I look forward to learning even more, so thanks in advance for your advice and expertise :)

I believe they are totally repotting in fresh medium. When I was asking the woman I spoke with about the soil they use there, she told me that the tree is in the soil it arrived in, and that their own soil (the nursery's) for ficus is well aerated and appropriate for the tree. She then said that if I were to buy a pot there she would recommend going up a size to a 12" and that they would do the repot for me. Which I assumed meant that they would completely change out the medium. I was aware of the difference between the terms, but I'm glad that you brought it to my attention again so that I can make sure they're doing a full repot. I would have assumed they would know not to mix the two soils, but it would be better to play it safe and make sure they're doing the whole shebang. I see what you mean about the advice potentially being bad at times though. I think it depends on who you're talking to, just like at a mechanic. The woman seemed to be the owner or at least in charge of the ficus area. Although, when I was looking at the variegated jade plants (I've been researching and preparing to bring one of those home as well) a young man approached me and started talking about their care and pruning. He then told me to prune any all white leaves, and to leave the fully green ones. Which I know to be backwards advice, as the fully green ones don't revert back to being variegated!

After spending half an hour on the following post it occurred to me that a houseplant forum search for "nicking" might yield more accurate information. Sure enough, I found several threads containing Al's explanations, but I spent so much time on mine that I refuse to delete it!!!!! Here are a few of the threads. The nicking discussions aren't long but I think Al's post on the first link explains the effects of nicking vs pruning. Use the search box at the top of the page to find even more threads. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1458989/fiddle-leaf-fig-question?n=1 http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1465570/pruning-ficus-lyrata-to-branch?n=24 ******************* My now-superfluous post: Ah, I see; most people seem to call that nicking, not slitting. The reason you haven't found info on it is that few people do it, but Al has gone into it the few times he's been asked. I'll describe it as best I can from what I remember of his posts about it. Anyway, you would use a sharp sterilized (just in case) knife to cut a small horizontal wedge through the cambium (basically the living usually green layer under the bark) right above a leaf node. Nicking (or pruning) above a node stops the inhibitory hormone from the top of the tree from reaching it, letting it respond to hormones that direct it to grow. The same thing happens when you prune. Whether you prune or nick, the amount of back-budding you'll get depends on the plant's condition. IMO, if the stress that caused your ficus to drop leaves still exists, nicking or pruning won't have much (if any) effect so long as the plant is still under the stress that made it drop so many leaves. I'd guess that's because the weakened plant isn't producing the hormones that would stimulate growth above ground. That's been my experience. My ficuses didn't respond at all to tip-pinching last fall when they were still weak, but now after months of proper care and increased spring sunlight they're growing like crazy, including a lot of back-budding far back on its once-bare branches, without any intervention at all from me. I think that's an accurate description of what I've read!

Question for ya'll. I got two fiddle leaf figs a few weeks ago. The little one looks great. The big one is leaning and I thought it would straighten out from the sun but it hasn't. I was gonna leave them alone till next year since it's late in the season but the one leaning is bothering me (OCD). I just bought some gritty mix and plan to buy some foliage pro 9-3-6. I don't wanna size up (unless suggested otherwise) I just wanna repot into better soil and set the plant up right. And since I'm doing the big one i might as well do the little one also, right? When you say to bare root it but keep it wet would I get a spray bottle and periodically spray the roots to keep them wet? Also when I bare root it how do I ensure that the gritty mix gets "all back up in the roots" when I repot. If that makes sense? Any videos you guys could link to help me visualize this? Should I trim the roots now or wait till next year? I'm open to suggestions. I really want to keep these babies alive as in the past I've killed succulents and this is my first plant ever owning. I'll attach photos of Shrek and Princess Fiona. Oh one more thing. On Shrek you can see some small growth at the bottom. Should I keep that? Thank you for any and all advice!